Musings from the Spatial Dimension

Obama-Mania. wha?????

2008-08-08T00:40:00.002-04:00

Here he is, talking about languages. Detect the note of derision towards his supposed countrymen.. (I am referring to Americans, if you wonder who I refer to as 'his countrymen').

I can speak Spanish, and I have traveled overseas without problems. I guaran-f-ing tee you that If I were to be president I would not insult my home country this way. But I reckon I am old school or something. I just don't get this joke.

Please watch, Obama-fans. Please...

Obama (hearts) America

Interesting Iraq Article

2008-07-28T22:12:00.003-04:00

It seems we are winning in Iraq. Duh. Of course alot of people for some unknown reason have and still want us to lose there. I really don't understand that viewpoint because a new Democratic Iraq is better for all humanity in the long run - all politics aside.

Read me.

There is a description in this article referring to the parks of Baghdad this summer - how they are full of families enjoying the outdoors without fear of being killed or abducted by Saddams goons. THAT is what life is about. And it took alot of effort and leadership to free the Iraqi people. A free Iraq is a friend to the US, and that is good - at least if you care about your country and the place you live.

You can thank the US Military for this new rebirth of a country that was once the cradle of civilization.

Thank you, U.S. Troops and Veterans. And a special shout out to my home boy Nato who served in Iraq. THANK YOU!

Obama Fans Look Here.....

2008-06-30T23:40:00.003-04:00

If you don't see the difference - then there's no hope for you or our country.

But hey, 'change' is good...right? or is it?? you be the judge.

This 'change' is not one we should believe in. Unless you'd like to be a communist.

But then to some people that's not a bad word. So there ya go. We probably will elect this former Muslim that has a wife who hates this country. Oh, and his preacher hates this country too...but he's not aware of that.

Oh who cares. He's black and new and can talk well. yeehaw.

Those of you who compare him to MLK or other great black leaders - apparently do not realize that those great men and women spoke of freedom ... while this man speaks of 'security' and 'fairness'.

That means 'slavery to the government'. Questions?? ask me, I'll fill ya in.

Change my ass.

Why we went to Iraq

2008-06-10T21:36:00.002-04:00

Unless we forget. and most have, sometimes I admit I might have as well.

Click on me and take a stroll down memory lane...

Howdy All

2008-04-16T23:56:00.003-04:00

Yes I have resurfaced to say 'HI'. I have recently gotten plugged into Facebook and noticed an uptick in my Blog Hits.

Well Hot Damn. (pardon me.. 'Hot DOG' I meant...)

Good to see ya. Hope you find some stuff from when I actually had a lot of time to devote to my blog.

I will try to find something cool to post this weekend..I probably won't be working then. Anyways - in the meantime check out the Blob. Casual Game awesomeness. Trust me you will love this little freebie gem of a game. My little ones love it and so do I.

P

De Blob

Calling all Map Geek Wannabes

2007-12-18T22:58:00.000-05:00

Think you have what it takes to be a Map Geek?

Take this test and let me know how you do.

One of the coolest map thingys ever.

Oh I got a 564,172 my first try. I guess that's OK...I could prolly do better if I boned up on my Central Asian geography. ah well.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-20T21:31:00.001-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

We will be heading to the South Carolina Coast for the holiday, and we plan on relaxing a bit and enjoying the time off.

Please everyone remember the reason for this holiday, and that's to give thanks for all the blessings we have. I have so many I have to be thankful for, I wake up every morning thankful for them.

Here's an article about our great country and the things we have to be thankful for.

Enjoy.

Howdy

2007-11-14T00:10:00.000-05:00

Hello.

I am alive. I have a new job. I work REAL hard. I also make probably 3 times more than I used o make.

Just wanted to check in and say 'hi'. I will blog more later. I will I swear - except I now work three jobs. yay. HURRRAH!

And they ROCK.

Ask Chris Hav. How he feels? Dunno what Im talking about? Oh well. I'll fill in later.

P-Sales-Dogg

Unemployment blues....

2007-06-13T14:01:00.000-04:00

Greetings, faithful Blog readers..

As of last Friday I officially became unemployed. Apparently my position with my employer was eliminated during the reorganization of their business. I joined about 1800 other employees there that fell to the slumping housing market. It was a great experience working there and I'm going to miss it. But life moves on.

Good news: I'm on vacation in Hilton Head South Carolina with my family and we're having a blast.

Bad News: I'm fully unemployed starting the middle of July.

Anyone looking for a mid-level GIS Analyst/Manager type?

I have my resume handy if you want a gander. Seriously - post below if you have any interest...I am looking for any and all opportunities.

I'll check in later when I'm back home from vacation - should have some pics and all to share.

P

Map on, Dude.

2007-06-07T12:03:00.000-04:00

Found this Job posting on the GIS Jobs Clearinghouse.

http://www.gjc.org/gjc-cgi/showjob.pl?id=1179074547

Position Detail
Organization: Private Web Media CompanyTitle: Needed: ArcGIS Server 9.2 Freak
Location: USA (Chicago or Houston preferred)Application
Deadline: Posted: 2007-05-13
Position Description: Need a freelance freak
in ArcGIS Server 9.2 to join our team. We're building a sick web-based mapping
site for a new kind of social networking. Bonus if you've worked with Navteq or
Teleatlas databases before. Double bonus if you know something about mobile
phone networks. Send resume with links to stuff you've done so we can see if
you're the kind of freak we're looking for. Email to "rubygods@gmail.com". Map
on dude

Now THAT is the kind of company I'd like to be working for...hopefully this is a hint of what the future holds for us GIS professionals.

Oh and by the way, looks like I may be getting laid off tomorrow, so I'm in the middle of a job hunt. Anyone looking for a mid to senior level GIS Manager/Database Analyst type person? I can furnish my resume on request.. *big charming grin*

Nevermind, if I dont get the axe tomorrow, but I think odds are pretty high. I'll keep you up to date.

From the 'Why????' Files

2007-06-01T11:57:00.000-04:00

What possible purpose is this? Eh whatever. It's just random enough to break the long silence that has been my Blog the past month or so.

Eiffel Tower SCUBA?

Motivational Posters I'd Like to see

2007-04-06T11:33:00.000-04:00

For your Friday Chuckles..

If you don't get the humor, take heart, that just means you're not a Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Gamer nerd like me.

You know you always wondered who that 'other guy' was when you watched Star Trek. If you ever watched Star Trek that is....

How many times have I found myself yelling at the movie "JUST KILL HIM ALREADY, STUPID! ENOUGH BLATHER! YOU'RE A BAD GUY, PROVE IT!!!". The bad guy ALWAYS talks too much and by the time he gets around to killing the good guy, it's too late because the Good Guy always goes all supersecretninja on him and gets away. *sigh*

You're probably thinking to yourself "What the heck are Four Sided Dice? and WTF does 6d8 mean??" If you laugh at this poster, then you're my kind of blog reader. Nerd.

College Football Programs as South Park characters

2007-04-05T09:34:00.000-04:00

Found this while surfing the blogosphere today. I got a kick out of it - you should too, if you're a College football and South Park fan, like I am.

Clemson = the Marklars?....classic...

Traitor in high heels

2007-04-04T12:08:00.000-04:00

Here it is - evidence of treason.

In open defiance of official U.S. Foreign policy, the Speaker of the House of U.S. Representatives went to meet with an enemy of the U.S. anyways (Pres. Bashar Assad of Syria, for those of you not paying attention - and yes Syria is allowing and supporting terrorists to enter Iraq, therefore they qualify as enemy).

If you voted for the Democrat party in the national election, shame on you because you empowered this act of treason to occur.

What these Democrats don't realize, is that they are forever damaging the office of the Presidency with these subversive and irresponsible actions. This is bigger than our current president, this will have long lasting implications even after George W. Bush retires from public office. I'm talking big picture here...can they not overlook their hatred and disrespect for one man to consider this? guess not. If you don't see a problem here, my faithful blog readers, then you too don't 'get it'.

Who exactly is in charge of our foreign policy? I suspect that the Speaker of the House believes it is her. Well the Constitution of the U.S. says otherwise, maybe she should read it before aiding and abetting our enemies.

This just makes my blood boil....

An Adult's Conversation, seen from a Child's Point of View

2007-03-20T11:51:00.000-04:00

I found this entertaining article on The New Yorker while reading FARK earlier today. The author relates what kids might imagine grown-ups are talking about during dinner parties...Gave me a good chuckle - hope you enjoy.

I. A Conversation at the Grownup Table, as Imagined at the Kids’ Table

MOM: Pass the wine, please. I want to become crazy.
DAD: O.K.
GRANDMOTHER: Did you see the politics? It made me angry.
DAD: Me, too. When it was over, I had sex.
UNCLE: I’m having sex right now.
DAD: We all are.
MOM: Let’s talk about which kid I like the best.
DAD: (laughing) You know, but you won’t tell.
MOM: If they ask me again, I might tell.
FRIEND FROM WORK: Hey, guess what! My voice is pretty loud!
DAD: (laughing) There are actual monsters in the world, but when my kids ask I pretend like there aren’t.
MOM: I’m angry! I’m angry all of a sudden!
DAD: I’m angry, too! We’re angry at each other!
MOM: Now everything is fine.
DAD: We just saw the PG-13 movie. It was so good.
MOM: There was a big sex.
FRIEND FROM WORK: I am the loudest! I am the loudest!
(Everybody laughs.)
MOM: I had a lot of wine, and now I’m crazy!
GRANDFATHER: Hey, do you guys know what God looks like?
ALL: Yes.
GRANDFATHER: Don’t tell the kids.

