TERROR ALERT LEVEL:

This krep was posted:

June 2010
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30

Same guy, different krep...
Father Knows

Things to put in your head...

Friends...

Everyday reads...

Read on his terms...
Lileks

Stuff for your ears...

 

Check it out...

My Amazon Wish List

All commentary Copyright Stonestead.com, 2010. No part may be reproduced without permission. All statements within are the express view of the author and not necessarily those of his employeer, his clergy, his spouse, his friends or even himself.

Criminey. I guess it's just been too long since the legislature passed a 2,000 page bill that nobody has read and nobody who will vote for it knows what it will do, (See Also: "health" "care" "reform"), because now the senate is foisting upon us some sort of financial reform bill. And if you doubt my premise, just check out the words of chris dodd who said, 'nobody will know what this will do until it's in place.'

At this point, the questions come fast and furious; the first one being, "then why are you passing it?!?" If they don't know what it will do then why on earth did they craft it and why will they support it? Isn't that a bit like walking into a strange room and just randomly hitting buttons on a control panel? 'Let's see what this one does!'

To be perfectly honest I'm hopeful that the dolts on that side of the aisle are finally starting to recognize the law of unintended consequences and the road to hell is always in need of fresh asphalt, but I firmly believe that he (and others) are saying this simply so they can be let off the hook when their new law further destroys American commerce. It's the perfect excuse, before the fact: "I told you nobody knew what it would do before we passed it!"

(And speaking of accepting responsibility, when is the little o going to man up and claim responsibility for the true effects of his ruinous agenda? I realize that it's much, much easier to simply take the Bart Simpson route of, "I didn't do it," but sooner or later isn't this mess his to own up to? But no - just blame President Bush and protect the fragile ego at all costs and the kool-aid drinkers will continue to let him off the hook because he can read a teleprompter so elegantly.)

So in addition to all the other disasters happening on his watch, this stupid, gangly financial reform bill will wreak all sorts of unknown havoc on our banking system. If your bank starts charging double for check orders? dodd/frank et al. If your free checking is no longer free? dodd/frank et al. Your credit card rate goes through the roof? You find it impossible to get credit at all? You can't get service because the bank has to cut staff? Just remember that this is the change you voted for, dummy. Actions have consequences and any expense thrown on any institution HAS to be passed on to the customer.

Econ 101, people.

Have you ever heard the expression, "the cobbler's kids have no shoes?" That's kind of what I feel like lately. I don't mean to complain about mere trifles - it's better to laugh at them whenever possible - but it's just funny. First a hard drive on my personal PC dies taking with it all the kid pics, (I've been fortunate enough to recover most of them), and recipes, only to have my website - this krep you're reading now - die on me.

I think the service expired and as a friend of mine once said, money fixes a lot of things. So I shelled out far more than I should have to get this site back online. Not that it's worth all that much to you guys but I'd like to have access to my archives, which are who-knows-where on my home PC, but definitely stored on this site.

I have 6 years of writings on this site alone. 6 bloody years. Again - it means nothing to you guys and doesn't mean a heck of a lot to me in and of themselves; I'd just like to have them handy for personal reasons. I can go back and see what was going on when, what the process was when the kids moved in, my feelings, frustrations, etc... . Heck, I can even go back and see what I wrote on the days they were born long before I even knew they existed.

So maybe I didn't overpay. I've just got to start copying things over to my new 1TB external drive as soon as I possibly can. Because if I wait until next year I'm sure to let it expire again...

First off, let me apologize to my brother. I had fully intended to see him over this past weekend but between his celebratory times, (I'm guessing), and the strangeness that was life around here, it just didn't happen. So, late birthday wishes go out to him with all wishes that it was a happy one.

Sorry we couldn't come 'round to hassle you in person, bro...

Nothing much today because of the above mentioned strangeness. It started with a frantic call from a family member on Saturday morning which was basically, "I've fallen and I've just now gotten up!" And that was pretty much the last time I saw The Wif until just a few minutes ago.

In the meantime I fed kids and did dishes. I took kids to the store and did dishes. We made banana bread and did dishes. I then made cookies. And did dishes. That was Saturday. For Sunday, just replace "dishes" for "laundry" and any food for "laundry." Since Sunday is normally the day to get caught up on some things from the previous week in preparation for the next week, and The Wif was otherwise occupied, they fell to me.

I know: boo-frickin'-hoo for me. I'm really not trying to complain, but it comes so naturally. I guess a change in perspective is in order here; I get to do laundry and make beds. I'm able load and unload a dishwasher. That's better. And besides, it feels so good when you finally get to sit down, right?

So as we wait to see what's going to happen with the recent hospitalization - and more importantly when it will end - I'm very glad to report that Bink is doing better. The occasional cough and the usual green rivers of snot running down his lip, but nothing more. That's good.

On another front, I picked up a new med today and MAN you should see the list of side effects! Now, I realize better than most that the side effects list and the warnings are written by lawyers rather than doctors or research scientists so they're greatly exaggerated in order to ward off potential lawsuits, but I'm really looking forward to those hallucinations!

Seriously, the stupid meds were on back-order for two weeks so I got to put off the inevitable at least that long. But they came in sometime late this week and were handed to me when I went in to pick up two for The Wif, (darn her hide). I'm supposed to take them in the morning, but I figured, why wait for those hallucinations?

I took the first dose on Sunday afternoon and so far, nothing. I'll take the next Monday morning and we'll see what happens.

Keep your fingers crossed - one way or another!

John and Jessica were on their way home from the bar one night and John got pulled over by the police. The officer told John that he was stopped because his tail light was burned out. John said, "I'm very sorry officer, I didn't realize it was out, I'll get it fixed right away."

Just then Jessica said, "I knew this would happen when I told you two days ago to get that light fixed."

So the officer asked for John's license and after looking at it said, "Sir your license has expired."

And again John apologized and mentioned that he didn't realize that it had expired and would take care of it first thing in the morning.

Jessica said, "I told you a week ago that the state sent you a letter telling you that your license had expired."

Well by this time, John is a bit upset with his wife contradicting him in front of the officer, and he said in a rather loud voice, "Jessica, shut your mouth!"

The officer then leaned over toward Jessica and asked. "Does your husband always talk to you like that?"

Jessica replied, "only when he's drunk."

OK. So my PC problems appear to be fixed and I can browse the interwebs and be both mildly amused and completely befuddled. And then comes the dismay and outrage. Where to start?

Every time I turn around I learn that there isn't a problem that team obama can't make much, much worse. The economy? Gee, we're in a recession so we'll spend Billions of your dollars, requiring us to raise corporate, capital, personal, energy, unemployment taxes, raise your health insurance costs and -- HEY! Why aren't you hiring out there? The oil spill? Well, of course you know that this administration - THIS one, not the previous one - granted a special waiver for the rig that exploded. You know that, right? And let's not forget the, "we've been on this from day one comment." Apparently, playing basketball and golf are special, little-known ways of skimming oil from the ocean.

Frankly, this whole oil spill thing stinks and I don't mean just the oil. Swedish ships specifically and ships from other countries offered their services, but a little-known federal law prevents foreign ships from entering our waters. Now, following Katrina Bush waived the law immediately in order to rush aid as soon as possible. During 'SpillBP' the little o was busy sitting on his thumbs and did nothing of the kind. (He certainly wouldn't want to irritate his union buddies and the Chicago bosses; those are enemies you don't want to make!) Hell, he didn't even authorize the request to build berms in order to capture the oil and keep it out of the gulf's nursery. Oh, until weeks later, that is. And let's not even mention the extortion and the 'boot on the neck' comment, shall we?

And now, we've lost Afghanistan. After some rather ill-advised comments by his staff and a rather lame interview in some obscure magazine, the thin-shinned little o threw his teletubbie across the room and shouted, "Bring me his head!"

There are several things about this I find interesting. First, nothing said even comes close to insubordination. This is being compared to Truman/MacArthur but it pales in contrast. Well, other than the fact that both Generals' last names contain multiple capitals. McChrystal's real crime was... well, we'll get to that.

The other interesting thing I see here is that even as rumors of McChrystal's "resignation" were just catching fire, the leaders of some of our allies in this war came out in opposition to getting rid of the General. How much faith must these forces have in McChrystal's ability to lead and win this war if they're coming to his defense? I mean, aren't we in an era when we're supposed to honor the thoughts and wishes of the rest of the world?