-Simon Rich

Chick-Fil-A cows???

2007-03-09T14:52:00.000-05:00

HAHAHAHA!

This has to be read to believed. I Just thought this was pretty darned funny.

Thanks Neal Boortz for finding this gem...

Chicken eating cow?

Allow me to Rant a Minute...

2007-03-01T13:26:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know some of you all have really been missing 'ANGRY PAT', well I just thought I would throw this group of you some red meat to devour just this one time - for old time's sake..

It's about the Democrats in Congress.

What is up with all this anti-war 'resolution' crap? Not only has it now become ridiculous the amount of resolutions the Democratic leadership has brought to the congressional floor, but none of them have any binding power ('teeth'). Whats the point?? Seriously? It's not like there's anything else they could be spending their time on, you know that could say...actually DO SOMETHING positive for our country? Oh wait, I guess it would really be helpful if they could get Pres. Bush to say that the US Military is 'overburdened'.....*sigh*

It's like being in the back of a car on a road trip with their family, and the Democrat's Dad is driving and they're in the backseat moaning 'I don't like the way you drive! I'm going to get you to apologize for taking us cross country on this trip! I HATE you! I wish you weren't my Daddy!.. WAHHHH!!' It only makes the trip more painful and doesn't make any difference anyways.

It's way beyond obvious to me that the only reason these people get out of bed in the morning is to embarrass President Bush in any possible way, shape or form. If that means siding with our enemies and encouraging them with 'resolutions' that mean nothing but send loud statements to our enemies that we are weak, then so be it. It's very very hard to believe that these people represent the best in American leadership when they can't get over their hatred for one man. Are they really that petty? (apparently, yes)

Sure, President Bush has his problems, and I don't support all his actions, but really - don't you people have anything better to do?

This is a serious question for you blog readers out there...what really is the true point of this other than embarrassing a sitting Commander in Chief? And I'm not even going to mention what would happen if the Democrats got their way in the war on terror (suicide bombers in local malls anyone?)

Whose side are they on anyways? I really honestly don't know... I guess the answer to that would be their own. Not the USA's, that's for sure.

Oh and if you voted for any of these people (here in Georgia none of them were on my ballot..), then SHAME ON YOU. Vote for someone that actually gives a crap about doing something for our future for once, not spending all their energy on worthless tantrums.

The Hillary Show!

2007-02-15T13:36:00.000-05:00

Ran across this website, 'Stop Her Now!' (Hat tip to Neal's Nuze) which is devoted to stopping Hillary Rodham-Clinton-Heimer-Schmidt from winning the Presidency in 2008.

Found these humorous Flash animated cartoons called, 'The Hillary Show'.

In the premiere episode, Hillary interviews John Kerry.
John 'Ketchup King' Kerry

In episode #2, Hillary interviews everyones favorite moonbatty rich liberal artist, Babs (she's like BUttah!)
'My House is Bigger than yours so I know whats good for you, even if you think otherwise...'

In the third installment, Hillary interviews, er..catfights with The Speaker-ess of the House, Nancy Pelosi!
ROWWWWWRR!!! FFFT..FTTTT....

enjoy!

LARP

2007-02-01T14:55:00.000-05:00

No comment. I mean really, what else needs to be said?

Cheers to our Worthy Rivals

2007-01-31T11:34:00.000-05:00

Just kidding. How about this little good piece of exposure for some classy kids up in Clemson, SC?

Kinda Stupid, If you ask me...

Theres more pics here.

Not that College Kids aren't known for their brains when it comes to paryting, but hey, I had to get in a shout out for Clemson, cuz you know I'm like that - bein' a Gamecock and all. Heh heh.

Oh - and whats up with the 40oz taped to your hands? Is that some gangsta thing Im missin' nowadays?

Dangerous Wild Animals Roaming the streets...

2007-01-31T10:34:00.000-05:00

In my old townhouse complex of all places...

Dangerous Packs of Wild Dogs

Yes, these beasties have been eluding capture and are roaming free in Covered Bridge, the neghborhood I had my townhouse in back in 2000-2001 over in Marietta. Funny thing is, I remember a lady on my street that had two really yippy beasts that looked very much like the ones in these pics. hmmm I wonder....

Just goes to prove the feral nature of all animals, especially this species which has a long history of roaming the plains of Central Mongolia in wild packs, hunting without mercy. Now, instead of camels, they hunt fried eggs.

Oh and it just gets better - here's an article from todays AJC Metro Section:

You GO BEASTS!!!

Will they ever be captured? Will they continue to hold Marietta in the grip of cold pure terror forever?!?!

Tune in to find out...

*woof*

NERDS!

2007-01-30T10:19:00.000-05:00

Just got this article from my bro. Seems that nerd-dom is rampant in Rhode Island as well..even so far as to get the ACLU involved.

Chicks Dig Claymores

Yeah. Top that, Mr. Cool Guy Shell Necklace Starting Quarterback of the football team!

Three Cheers for my Home Town!

2006-10-26T12:59:00.000-04:00

Just found this article in the local paper. Seems as though the city I live in has a police chief that is actually doing his job. AND...He's the only one doing his part in the entire state of Georgia as well.

You Go, Roswell!

Hopefully this little bit of exposure will wake some people up at the Federal Government...but I doubt it. That giant is fast asleep...

My View of Politics Nowadays

2006-10-06T13:27:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Neal Boortz, I happened upon this blog called Guns N' Butter. This is a brilliant political satire site which I found myself laughing out loud at. (yes it is considered 'conservative' humor, but I'm sure people of all stripes can enjoy it)

Ahh, now the stupidity of it all is outlined and mocked all in one easy to read blog. I found my dire attitude about our country's future somewhat relieved after I read this.

The Clinton/WWE thing is priceless....

I hope you enjoy as much as I did, because things nowadays in politics just aren't very funny at all. Fall of the Roman Empire anyone??

Planetary Demotion!

2006-08-24T10:59:00.000-04:00

I just read that they decided to demote Pluto from planetary status!

EGADS!

Ah - to be a fly on the wall during that 'combative' debate amongst the astronomers. I bet much galatial smack talk was laid down. They even mocked the former planet with a stuffed animal and an umbrella. Whooosh - them Astronomers and their sense of humor, boy.

I can't wait for the ACLU to jump in and claim 'Size discrimination' on this one. Ba dump dump.

On another note...I feel so betrayed that I have always been taught there are 9 planets in the solar system. Oh what to do with all those foam ball models of the solar system out there put together by elementary school kids just trying to conform to the ages old nine-planet standard (imposed by the MAN who is beholden to Pluto interests)!

Will they all fail now?

Will landfills explode because of excessive little foam ball Plutos suddenly flooding the garbage trucks?

I fear the end is nigh...

Humor of the day

2006-08-18T09:27:00.000-04:00

So I have been reading this guy's blog for a while now - and I find his particular brand of humor very entertaining. He seems to have a pretty big mean streak and he frequently states how he 'hates people'. This is all so ironic, because he is a Game Master for an online video game called Final Fantasy XI. Basically his job is to deal with player complaints and to deal with them (read: Cutomer Service). How he deals with them, is, well, hilarious.

Let the Hilarity ensue...

OK, OK, so I don't get all the terms he uses either, but its still pretty funny. Just thought I'd share, you know, 'cause I'm like that.

This whole Israel-Hezbollah thing

2006-08-16T10:29:00.000-04:00

...is just an encapsulation of why I am generally staying out of discussing politics on my blog any more. Seems pointless to because noone (the media, our government, UN, Europe in general) has any sense any more.

Everyone knows the story by now, Hezbollah invades Israel, kills Israeli troops, captures two soldiers and then returns to Lebanon with them. Israel rightly declares this an act of war and invades Southern Lebanon to destroy Hezbollah.

Of course I knew all along that Israel would never be allowed to finish the business Hezbollah started, and of course I was right. The UN stepped in like they always do when Jews are being killed, insuring that MORE Jews will be killed in the future by forcing a ceasefire upon Israel and Hezbollah. Hezbollah???? cripes. They aren't even a country much less a trustworthy party to a cease fire. The only reason that they even exist is to destroy Israel, kill Jews and spread radical Islam. It's none of the other stuff about 'occupation' or 'oppresion' or whatever other crappy hippie liberal excuse given. It's all about killing infidels - Jews first.

I give this 'cease-fire' crap about a week before it blows back up again because Hezbollah will not back down from Jew killing. PERIOD.Israel will comply by its terms, as they always do, and hezbollah will not. If you haven't figured this out by now, then you shouldn't be following International politics. And of course, right on script, the Hezbollah animals are not complying with the cease fire terms (SHOCK!!!!!) and will not withdraw from Southern Lebanon. Oh and they won't disarm either unless a bunch of other crap happens or if Israel magically disappears from the face of the Earth (read: Jew killing).

This is all so much BS. and I'm tired of it. I hope and pray that someday the world gets over it's Jew hatred and decides to actually defend itself against the true enemy here: Islamic Facism. Because after Israel goes, do you really think these people will stop there? Guess who's next... *ahem*, Euroweenies?

Freaky Animation

2006-07-11T13:40:00.000-04:00

Check this out - I don't know exactly what it means or if it's supposed to mean anything at all. Either way it's cool.

Kinda reminds me of Civ or Age of Empires or something...

Enjoy

Thanks to Boortz

Blip - Blip

2006-06-29T09:09:00.000-04:00

I am still here! Don't have much to say at the moment that wouldnt just make me rant, so here's a public service announcement from my daughter.

Blazin Hazen...

2006-06-09T10:19:00.000-04:00

Just in case you ever felt a need to express yourself as a poor disadvantaged middle class whiteboy through rap...well, someone's already beat you to the punch.

This video is all that and a side of slaw.

WARNING: Video contains excessive Mullet-tude and gratuitous chicken-chesting.

On the Alien Invasion

2006-04-28T14:47:00.000-04:00

I'm sure you've heard on the news lately all this blather about the Illegal Alien invasion that has been occurring in this country for the past couple of decades or so, which all of a sudden our federal Government has finally decided to notice. Not that they're going to do anything about it, because they won't, but at least they're considering it as their next big vote buying issue/scheme. I thought in the spirit of all this that I'd at least give a quick comment on it and share a story I found regarding a legal alien (you know, a person who actually followed the rules)working here in the U.S.

I hear that on Monday, these illegal alien invaders and their supporters are planning on 'shutting down' some U.S. cities by staging huge protests, demanding they be given amnesty. well I've had more than enough of this B.S., and I hope beyond all hopes that the INS decides to actually take advantage of the situation and take all the paddy wagons they have and go to these demonstrations and start loadin 'em slap full of 'protesters'. It seems so glaringly clear to me...I mean there they all are, all these law breakers, in broad daylight giving us all the proverbial finger! CATCH THEM AND SHIP THEM! Of course, the Government is not known for doing anything that makes sense, much less anything at all, so this will indeed not happen. The paddy wagons will remain in the garages they keep them in, much like the school buses in a City of New Orleans parking lot after Katrina blew through (how's that for simile?). But hey, a man can dream, can't he?

Here's the article I mentioned before my mini-rant. Read and think about it.

Overqualified Immigrant

Fun with Google Earth - Name that place I

2006-04-19T15:03:00.000-04:00

Just for kicks, here are two images from Google Earth of relatively well known locations in the world. Can you name them?

First Category - U.S. Cities:

1.)

2.)

First to answer correctly is the Honorary MapGeek of the week. yeah, you know you wanna be that cool.

I admit, I have an addiction.... sob

2006-04-18T13:28:00.000-04:00

Hello, my name is Pat, and I am Buffalo wing addict. I crave them almost all the time (the only time I'm not craving them is when I just finished eating sixteen of them). The particular wings I crave are found at Wild Wing Cafe (Shameless plug), the hands-down best hot wings I have ever sloppily devoured in my life.

In particular I crave the heavenly crispy, yet juicy, spiciness of the little pieces of poultry parts slathered with 'Chernobyl' sauce provided by the various Wild Wing locations. Their Chernobyl sauce has achieved the perfect balance of spiciness, garlicity (is that a word?), and flavor that make all other wing sauces pale in comparison. If I'm feeling realy bold, I go for the next level of heat, 'China Syndrome'. Mmmmm..*drool*

My admission of addiction may come as no surprise to some of you, so I shall continue no further. But, in my zeal for wings, I stumbled across a paper written on the culture and history of the Buffalo wing, complete with distribution maps of wing dealers...errr...restaurants.

Yes, I finally did find the perfect match of Geography and hot wings. I have reached the proverbial Halls of Valahalla, as they say in Scandinavia.

Click and enjoy blue cheese gooeyed goodness.

Man I'm hungry.

Oh this is such FUN!

2006-04-05T13:29:00.000-04:00

As you are probably aware, the esteemed (*chuckle*) Congresswoman (*choke*) from Georgia, Cynthia McKinney, is back in the news because of another display of her self centered idiocy. I've been following this story since it broke because it hits pretty close to home, seeing as how she's from an Atlanta district and all, and I knew that there would be some extreme entertainment value out of this one. Well, I don't want to get too much into how little I think of her, but I just wanted to point you all to a couple of stories regarding this incident.

Boortz is the King of Snark today with his Nuze - Check out the first four items. He makes his point succinctly and, did I say, beautifully snarkily?

Seems as though it's so bad for McKinney, that even the Democrap..errr Democrats don't want to deal with her! And here all along I thought she was just their litle darling!

D'OH!

Stay tuned, and maybe she'll get more support from anti-American idiots like Harry Belafonte (he's an anti semite too! wow, a double doozy!), Danny Glover, Hamas, other terrorist supporters...oh wait, never mind, she's already gotten all their support!

Silly me, haven't I been paying attention?

Calling all Geographers!

2006-03-31T12:59:00.000-05:00

You really can sell ANYTHING on E-Bay nowadays. Check this out, the interstate overlay is PRICELESS. (GIS, Tortilla style)

Georgia Tortilla Chip

Thanks to Boortz for the link...

I wonder with my knowledge of geography if I can sell a piece of bread as a 'Colorado shaped slice of bread'?

Wonders never cease...

A Good Children's book

2006-03-31T10:48:00.000-05:00

Check out this book written by Strongbad. It's very educational for the little ones. I think we may get a copy for our BabyGirl.

Click ME!

I'm BACK!

2006-03-30T08:10:00.000-05:00

Howdy intrepid Blog readers!

I've been away for a while as lots of interesting things have happened in our lives over the past month. If you've kept up with War Eagle Girl's Blog, you'll know that we took a trip to Vegas and to Charlotte, so you know we've been busy. I have also been going through a job transition and am just starting to get settled at my new job. They keep me pretty busy around here, so I haven't had a heck of alot of time to post on my blog. This new job has been a big change for me, and I am finding that most changes (especially this one) are for the better. Some of the pros of my new job include:

1) They gave me a nice big office (my own!)
2) I have a big and fast PC to do my mapping and programming on
3) The morning commute is better
4) They pay me more
5) Better opportunity for promotion and career growth
6) I'm a regional employee now, so I work with a larger variety of people in different offices
7) Less stressful - not near as many hurried requests for projects due in an hour
8) (this is for Seannibal) The vending machine in the breakroom is free!

As great as this new job is, there are some drawbacks:

1) I no longer work with War Eagle Girl
2) the afternoon commute is worse than before
3) I miss talking with my BC friends. I'm located with the Regional VPs, and they travel alot so its usually pretty quiet around here.
4) I no longer have a supportive GIS community here to work with. I guess I will have to build my own.

Who am I working for, you might ask? Pulte Homes, America's largest home builder. I am still making maps, but in support of strategic planning for residential development. It's a different world over here, different from environmental consulting, that's for sure.

Just wanted to fill you all in, I'll try to keep up with my blog when I find amusing links and the like.

Have any questions for the new Southeast Area Senior GIS/Data Analyst? Ask away...

Hasta Luego, Amigos!

A Tale of Cell Phone Use

2006-03-03T19:31:00.000-05:00

You ever wonder about those people that talk really loud on their cell phones while waiting in line or in public? Well here's a little story that cracked me up when I read it. This is from a web forum that I frequent relating to a computer game that I play on-line.

Don't ask. You all should know by now that I'm a big geek. But if you really want to know what a lich is, I'll tell you all about it.

Amusing Cell Phone Anecdote.

We're off to Vegas for a family vacation, so I'll check in with you on the flip side.

P.S. For the record, I probably would not have reacted the way this fellow did in his situation, but I don't really know what I would have done.

Blast from the past

2006-03-01T11:59:00.000-05:00

Found this video while I was surfing on the web. I hit play and was suddenly thrown back into the good ol' days of gaming on the Nintendo.

Enjoy.

Don't forget to save the Princess from the Mushroom King!

*ACK! I Can't get that song out of my head!!!*

Ads and such

2006-02-24T15:11:00.000-05:00

If you've been following my blog at all (there may be four of you out there..) you might have noticed that I have added an advertising bar across the top of my page. A couple reasons for this:

1) I'm trying to increase traffic to my blog, well just because....
2) and they will pay me for every time that one of my blog readers clicks on an ad.

Hey, why the heck not have the ads up there then? Hope yall don't mind too much.

Funny thing is, they have some sort of computerized deal that scans through your blog and picks ads according to your page content - kind of like how Amazon tracks your favorite items. Well when I logged in this morning there was an ad up there that said "Replace Bush"?