The other thing is the announcement of McChrystal's replacement: General David Petraeus. If that name sounds familiar, it should. During the Bush Administration this is the man who helped design and later lead the "surge" which helped to calm hot spots in Iraq and establish a working parliamentary democracy. So he's pretty hot stuff, right? Well, not according to the left at the time. Then senator clinton all but called him a liar, (I think she moved on to some other gubermint job), and the junior senator from Illinois voted present. Or absent. Or for anchovies on his pizza, (I forget which). left-wing moonbat groups took out a full page ad calling him General 'betray-us,' (they're just SO clever).

Hmmm. So this guy who couldn't be trusted who devised a plan which was sure to fail was universally derided by lefties just a few years ago has now been appointed to lead the war in Afghanistan. Will he be slandered by the left now that their messiah has nominated him to this rather important position? Knowing them I wouldn't rule it out. Only time will tell, I guess.

Oh sure it's possible that this sea-change is simply another in a list of attempts to lose this war, but giving the President the benefit of the doubt, (which I can do roughly twice a year), I'd like to think it's a continuation of the battle plan under new management. Only time will tell that as well.

So, what will we see out of these bozos today?

OK. I think I've got the computer back online and functional but we'll find out. There are still a number of things that need attention but as we limp on here I guess we'll get a better idea of what still needs attention. It's the nature of what I do every day and I guess it keeps life interesting.

Or so I'm told.

Of the many other things keeping my life interesting at the moment is the fact that The Binkster is vexed by a troublesome cough. Keeps him up nights, keeps Mommy up nights, keeps... well, no. that's about it. Except that every cough brings a concern or a suggestion as to what we may do about it. Otherwise, he's completely Bink-normal; eats, runs around, argues at every word from us, refuses to put toys away.

So he'll be going to the doctor tomorrow. He's scared to death of having to get a shot so of course as a highly-trained father I do everything I can to scare him even more. It's what we do, after all.

In other medical news, I'm now taking a med which makes me weak, tired, chilled and more nauseous than a 52 year old pregnant woman with scurvy. I'm not sure what this "estrogen" stuff I'm taking is, but I'm pretty tired of it already.

I spent my Father's Day opening presents and cards then took the kids to church, (The Wif was already on her way there). Once at church I took to slicing ginger flank steak for the outdoor service/picnic. We had grill problems and once we finally sorted it out it was almost time for the service to end. We sliced and sliced and immediately discovered a major sticking point between myself, the other slicers and the grill-masters: all but one of us wanted our steak to look like steak and the last chap wanted them to be something just 1/2 step away from beef jerky.

Burnt beef jerky.

Now I don't like my steak to still be mooing as I eat it, but I really don't mind hearing something that makes the other people at the table look around and ask, "did you hear something?" So we were pretty much at an impasse. But we were also victims of a grill which got far too hot far too late and charred every piece of meat until my belt was jealous.

Charcoal. Ash. Fought my knife at every attempt and looked completely unappetizing. If it weren't for the chicken The Wif bought for the event people would be fainting in the aisles.

Oh, and the desserts. These are Baptists, after all...

Question: What do you call a boomerang that doesn't work? Answer: A stick!

Question: How do you get down from an elephant? Answer: You don't get down from an elephant, you get down from a goose.

What if the Hokey-Pokey really is what it's all about?

A man encounters a pirate in a bar. They strike up a conversation, and the man asks the pirate how he suffered his various injuries. "Arrgh, I lost me leg fighting over buried treasure in the tropics. I lost me ear in a barroom fight with another pirate -- he bit me ear right off." The other man points to the pirate's arm and asks, "How'd you get the hook for an arm?" The pirate replies, "Arrgh, I lost me arm when a winch tore it off in a terrible storm at sea." "And how did you lose your eye?" The pirate says, "Arrgh, I had a terrible itch in me eye." "You lost your sight because of an itch?" The pirate explains: "Aye, it was me first day with the hook."

A bear walks into a bar and says to the bartender, "I want a gin ........ and tonic." The bartender replies, "what's with the big pause?"

What lies at the bottom of the ocean and twitches? A nervous wreck!

Question: Where does a test tube baby live? Answer: In a womb with a view.