Wow, I didn't realize that one post questioning President Bush's motives puts me in the lefty blog category. I better take my post back.

Forget I ever said anything bad about President Bush...OK? *wink wink*

I think I'm going to start posting more about beer and gaming and see what happens.

Oh, and don't forget to click on the ads for me!

Senator Ted's Excellent Adventure

2006-02-23T08:42:00.000-05:00

Seems as though Massachussetts biggest embarrassment (I know, its hard to outdo John Kerry) experienced a bit of free speech at a speaking engagement he had at a local Massachussetts University. Apparently all it took was the B.S. introduction they gave for the 'illustrious' senator to set this guy off.

We Remember too, Teddy!
Courtesy of Thunkmaster D

And this from a self avowed lib. Go figure. Oh and check the pic of Teddy in the article. Theres some hardship for ya. Puhleease.

Mister President? What are you thinking???

2006-02-22T16:22:00.000-05:00

So I have finally reached a point where I cannot no longer approve of the current presidential administration. As much support as I have given them in the past, it seems they are headed in the direction of the old saying 'power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely'. If President Bush decides to grow a pair and bomb Iran, stop illegal immigration and reform Social Security, then maybe I'll forgive him and his administration.

BUT

It was bad enough that President Bush has abandoned his social security reform, he's abandoned the ANWR drilling initiative, has not vetoed a SINGLE spending bill put before him by the pork laden Congress, will not even consider the Flat Tax plan because of the Washington Lobby, and has absolutely ignored the problem of illegal immigration except by offering them amnesty. And now this whole UAE ports authority thing? Is Pres. Bush on crack? I guess the administration would rather see the cash from this deal than worry about nukes being smuggled into our ports.
See Boortz for a great blog on this issue, I won't waste any space here because I couldn't have said it any better.

Read Me and weep.

and this from James Lileks.

I don't know who to vote for in the 2008 election. The Dems are a joke, and now the Republicans are showing that they don't take national security seriously. Does ANY political party represent my views? (The Libertarians and Constitutionalists are steadfast against the War on Terror, showing they do not take National Defense seriously either).

Can anyone out there help me decide? I feel like a lost soul...

Howdy, Yall

2006-02-16T12:48:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone, just checking in. I'm in the midst of a transition here at work since I've accepted a new job with another company and we are really excited about it. I'll get you some more details later on it, but I just couldn't ignore the fact that I've been neglecting my Blog for this long.

So here's a link to enjoy while I go back to work and finish up this stuff. Yuck.

Live Action D&D Nerds

If you've never heard of LARPing (you may have seen a bit in my last D&D related video post) people really DO this. in the woods. for like four days at a time. here in Georgia and in other places near you. go figure.

A D&D Gamer Documentary

2006-02-03T15:10:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Commish Dennis for a link to probably one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

I *swear* I've never EVER done any of these things before in High School. I *swear*. Really.

Click here and you will automatically Fail your Saving throw for Bigby's Uncontrollable Laughter

The Cartoon Jihad is in full swing

2006-02-02T10:27:00.000-05:00

OK. So this editorial cartoonist in Denmark makes some cartoons that aren't exactly friendly to the Muslim prophet Muhammad (or Mohammed, or whatever), and now the terrorists in Gaza are demanding apologies from the European governments because of this? Apparently it is because many Muslims feelings were hurt.

I kid you not. What a bunch of cry babies, I've never seen anything like this in my life. It gets better, apparently these 'gunmen' (read terrorist whineybabies) are demanding that the 'Palestinian' people boycott Danish, French and German products.

BUWAHAHAHAHAH!!! as if they can afford to do without. Whatever.

Read about the temper tantrum here.

The irony is sooo overwhelming I don't even know where to start. From the article:

Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank city of Nablus said they were searching apartments for foreigners from several European countries to try to kidnap them to protest the drawings. The claim by the gunmen could not immediately be verified independently.

Followed a short bit later by:
The furor over the drawings, which first ran in a Danish paper in September, cuts to the question of which is more sacred in the Western world — freedom of expression or respect for religious beliefs. The cartoons include an image of Muhammad wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with a burning fuse.

Gee, now where did that Danish cartoonist get the idea that Mohammed may be the prophet of a violent religion?

Oh I dunno..check here to see some of what the Arab world has been drawing in their cartoons.

Weirdest USB Devices

2006-02-02T08:54:00.000-05:00

From the computer geek department, check out the Top Ten Weirdest USB Devices.

Thanks to Commish Dennis for the link.

mmmm...self destruct button.....

A Sad day indeed

2006-01-26T19:43:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, the 'Palestinians' currently living in the West Bank (actually they are Jordanians, but that's not as sexy), elected Hamas to be the new leadership of the 'Palestinian State'.

Baaaaad news.

In case you didn't know, Hamas is the terrorist group that claimed responsibility for killing hundreds if not thousands of Israeli citizens in terrorist attacks. They are now taking power in 'Palestine' (The Gaza). I was honestly disappointed to read this when I saw it on the internet news because it means one thing:

Many many people will die.

Unfortunately for them, the majority of them will be 'Palestinians'. Hamas stands for nothing but bloodshed and killing Jews, so this next year will be very very bad in the Middle East. And with Iran rattling its saber, it ain't looking pretty.

Of course they don't truly understand the power that will be unleashed on them if they screw with the U.S. or Israel too much. I fear we may find out, although I hope and pray that we won't have to. My prayers will be with the people of Israel, now that their next door neighbor enemy has taken its mask off.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming....

Espionage?

2006-01-23T15:34:00.000-05:00

Secret Plans from the Pentagon

I have stumbled across these secret plans from the Pentagon to finally rid this world of Bin Laden.

HUrrah!!!

Thanks to Coach Thugg for the artwork.

Considering a new career?

2006-01-17T12:01:00.000-05:00

Check out this list that will give you handy tips and tricks on becoming a very successful evil overlord. Read and comprehend this list well so that you will not allow those pesky heroes to interrupt your grand plans to dominate the universe!!

muWAH HA HA HA!!

Happy New Year!

2006-01-04T17:11:00.000-05:00

KabLOOEY!!!

Howdy all....

Just checking in after a busy busy busy holiday season. To Recap:

Shopping.
Shopping.
Dodge mall traffic.
Church on Xmas Eve.
Open presents with C family on Xmas Eve.
Xmas morning breakfast at our house with both families.
Xmas dinner at P family house.
work for a week (busy).
Watched Gamecocks lose bowl game.
Ate greasy onion rings and drank tasty beer.
Fretted.
New Years Party.
Saw Chronicles of Narnia on New Years Day.
Back to work. (booo!)

Stayed home for the holidays, and it was great, but man were we tired out from all the merrymaking. yeesh! Especially Babygirl. She was tired, but hung in there!

Anyways, hope y'all have a great year, and you find yourself further along the road to accomplishing your dreams, whatever they may be.

P.S. On the zymurgy front, I brewed an English Pale Ale, and it is now in secondary fermentation. The pale ale votes won in my little online 'poll'. Thanks for your support!

Is this how things work nowadays?

2005-12-21T10:22:00.000-05:00

If you are doing something illegally, and the people you are doing this illegal act against decide to defend themselves, does this give you the right to scream and wail at them for not allowing you to continue committing this illegal act against them?

Is this how things work nowadays?

The Palestinians did this against Israel with the Israeli wall building, and now the Mexicans are getting in on the act against the U.S.

Read this and shake your head in dismay.

The U.S. Government is planning on building a security fence across OUR border with Mexico to prevent ILLEGAL Mexican Immigrants from sneaking into the U.S. *gasp*

Nowhere in that article does the Mexican Government or anyone else for that matter realize that all immigrants need to do to immigrate to America is to go through the proper channels. That's it. And those people will be able to travel to America and work here, LEGALLY, and send their money back home if they wish.

It's not xenophobia, or anything else, as a matter of fact, the vast majority of all immigrants prior to the so-called 'Mexican Invasion' had LEGAL PAPERWORK. Chinese, Vietnamese, Swedes, Irish, Germans, Norwegians, Egyptians, etc. etc.

Let me try an example: my neighbor has this awesome pool and hot tub, and I want to go use it because I don't have one on my property, and I know if I go relax in it for a while I will become more relaxed and my family back at home will benefit from my less stressful self. So I sneak across into the neighbors backyard in the middle of the night to use the pool - I have a great time and call my family back at home and they are greatly pleased that I am relaxed and enjoying myself. Well before long, my neighbors next to me catch wind of what I'm doing and they sneak in and use the neighbor's pool also, to the benefit of their families. We continue to do this unimpeded for years. Well, finally, the owner of the pool decides enough is enough when he tires of his pool being used so much that it becomes very dirty, the filtration system clogs, and he needs money to repair it. Well, he decides that the main problem is the illegal use of his pool by his neighbors, who aren't being very neighborhly, and his pool isn;t designed to handle that much use without proper mainteenance, and he decides to do something about it.

So he comes to my house and knocks on my door. I answer. The neighbor pleads, 'Excuse me, Sir, could you please stop using my pool illegally at night, I will allow to you to use it anytime, but please ask permission of me first and chip in 3 dollars each time you use it to help pay for its maintenance so we can all enjoy it!'

'No way!' I say. Knowing full well he won't do anything to stop me from sneaking into his back yard, using his pool and enjoying myself, all the time not having to help maintain it or anything. What a deal! I begin telling all my neighbors about this wonderful backyard that has such a great pool in it, and it becomes part of my family's stories and lifestyle. So I keep on using his pool, many, many more nights, until the pool once again becomes clogged and needs maintenance.

My neighbor decides to build a fence so I can't continue to sneak into his back yard and use his pool. I go next door and knock on his door.

'What do you think you are doing! this is an outrage! You are changing my lifestyle and all of my neighbors! I think you are Anti-Curley and xenophobic because you raised this fence to keep me out of your yard! This is all our territory and you are violating my rights to play in your pool! I demand that you tear down this fence, I will organize an international protest against your fence because it violates my human rights!'

The neighbor replies, 'All you have to do is ask my permission and help chip in for maintenance, and you're welcome here.'

I think you get my point.

What's the big deal here?

Vote Democrat, the party of Surrender!

2005-12-20T13:25:00.000-05:00

Here it is. The House bill titled "Expressing the commitment of the House of Representatives to achieving victory in Iraq" was voted on last Friday.

108 Democrats voted against it.

Hmm...if I didn't know any better I'd think most of the house Dems are not committed to helping us win in Iraq (59 Dems voted for it, these must be the ones that actually like their home country).

Is this considered 'patriotic dissent'? Looks more like treason to me.

This War Sucks

2005-12-15T13:52:00.000-05:00

A guest blogger appears on Iowahawk's blog to post about the War in Iraq. Ever wonder what the War on Terror looks like from the Al Qaeda point of view? Read on.

***WARNING - CONTAINS ADULT LANGUAGE****

The Zarkman on the Iraq War

I promise to keep my posts clean from now on, and most of my links will be to family friendly sites, but man, is this stuff FUNNY. I had to share.

Harry Potter - explained...

2005-12-08T11:03:00.000-05:00

Found this one on the brilliant webcomic "The Order of the Stick". Kinda puts into words (and colorful stick figures) alot of the thoughts that have crossed my mind while watching the various Potter movies. Maybe you've had these thoughts as well...but I can only suspect..

Oh and I am a Harry Potter fan, just jealous of how 'cool' he is.

MUWUWAHAHAHAHA!

Article on the "Big Picture" in the Middle East

2005-12-05T09:58:00.000-05:00

I found this latest Mark Steyn article via Little Green Footballs.

Please read this brilliant article and try to understand why I get so worked up about a certain political party's attempts to stymie something that will change the world for the better - and all because of politics.

Click and read me.

Once again, I will reiterate my position on this issue, it transcends internal American political parties, always has. If Bill Clinton was president now and was leading the War On Terror: Iraq Front, I would be 100% supportive of his efforts and our military's efforts. Just so you know.

Quote of the week:

2005-12-02T15:33:00.000-05:00

Personally, I take no offense at the government unveiling a Christmas tree on the grounds of the "People's House." Besides, a place that in love with pork is hardly kosher to begin with.

- Jonah Goldberg, Hold the 'Holy' in Happy Holidays

In reference to the U.S. Congress' unveiling of a 'Holiday Tree' (read: Christmas
Tree) at the U.S. Capitol and the raging debate regarding the use of the harmless word 'Christmas'.

This coming from a (presumably) Jewish columnist.

*chuckle*

Zymurgy Poll

2005-12-01T12:07:00.000-05:00

Dear intrepid Spatial Dimension readers and beer fans alike, due to the recent opening of my carboy for another batch of home-brew, I am planning my next batch to brew probably sometime in early January or right before Christmas. The problem is, I have made all the beers that are my favorites already and I cannot decide what to make next.

So, being the democratic type guy that I am, I'd like to open this one up to you all to give me your favorite type of beer and a recommendation if they aren't the same. If you know me, just think, if you win the poll, you get to taste what you wanted when its done conditioning in January!

*ooooohhhhh....ahhhhhh*

First a couple of conditions:

1) Lagers are difficult to make and I do not have the proper equipment to do so yet. So please do not recommend any types of pilsners or mass produced Ameri-beers such as Budweiser or Miller.

2) I'm not too hip on trying to make another high gravity beer, such as a Belgian Abbey Ale or Barleywine or the like. My first high-grav has been conditioning for four months and it still hasn't carbonated. I'd rather not wait for the final product that long - oh and they're expensive to brew.

That's it. Post your favorite beer or beer style and I'll pick the most popular or the one that looks best!

Slainte!

In honor of Winter

2005-12-01T10:38:00.000-05:00

For those of you that really really miss Calvin and Hobbes - enjoy! (reminds me of my childhood)

Thanks to Abbiegirl for the comics...

Happy Thanksgiving, WebReaders!

2005-11-22T08:58:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to post a 'shout out' to everyone and wish them the very best for Thanksgiving. I know that I have many, many things to be thankful for, and I hope you all stop and think about everything to be thankful for over this holiday.

Stay Safe and don't eat too much! -- well not enough to pop, that is.

Here is what I am most thankful for:

Thoughts on a Tuesday Morning...

2005-11-15T08:21:00.000-05:00

As you all may know, the Gamecocks beat Florida this past Saturday for the first time since 1939. I am slightly happy (understatement). I never thought this day would come - we have beaten Tennessee and Florida in the same year, and darn near beat Georgia to boot. Maybe next year. Either way, we are assured of getting a decent bowl game this year and an even better one when we beat the hated Clumpson Tiggers this Saturday. BOOO TIGGERS!

I saw a banner someone hung on an overpass over Georgia 400 on the way into work this morning, it said 'Who would Jesus torture?'. I don't know exactly what this means, but I suppose the person that hung it up there was referring to the treatment of Islamic Terrorist murderers by the U.S. Government in the current War on Terror. The sign makes a good point, and basically encapsulates this war raging, Jesus wouldn't torture anyone, and we all know from Christian teachings that we should love thy neighbor and be kind and all that.

I guess the real question to be asked would be 'Who would Muhammad torture?' and then we would have our answer. How about a banner reading 'Who would Muhammad Suicide Bomb?', or 'Who would Muhammad behead?', these would more accurately portray the state of current world events.

Needless to say I don't really know if the author of that banner was for or against our treatment of Islamic Radical Terrorists (murderers)or not (actually I do), but I can guess that the author is against anything the U.S. does to protect themselves, and is blind to the duality inherent in the statement that they hung over a captive audience of commuters on their way to work.

Good job. Definitely makes me realize how right we are in this war.

Oh and I bet the banner smells like patchoulli.

Geography Trivia Question O' the day IV

2005-11-11T10:56:00.000-05:00

Keeping with my Quixotic quest to improve the world's knowledge of where stuff is, my valiant Blog readers, I give you another Geography trivia question.

Hmmm - this time a U.S. States Question...

Which U.S. State is known as the 'Natural State'?

Extra Credit...What is the name of the highest elevation in this state?

Geography Trivia Question O' the day Answer

2005-11-10T14:59:00.000-05:00

The Capital of Mali in Western Africa is Bamako.

Thanks to a couple of intrepid folks (Deeziner and Curleygirl) for at least giving it a shot. The rest of you are looooosers. You're probably afraid I would mock your incorrect answers. Well you're right.

Oh and just a note: I'm pretty glad that Columbia isn't the capital of Mali.

I'll have another question for Y'all tomorrow.

Until then enjoy the latest FarkThread regarding the riots in France and an amusing blog reference to some futurologist's study of the roots of the problem in France.

What the hell is 'futurology' anyways? And why couldn't I major in it in school?

unBOWLievable!

2005-11-08T11:14:00.000-05:00

That's right, the Gamecocks managed to defeat the Arkansas Razorbacks 14-10 on Saturday making the Cocks 6-3 and bowl eligible. I can't believe after that horrendous showing versus Auburn that I would be saying this today, but it's true. I didn't even think we'd win another game, just ask my bro.

Now if we can pull off a win against Florida and/or Clumpson, we may possibly go to the Peach Bowl. That's what I'm hoping for so we can go see them play right here in Atlanta!

The thing is, we aren't that good, and we're going to a bowl game in Spurrier's first year. I can't wait until he recruits some more talent, we could be unstoppable!

Spur 'em Spurrier!!!!

Geography Trivia Question O' the day III

2005-11-04T10:12:00.000-05:00

Man have I forgotten to get back to basics! yall need some learnin' in the ways of Geography. Here's your handy-dandy Geography trivia question of the day:

What is the Capital of Mali?

Spelling counts... :)

Follow up to the Democrats Temper Tantrum yesterday..

2005-11-02T14:09:00.000-05:00

Yesterday the Democrat leadership invoked Floor Rule #21 which effectively closed the Senate floor to the public and they brought up the issue of pre-war intelligence and WMDs AGAIN.