Question: What did the termite say when he walked into the tavern? Answer: where is the bar tender?

Actually, that caption was the best I could do to introduce this:

And all of that is to explain this little beauty which I bought today. I haven't had the time to give it the full-out, hard-core test drive yet, but man is it cool just out of the box. It connects in a jif, is recognized even by my older PC instantly and it doesn't require a CD because all the software is included on the drive, self-installs as soon as it's connected and then deletes the software in order to free up the full ONE TERABYTE of disk space on the drive.

In a word? Hella-sweet.

I ordered it online and picked it up minutes later during my lunch break. They almost had it ready and I couldn't wait to get her home and try her out. Unfortunately, I had little choice but to do so. But once home and connected...

Well, to be honest at first I found little justification for buying it in the first place. After all, I already own an external hard drive and I've already backed up much of the previously "lost" data to it, so what did I need this next one for? Quite a dilemma.

And then I reasoned that both drives were USB 2.0s - which is good as far as speed of access goes - but only one is what I would call a "pocket drive;" the older, smaller one. See, it's powered by and accessed by a single cable connecting to the computer while the new, sleek, sexy, bigger, faster drive requires a separate power source. All well and good so long as it works, but less than helpful in making it portable. So the old drive, (and I can't believe I'm calling a drive I received mere weeks ago "old" but that's the nature of the business) will be my portable drive. I can carry it and a small cable and up to 600 Gigabytes of data in my back pocket and connect to any PC at my whim.

The newer, faster, bigger drive will serve the purpose - and then some - of the hardware that failed in my PC. I will store family pictues, family movies, Netflix movies, bookmarks, desktop files, shortcuts, recipes, personal web work, correspondence, (I almost wrote "past correspondence" but then thought, 'as opposed to what - future correspondence?'), software files, install applications, the rare game or two and who knows what else.

Which will probably only use about 1/2 of the drive. I'll have to see how things get split between the two drives and I suppose that's the most fun I'll have as this octopus continues to grow and grab at my feet...

So I'm still not out of the woods, but I certainly have most of the tools I need to get me there. Next up is a new PC, but I can probably get by for a couple of years with a USB 2.0 hub, an extension cord and a few USB cords.

And I can't WAIT to try out the movie software that came with the drive. I think it came to me just in time...

I don't know if I mentioned it here, (part of the risk of writing/blogging all over the bloody interwebs I suppose), but my secondary hard drive died several weeks ago. Yes, the hard drive that contained every picture we'd taken during the fist 4 years the kids lived with us. All those precious pics from all those years ago, all gone. And all because the computer won't recognize the drive it recognizes during boot, during normal usage.

(You got all that, right?)

Until tonight. For some reason, the PC locked up and had to be rebooted. Without even thinking I rebooted the PC while my portable USB drive was still attached to it, and the secondary drive was showing! I immediately started copying files from the dead/dying drive to the portable drive and all went well. For about 15 minutes. Then the drive dropped from site and would not respond to even the nicest of requests for action.

I rebooted and got the same results: 15 minutes of copying followed by a crisp, brisk, "go to Hell" from the computer. Never one to give up until both my knuckles AND my forehead are bloody I tried several different things and was finally able to copy most of the pictures to my USB drive. Some failed due to data errors, (which means I'll have to go back and try to copy the others that didn't get copied after the process ended), while others just seemed to not be found.

In fact, the disk just now disappeared from view and I don't have time tonight to get after it all, so I know what tomorrow night will bring. Still, it's nice to know that I've recaptured at least 90% of all those snaps.

Now I have only to check into a new fixed hard drive and an online backup option. It's actually kind of nice to have to solve this one instead of just pushing 1's and 0's around from hundreds of miles away...

HOLY. COW. When I heard this news I have to say that it really didn't surprise me all that much. I mean, with this administration and congress spending money as if they actually had any to begin with you really can't claim to be shocked at this news. At this rate, it HAS to happen eventually, right?

What shocked me is the fact that it's slated to happen in 2012, (perhaps this is what the mayan's had in mind?), which really isn't all that far off. In fact, by gubermint standards, it's right around the corner...