I just wanted to give you all a link to show you what a group of hypocritical liars the current Democratic leadership in this country is composed of. As if this issue wasn't settled once and for all, it seems the Democrats suffer from chronic memory loss:

enjoy.

At least I know the Fat Drunk from Taxachussetts has an excuse.

- Thanks to Little Green Footballs

16-15 GameCOCKS!

2005-10-30T01:03:00.000-05:00

How bout them Gamecocks!?!

For the first time in 13 Years, the South Carolina Gamecocks Beat the Tennersee Volunteeerssss.

Hell yes!

Now in case you were wondering, that was the game I was first hooked on Gamecock and SEC football. In 1992 I was a first year Graduate student at South Carolina. I didnt know much about SEC and USC football, I just came there from Big Ten country. And LO...I was at a game on a crisp fall afternoon when the Gamecocks upset the mighty Volunteers in Columbia. The crowd was INSANE. Cups were flying through the air. HIllbillies wearing orange overalls were MOCKED. It was a group emotion I have never experienced since.

"Spurrier, wearing glasses and not his trademark visor, improved his record against Tennessee to 10-5. It was his first visit to Neyland Stadium since 2000, a 27-23 win by the Gators after a controversial touchdown catch. "

``I've finally got a new line -- God is smiling on the Gamecocks. That was my line after close wins at Florida,'' he said.

-- The new Coach, Spurrier...

13 Years later and we beat them again. I had no clue how long it would be.

This is sweet.

Cocks are BOWLBOUND!

Media and the War

2005-10-26T13:04:00.000-04:00

The media is now trumpeting the 2000th American Soldier casualty in the war in Iraq. I swear if I didn't know any better I would think that the media in conjunction with 'peace' groups are rooting for our soldiers to die just because they don't like our current president. These 'peace' groups are planning all sorts of demonstrations, rallies, and marches (read celebrations) to mark this ghoulish 'milestone'. I use their word 'milestone', because it is not a milestone. A milestone used in the proper sense gives a connotation of accomplishment, a marker on the way to a goal. Do the media and these 'peace' groups regard this as a milestone because their goal is to see our military fail and all our soldiers die in combat? Some, many actually, would say 'yes'. Read this from someone much more well written than I.

Once again this reinforces my exasperation with the state of politics in this country, because we actually hear about these 'peace' groups and the media is totally slanted against this effort in Iraq, talking constantly about all the casualties and not about the successes and the fact that we are winning this war. Need proof?

The Iraqis just passed a National constitution.

Didn't hear about it? Not surprised, the media didn't play it up at all because it makes President Bush look good, although he is not directly responsible for this. The Iraqi people are.

I fail to understand how anyone with any sense at all can think that the right thing to do now is to just pull up and leave from Iraq because of some overblown sense of defeat, or because it was the 'wrong thing to do' in the first place (even though it wasn't and there are mountains of evidence and UN resolutions supporting the invasion of Saddam's Iraq). Give me a break. We totally kicked their asses, and still are over there kicking more ass. Tell me where we've lost?

I pray for the day that Americans as a whole, and in particular the media, overlook political differences and understand that this war is bigger than George W. Bush, or Republicans, or abortion rights, or whatever the hell their pet issue of the day is.

Until then I am sure the beat will go on, and eventually the media may get its way, a Democrat will get elected, and we will lose. Be careful what you wish for, idiots.

UPDATE: For a follow up to what I was saying about this 'milestone' crap - check out these people in full party mode. Ghouls.
-Courtesy Little Green Footballs

the Beer Machine

2005-10-20T16:22:00.000-04:00

now after 5000 years of wasting time brewing beer the old fashioned way, you can make it at home in just 5 to 7 days!

As seen on TV!
Courtesy of Coach Thugg

I mean everyone knows you can make beer in just 5 to seven days with a plastic keg and a plastic bag of beer mix.

*smacks self in head*

now why didn't I think of that! I wonder if it comes with its own Ginsu blade?

From the Looney Department

2005-10-20T16:09:00.000-04:00

So what's the story with this Hugo Chavez guy in Venezuela? Is he trying to take away the 'Most Deluded and Paranaoic Person' Award away from Cynthia al-McKinney?

Check this out!

Here's a paragraph that makes perfect sense. If you're on Venezuelan coke.

"We have detected with intelligence reports plans of a supposed invasion, one that would never happen. But we have to denounce it," Chavez told British Broadcasting Corp. radio.

I couldn't even think of writing this stuff it's so rich! but Wait! it gets better!

"It is an imperialist government, one that says it fights against terrorism but protects it. The U.S. throws stones to Latin America," Chavez said.

'Throws Stones'? Boy do I want some of what he's smoking. This wouldn't be so dang funny if he was the leader of an actual country with an actual government and military.

Oh well, I guess we'd better invade them anyways to get more oil supply because this Iraq thing only brought our gas prices down to just 3 dollars a gallon. Maybe we can get it even further down.... muwahHAHAHAHA!!

Their Perspective

2005-10-18T10:45:00.000-04:00

For the "we just need to understand them" crowd. This pretty much explains it all.

Courtesy of Cox and Forkum.

Own your piece of the Caribbean

2005-10-18T10:38:00.000-04:00

Wow. Check out this link and you can own your own island!

I reckon I'd better start saving....

*dreams*

Losing the Faith..

2005-10-13T14:08:00.000-04:00

A funny thing has been happening to me over the past year or so since the 2004 election. I can't quite figure out what to call it, or what to think about it. Am I experiencing another growth phase in my life? Do I now have other priorities that I must focus on? Am I the only one who feels this way? Is this country doomed?

What the hell am I talking about?

I just have had it with politics. *gasp*

This may not sound like a big deal to some of you all who might stumble on to this page to read my little diatribes and such, but alot of you know me and know that I follow and talk a good deal about politics, usually National and International politics. What has happened, you might ask??

I am losing faith in everyone I used to have faith in.

It has been a steady decline since before the election in 2004, the head of the Republican party, and the man I voted for in the last two elections, is really letting us down. But wait! Before you think 'ahha! He's finally got a clue and hates President Bush!' That's not it at all. I don't hate anyone, or anything. It's bigger than him, it's the system. Let me explain.

I can remember very clearly the afternoon I was driving home from work listening to the news on talk radio, as I usually do. The announcement was made that President Bush has promised 250 billion dollars to rebuild the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. My stomach dropped. I shouted 'what?!?!?!?! Who's gonna pay for all this???? wha wha WHA?!?!' Is it the federal governments responsibility to do this? Is this duty outlined in the Constitution as a specific role for our federal government? Is it our responsibility beyond all the charitable contributions and effort we have offered to help those people to pay for even more out of our pockets? Because that's what's gonna happen. I know it. You know it. It's already starting with this 'tax reform panel' that the President has commissioned. We're gonna pay more taxes. Plain and simple. We give billions of dollars to people around the world for whatever cause they need. Then the government spends $500,000 to paint a freaking airplane to promote the salmon industry in Alaska? What is wrong with these people? I'm paying for this. WE'RE ALL PAYING FOR THIS.

I voted Republican because they said they stand for limited government, and it ain't happening. They've held the majority in the Congress for six years or so now, and the spending is STILL getting worse. I feel lied to. The Democrats are even worse, and have never been an option for me. Until they start acting like grown ups, they aren't even worthy of consideration for my vote. What other option is there to support someone who is serious about bringing some sanity back to our overbloated Federal government? Should I vote Libertarian? They're against the War on Terror. Should I vote Constitutionalist? ummm.. who? Green Party? hahahahahahaha! (just kidding). Unfortunately the Republicans are turning into Democrats spending-wise, and the Democrats are just getting worse every year. These guys are all being paid off by some lobby or another and it's sickening. ALL OF 'EM.

When will all this spending and power tripping on our tax dollars end? Will it? Not as far as I can tell, so I'm pretty bummed about the whole situation and I'm tired of thinking about it. Because when my wife calls me to tell me that we had to take the car into the shop to get an oil change, and they found a problem with the air conditioning filter, and they need to replace a hydraulic on the door, and it's gonna cost us a cool grand, I worry. We need to replace our roof, we want to get new floors, we need to insulate the attic, we have a list of things that need to be done that continues to grow, and I worry. I worry alot more now with a beautiful child to take care of. And it gets even bleaker when I hear that the government is thinking about raising our taxes AGAIN. Just to pay for a bunch of pork. and it IS pork.

At what point will the American people .do something about all this garbage that's coming out of Washington?

Needless to say, I will post every once in a while on something politically oriented - but otherwise I won't spend too much time on this crap.

I'd rather talk about more important things like Brewing and Sports. Wake me up if something good happens, like real tax cuts, or a President who will fight our wars seriously, and treat our enemies as such.

In the meantime, I will part with this question for you all, is there hope for us?

Is Fall finally here?

2005-10-10T10:08:00.000-04:00

Must be because I had my annual version of Curley-Aerator SMACKDOWN WWE!