In federal gubermint circles, the year starts the prior Octember. That is, 2011 will start on Oct 1, 2010. A full 90 days prior to the calendar year's start. So that means that the vaunted 2012 fiscal year will be here a quarter-year before the calendar shows it. Which also means that the benchmark in question begins one year and one quarter from today. Sooner than is comfortable for this sort of news, I can tell you that.

But do you understand what it really means? It means that the gubermint could tax every wage earner at a rate of 100% and it STILL wouldn't be enough to pay off the national debt. And although this band of merry morons would LOVE to tax everything from everyone even they're able to see how doing so would completely cripple the economy; after all, if everything you make goes to the gubermint, what's the incentive to go to work?

Man. I hope this is the change you wanted. And if so, I hope you stick your head in a gas oven before the next election day...

Quick trip to the dentist

A man and his wife walked into a dentist’s office. The man said to the dentist, “Doc, I’m in one heck of a hurry. I have two buddies sitting out in my car waiting for us to go play golf, so forget about the anesthetic, I don’t have time for the gums to get numb. I just want you to pull the tooth, and be done with it! We have a 10:00 AM tee time at the best golf course in town and it’s 9:30 already… I don’t have time to wait for the anesthetic to work!’

The dentist thought to himself, “My goodness, this is surely a very brave man asking to have his tooth pulled without using anything to kill the pain.”

"Alright," the dentist asks, “which tooth is it sir?”

The man turned to his wife and said, “Open your mouth and show him Honey - and be quick about it!

That reminds me; I have to get to the driving range some time soon...

Well, I'd planned to say plenty about the oil spill today. After all, it's completely fertile ground with plenty to talk about; ideology stymied by incompetence and actual, real results hampered by both, how the enviro-nuts ensured that recovery of the oil and the repair of the spill would be virtually impossible by insisting that the drilling platforms be placed so far out to sea that the pipelines would be especially long, deep and vulnerable. The month and a half it's taken to respond and the only responses to date are, "keep our boot on their neck" and, "plug the damn hole."

And I say that last one about 40 times whenever I'm on the golf course, (which is FAR less than our beloved leader finds himself on the greens)...

But this article from IBD not only takes things in a different, interesting direction but does it with a flair and a statement of fact that's a little chilling, frankly.

It's required reading for everyone who even knows that there is an oil leak and ultra-super-special required reading for anyone who ever once thought that airport security screeners should be federal employees.

Read it, or you'll find yourself on double-secret probation...

Actually, if forced to tell the truth, (and I am), the long weekend I just went through was one very, very good day surrounded by productive but painful days and capped off by a rather interesting experience.

And shoveling. Lots and lots of shoveling...

After spending a prince's ransom on Thursday evening I realized on Friday that the plans I had to put my new shed together had been radically changed. Instead of building a frame to support the building and then filling it with pea gravel to level things out, I discovered that I would be able to use the existing - yet abandoned - concrete frame in the back yard. Of course I didn't realize that until I'd ordered 3 tons of pea gravel and it showed up in my driveway 40 minutes after the phone call.

And a quick word about that: this will be old news to those of you who follow me on Twitter or Facebook, but when you're ordering gravel you order it by the ton. Now, they have an online calculator that is supposed to help you out, but if you're not familiar with pea gravel you really are just taking the best guess you can. So when they show up with 3 tons of pea gravel and take all of 18 seconds to unload it, you're looking at a pile no higher than your knee and thinking, "when does the second half of the delivery arrive?"

At any rate, I ended up using about 1/3 of the gravel to level the base upon the base, (it was hollow), and we're good to roll on Saturday! My dad came over and lent more than a hand to the project and with his knowledge, might and insistence we got the whole thing put together. And only about two hours before the storms rolled in. I was even able to move several bags of gardening supplies into it before a long-neglected dinner was served to the children. I cooked up a cardboard pizza for them and warmed up the 1 and-a-half pieces of leftover pepperoni from the fridge.

Well I'll be danged if those little monsters didn't eat ALL the cardboard pizza and still wanted more. So, I did what any good father would do and gave them what I was planning to eat. I supposed I could always find something else, but I was pretty much jonesing for pizza. Let me just say that Pizza Hut may have redeemed themselves because not only did the get the order correct, but they fixed the error on their website and they arrived almost a full hour before the estimate they were given.