This past weekend was the first weekend that actually felt like fall. Low 70's and yesterday it was gray and drizzly all day with a high in the uper 60's. I almost could smell the fireplaces burning... Not only that, but I spent all day yesterday preparing the yard for aeration. My neighbor and I went to Lowe's at 8 AM to rent an aerator and they were all out. We didn't end up getting one until about 1:30 or so, and by that time I had just started scalping the lawn and raking up the thatch. Ouch. By the time it was my turn to aerate, the drizzle faucet was on full, I was wet, the lawn was soggy, and the behemoth of an aerator sunk down good and deep into the soil. If you have no idea what aerating is, its basically using an oversized lawnmower/tiller thingy with spikes under it to run over your lawn while the spikes pull up little 5 inch cores out of your lawn. This allows oxygen and other nutrients to get into your soil through these holes. Oh did I mention that in order to do this effectively, the aerator has to be HEAVY?? Cripes. Turning it is a feat in itself. I got maybe 30 yards of grass aerated before the behemoth just stopped moving - I looked down and saw the drive chain lying on the grass, snapped in half. Nice.

So I stood there in the drizzly rain all wet with a 200+ pound machine sinking into my lawn with no drive chain at 4:30 in the afternoon. I was a happy camper. Not. We took it back to the rental center and I'll be finishing the lawn tonight, if they have another aerator on hand when I get there, that is. Then I can happily apply the lime and grass seed, all so the lawn will be green next spring.

The things we do for a pretty lawn. *sigh*.

Well at least I got a chance to brew a stout on Saturday evening, oh and the Gamecocks won a game. So I guess it wasn't too bad of a weekend. :)

Another HHI Vacation

2005-10-07T08:39:00.000-04:00

Hey there faithful Blog Readers...

We have returned. Packed up the family and went to Hilton Head South Carolina for more fun in the sun. The weather was much better temperature wise this time around, but it was rainy and windy. Thanks Tropical Storm Tammy. It was a good trip, my Dad turned 60 on Tuesday so we took him out for ribs and a nice dinner at Truffles Cafe on Sea Pines Plantation. Very very good meal. The Babygirl got to be the center of attention the whole week also, which she enjoys immensely.

Now we're back in the ATL trying to get readjusted to the fast city life. *sigh* At least it's been a short work week and I have aerating and overseeding to look forward to tomorrow. yay.

Hope everyone is doing well, we've been keeping mega busy round here.

Random Friday Thoughts

2005-09-23T12:06:00.000-04:00

- Getting glass in your foot really hurts. If at all possible avoid doing so, because trust me, you will be mega-gimpy for a few days until you have to see a surgeon to get it pulled out.

- Will the Gamecocks rebound and beat Troy University on Saturday after the thumping they received from Bama last weekend? Does anyone besides myself care?

- Rita is bearing down on Texas and will hit it hard. New Orleans is flooding again as I type this. Our gas prices will be affected by another huge hurricane. Is someone upstairs trying to tell us something?? I'm just asking....

- I have determined that Natural Lite Ice in a can is horrible. It's like drinking water with alcohol added to fool you into liking it. Oh I just bought it to grill beer can chicken with, I'm still a beer snob.

- After winning two presidential elections, people still call our President an idiot. Doesn't say much towards his competition or the people that say that about him in the first place. It has to take SOMETHING in the brain department to accomplish something like becoming the chief executive and Commander in Chief in a constitutional republic.

- My fantasy football team won laast weekend. YAY! Wonder if I'll make it two in a row? I'm playing my buddy Renato's wife, and she's been talking smack. You go girl (but not this weekend)!

- Best wishes and godspeed to my good friend Renato who has shipped to Iraq to serve our country. We will miss him horribly, but are extremely proud of what he is going to accomplish with his and his family's sacrifice. I plan on attending his welcome home party next year and toasting with a nice cold one. He is a man of true honor and duty, and for that we are all thankful.

- Dang, what does one guy gotta do to get some comments on his Blog? Advertise free beer?

- Good friend of mine yesterday at lunch told me when I asked him if he read my blog that he doesn't like to read them because its usually just a bunch of ranting about stuff. I don't do that do I??? *coy look*

Fuzzy Death...

2005-09-22T13:26:00.000-04:00

Turn your Hamster into a Fighting Machine!

*chuckle*

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/users/jwz/543178.html

P-Dogg's Zymurgy Tip of the day..

2005-09-20T10:20:00.000-04:00

Just in case you've ever wanted to make a high gravity beer, here's a tip for you. Get a reaaaal strong yeast or one that you can add to the bottle after primary fermentation. My batch #7 is a Belgian Style Abbey Ale with about a 10% Alcohol content. It has been almost three months since I bottled it, and I have no carbonation whatsoever. I asked the friendly neighborhood beer maker store owner guy about it and he told me that the amount of alcohol in the beer ends up slowing the yeast activity and therefore the remaining yeast in the bottles are having a hard time creating the carbon dioxide needed for proper carbonation. He recommended adding a few granules of dry yeast to each bottle and then re-capping them.

I did that Saturday evening, and I sure hope I didn't put too much in each bottle and they become bottle bombs.

Moral of the story: I'm probably not going to make another high gravity beer anytime soon. They're expensive, take too long to make, and you have to wait forever for them to carbonate and be drinkable. I'll stick with the regular gravity beers, thank you very much. I can buy myself a finely crafted Belgian Ale at the liquor store when the need hits me.

Halloween is coming

2005-09-16T08:31:00.000-04:00

I found this link while GIS-ing for 'Special Ed'.

Someone is having a big Halloween party and they offer a humorous list of costume ideas. Check it out - maybe a slow download because of the background music and number of pictures...but worth the wait.

oh my favorite?? Fat Kid.

Heres a good laugh....

2005-09-15T21:51:00.000-04:00

Check this out, the 'world' is demanding that the U.N. take charge in the War on Terror. haha.

OK. four years ago, the terrorists hit us, the U.S. HARD. We got a clue. We hit 'em back, and we hit 'em HARD. The rest of the world whined and moaned "Bush's rush to War!" and "unchecked American Power!" and other nonsense. Terrorism is now (and has been for decades) spreading all over the world and they realize that they need to stop it. Unfortunately, the U.N. is not the way to go about it, and that has been made clear many times over. Anti-Americanism still taints this war and they will not help the U.S. and its allies fight it, even if it means thousands of their own innocent people dying. The reasons for not helping the U.S. abound, and they're all lame socialist excuses. This is serious and most of us know it.

However, the U.N. is not serious. It has not been for many decades, and it is even worse now. Any effort towards getting help from the U.N. versus dismantling it, is wasted effort. Unfortunately, terror will strike these countries while they plead with the U.N. for help, and they won't get any. For that I feel truly sorry for those people.

Once again I pray and hope for every single American Soldier that is fighting terror in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Philippines, and elsewhere that we are not aware of. I also pray and hope for the British, Australian, Polish, Iraqi, Israeli, Czech, Japanese, and other troops that are there fighting along side us. You know, the other countries that are fighting in this 'unilateral' war.

They have a clue. and so does the U.S.

I pray it's not too late for the rest of 'em.

The Gamecocks Reprezent

2005-09-14T15:18:00.000-04:00

Using my best gangsta rap voice, the Fighting Gamecocks went to Athens last weekend to reprezent! Follow up to my last blog entry about the Atlanta area media and national media thinking that USC had no shot at winning last Saturday's game, I am happy to say that even though we lost to those ugly Dawgs, it wouldn't have been so had our kicker made a PAT and a FG that he missed. It was REAL close.

Ah well, a loss is a loss, but the Gamecocks looked really good against the #9 team in the country and I think we're going to have a good season after all. Next year UGA better be prepared, because we ain't losin to them again for a while.

Oh and by the way, the media sure has been quiet about how great UGA is this week. Wonder why....hmmmm.... *grin*

Football Gripe

2005-09-09T12:41:00.000-04:00

I just got back from making my lunch in the breakroom in my office, and every day there is a copy of the local newspaper in there to read. I, being a red blooded American male, of course read the sports section. This weekend is the big matchup between my Beloved South Carolina Gamecocks, and the Georgia Bulldogs. Of course the Dawgs are the local favorite seeing as how I live in Georgia and all, but every year it's the same old thing with the local media, and it drives me crazy when the proof just isn't there. Let me take an example and try to explain to you what I'm talking about:

"Lou Holtz, former football coach and still 10 percent humanoid, with the rest meat-byproducts, recently predicted South Carolina would upset Georgia.

I find this amusing, though not because Holtz doesn’t even have his own Friday column, and therefore his projections aren’t considered as scientific absolutes, like, say, the theory of relativity and Weekend Predictions. Rather, this is funny because in his 174 years of coaching, Holtz never once predicted a victory for his own team, even when he knew he was coming off a really good illegal offseason."

And more:

Spurrier is not with Florida.

With South Carolina, is he.

With gout, he might as well be.

The Dogs are favored by 18 points over South Carolina. If the line goes any higher, the SEC mandates they play at least one series blindfolded.