Of course, when I added shrooms I got a big red warning sign informing me that their pizzas cooked best with no more than 5 ingredients. I found this amusing because the meat lovers pizza I based my order upon already had 6 ingredients. What's another one?

But they got it right and I've got family-proof leftovers because I'm the only one in the house who likes mushrooms!

Sunday was running around shopping day. I had to go to a Wally World I really don't like going to but they were close to the craft store I'm not wild about going to. Food, food, food, curtain rod brackets and then flowers across the street. We then came home and did what we could to prepare for the coming company. And then other things happened but I'll be danged if I can remember what. Probably couldn't have been all that great, right?

Monday was a bit frantic as The Wif and MLD abandoned us to go dress family graves in parts north. The Knuckleheads and I made good use of our time as well as two batches of Chex Mix. We then went on a beer run, got my 'allowance' from the bank's ATM and hit Home Depot for a soaker hose and other necessities. This was AFTER I mowed the back weeds starting at 8:00 sharp. It was barely 11:00 and I'd already put in a full day's work.

After The Knuckleheads acted up and were sent to their room I was able to finish some other things and started the grill shortly prior to my folks' arrival. Then my Israeli brother and his family came through the door and the good times were starting to roll. Grilled meat, chips, several deserts and family; great way to pass the time even if you have to do the dishes for two days afterwards.

Then on Tuesday I got to go to the Museum of Nature and Science in order to chaperone a group of children from MLD's class. Of course I got MLD, a friend of hers, Mikala, a boy named Brian and Andrew, natch. I've mentioned Andrew before and if his life span wasn't already in serious danger of starting with a decimal point, his continued wandering off, loud shouting and insisting on calling me "Chris" certainly helped to nudge it in that direction.

Fortunately we all survived and I stayed around to see MLD off on the school bus. I then returned to the gift shop where I bought her 3 unique polished rocks and a kit to grow crystals. (It was the only part of the museum we saw that she seemed actually interested in.) On the way home I stopped for lunch at my fav - Chick-fil-A - and then bought two rose plants and headed home.

And grabbed my shovel...

I certainly hope that you Kool-Aid drinkers out there are paying attention. And I mean REALLY paying attention to what's going on and not just relying on katiechuckbriankeith for your information. If you ARE keeping track of what's going on out there I'd LOVE to hear your analysis of this administration's actions. As far as I can tell there are only three options: they're incompetent, they're corrupt or both of the above.

In addition to everything else, this oil spill demonstrates exactly how clueless and brainless these people are. First they say, "this is BP's problem, they'll have to solve it," and then they state that they're going to "continue keeping [their] boot on the neck of BP." I'm not sure how these two statements are reconciled. I mean, if it's BP's to clean up, then get the heck out of the way and let them get the work done. BUT, the boot on the neck comment tells the thinking among us that the gubermint intends to monitor (hamper) BP's efforts!

How about this? Since the gubermint has been invited by the Governor of Louisiana to come in and make things right, how about THEY FRICKIN' GO IN ALREADY?!?!?!! The little o could gather the best and the brightest from the Army Corps (that's 'core' Mr. President, not 'corpse') of engineers, call in the SeaBees, divert Naval resources, ask for consultants from NASA, MIT and even the Indian Technology Schools. He could do that, but refuses to. Hell, this idiot won't even decide whether or not to allow the State to build sandbars to divert the spill away from the hatcheries, fish sanctuaries and the land itself!

No. But he does play his one-note opera better than ever: "Bush's fault, BUSH'S FAULT!" (Oh, and quickly, can someone tell me how, if the Arizona law is racist and anti-Mexican and anti-immigrant, o-bozo's sending troops to defend the American-Mexican border ISN'T? LOVE to unwrap THAT pretzel.)

And in closing, I'd like to address a certain someone out there who can only be bothered to contact me when I write something they don't like. Here's an idea; stop reading. Go to Ziggy.com instead since that's probably roughly your mental equivalent. This is MY site. I pay for it, I write it and I maintain it. If I've said something that's incorrect, correct me. If I've said something libelous, sue me. But don't keep bothering me because you got your nose out of joint or your feelings hurt or you just don't have anything else to do.

I don't know what your daily schedule looks like but I know mine and it doesn't include even a minute to address anything you have to say.

Have a good day.