- Jeff Schultz, Atlanta Journal Constitution editorial

I hear the local talk radio hosts chuckle when someone mentions that SC has some talent on their team. They joke about Lou Holtz' NCAA Violations. They talk about how this UGA victory will be a 'hollow' one over Spurrier. The 'Mayhem in the AM' guys this morning had Lou Holtz on the show interviewing him and after they were done they commented 'Lou seems to actually believe that USC can upset Georgia!' followed by much laughter. This is repeated ad nauseam in print and TV and radio 'analyses'.

Granted, last week UGA dismantled a Boise State team that went undefeated last season, and USC didn't look its sharpest against UCF. But this is the same USC program that was beating UGA 16-0 at halftime last year. The year before UGA whomped us. The year before that, UGA escaped with a Pollack fumble/interception thing in the end zone and won by a field goal. It's been a close game, year in and year out.

I guess my biggest beef is that even though we beat Georgia, and recently barely lost to them, the media still laughs as though USC aint got an ice cube's chance. The funny thing about this is, most of the actual UGA fans I know, give USC some props for past battles well fought and some even have a bit of fear about Spurrier taking the reins there. So where's the disconnect between the media and the fans?

That's cool (pun intended), I personally don't think we will pull this one off, but damn, I will laugh soooo hard if we beat UGA, AGAIN. And I look forward to reading the post mortems containing lines like 'how could such a superior team lose to a bunch of untalented hacks from South Carolina?' (I've seen it before...)

Ben gets a Blog

2005-09-09T10:10:00.000-04:00

My Bro-In-Law Ben just made his presence felt in the blog-o-sphere. If you think I tend to lean conservative on political issues, you ain't seen nuthin' until you've talked to Ben. He's Patriot to the core, and sick and tired of the leftist pansies in this country.

With that said, I want to give him a hearty WELCOME! to the blogosphere, as if I'm such a haggard veteran of it. I am sure he'll be leading the pack of bloggers fact checking and bringing about the next "Rather-gate", or "memo-gate" as some folks call it.

You go, Ben (not Bin)!

College Football '05 Kickoff

2005-09-02T12:15:00.000-04:00

Last night the Spurrier era finally began at South Carolina. I watched every minute of the game to analyze every move and play we ran. First off I gotta say we WON!!! and that's cause for celebration. However, we really didn't play well in the second half and it showed. The following are some notes about things I noticed about the 2005 version of the Fighting Gamecocks:

1)Blake Mitchell and the Spurrier offense looks good. I was totally surprised by how well he threw the ball and that our receivers made some great catches and some great blocks. This part of the game right now is our strong point.

2)Our Offensive line looks atrocious. Wow, 32 yards rushing the whole game? Against an 0-11 team? Blake spent some time getting hit hard too, we HAVE to get some boys who will open holes for our running backs, because it just ain't happenin' right now.

3)Our defense is small. All night our defense got pushed around by that 'vaunted' Central Florida offensive line. They were poppin' 5-7 yard runs almost at will on us, and when they didn't do that, they had two WRs that were eating our defensive backs alive. What the??? This was supposed to be our strong point coming into this season, and so far it looks like we're lining up 10 defensive backs and one 300 pound defensive lineman on the field. Boy I hope we improve because it could get ugly against a real offense (see UGA, UF, UT ad nauseam).

4)Spurrier is the Anti-Holtz. He runs plays that make sense and work. He plays like he wants to win, not to prove some point. He makes our QB look great by teaching him where to throw the ball and let the receivers make plays. He doesn't force something that isn't working, and he actually adjusts game plans to suit the situation. Gee imagine that. I am very happy he is at Carolina and brings a coaching scheme that I think will work and work well once we get some more talent around the ball.

At this point USC has a ways to go, first order of business it seems is to recruit some big uglies for the O and D lines. We were just getting whipped out there by a mid-conference team. The Offense will improve, I can just feel it and see it. Unfortunately the Gamecocks won't be able to outscore many folks until we stop them, and that leaves us with the Defense. We better get some size and talent there or its going to be a long year.

Next up, UGA and the Ugly Dawgs. They have yet to live up to their hype with a big game against Boise State tomorrow. We will see what happens there. I will say that if their Offensive line is as good as advertised, then the Gamecock defense will be eaten alive by their running attack. Coach Thompson, you'd better readjust!

*gulp* Georgia, here we come!!!

Katrina - Continued...

2005-09-01T15:19:00.000-04:00

Wow. Read this article and you'll start to realize the cultural bias in this country against the South in general. It was an eye opener even for an adopted Southerner like me.

Enjoy.

courtesy of Neal Boortz's blog

Katrina

2005-09-01T13:01:00.000-04:00

We were in Hickory this past weekend when we noticed on the news saturday night that Katrina had intensified and become a Cat 5 storm and was bearing down on Louisiana. I had always wondered what a Cat 5 storm would look like when it hit land, seeing as how I used to T.A. Meteorology and Climatology in Grad School. I had this inner desire - from the same place that people have the desire to see car wrecks - to see what sort of destruction a storm like this could bring.

I've seen it now, although not in person, and I am ashamed of ever thinking that it would be 'cool' to see what a Cat 5 storm could do.

This is beyond anything I could have imagined, and I fear it may get alot worse in New Orleans. Buildings may start to topple due to softening foundations. There is no law in the streets now, so it may even be necessary to have a Fallujah-style invasion of New Orleans by our military just to get it back. Gas lines are insane here in Georgia. Corpses float through flooded streets. Diease will soon set in. Thousands may die. The effects are seemingly endless.

And all this because of a very large hurricane - a natural event.

Who's to blame? No one. The lefties and Euroweenies are blaming President Bush for this, just showing their total lack of human hearts and minds in the process. Category 5 storms occur on this planet, they have in the past, they will in the future. It's not one man's fault and to think so is ignorant, and then to voice it? That's just the height of stupidity.

I pray and hope that things get better for the entire Mississippi and New Orleans Katrina impacted areas. I just hope that we as Americans learn some lessons out of this, and remember when someone brings up the possibility of an event like this being brought on by a terrorist. *shudder*

Back from vacation, Jury Duty Etc..

2005-08-25T16:53:00.000-04:00

Check out APC's blog for more detailed info from our trip to HHI for the past weekend.

Things I learned on this trip:

1)Babygirl gets fussy past 8 PM
2)it is waaaaaaaay too hot in the end of August to sit by a pool in coastal South Carolina
3)Georgia's laws against happy hours STINK! half price appetizers and $2 beers at a 4 star resort on the beach in South Carolina? sweeeeet. (Cartman voice)
4)Wild Wing wings at Hilton Head are just as yummy as they are in Atlanta.
5)Hotwire rules. We stayed at a top notch resort with great facilities for a C-note a night.

After we returned I had to report for my civic duty at the Fulton County Courthouse Monday morning. Jury duty. Two words feared the country over, yet noone really knows why. Basically I learned why. You wait way too much, and then listen to lawyers speak, and you can't resume your normal schedule until they're done with you. BUT..this was a murder trial, and it was actually very very interesting. More on this later, but let's just say, I didn't make the jury after TWO DAYS of questions.

*sigh* Finally back at work.

Oh and dayammm....APC's Blog is dominating mine in hits - you go girl!

Family Vacation!

2005-08-17T16:46:00.000-04:00

Woohoo!

The first family vacation starts tomorrow morning. APC and I will pack up the Babygirl and head to HIlton Head Island, SC for some fun in the sun. Needless to say we'll be out of commission for a few days.

Be back on Sunday night with sand between our toes!

The latest in Gaza

2005-08-17T15:56:00.000-04:00

I can't ignore this story that's going on in Israel any more. I've been hearing about it, but now I saw and read this article regarding the withdrawal of Israeli 'settlers' from the Gaza Strip. Some are being removed forcibly by their own army. This saddens me greatly. There are a couple of dynamics at work here and I have found a couple of quotes in this article which display the bias inherent in the media and also the attitude of the 'Palestinians' (really Israeli and Jordanian Arabs) towards Israelis and Jews in general.

One woman wept and shouted, "I don't want to! I don't want to!" as four female soldiers, each grabbing a limb, carried her out of her home in Neve Dekalim, the largest Gaza settlement.

In one synagogue, radical youths who had slipped into the main settlement bloc sang the haunting melody some Jews sang on their way to Nazi gas chambers.

- Now this is just plain sad.

NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip (Reuters) - Israeli troops dragged settlers screaming and sobbing from homes and synagogues on Wednesday, beginning a forced evacuation of Gaza settlements after nearly four decades of occupation.

- This from the beginning paragraph of the article where Reuters clearly states that the Israelis were occupiers. This displays the obvious media bias against Israelis and Jews in general, by invoking the oft used 'occupier' term to label them. Never mind that it was Egyptian (no such country as Palestine) land ceded to Israel in a cease fire agreement after Israel captured it in the 1967 war. Nope, they're just Jew occupiers. According to this reasoning, Spaniards are occupying Moorish land and Arabs are occupying ancient Bedouin land.

Palestinians, who see settlements as the most hated symbol of occupation, watched and cheered from nearby rooftops.

- and of course, the 'Palestinians' show their true feelings towards the Jews, as if they haven't done so a hundred thousand times previous to this. Now look at this objectively, would you cheer if someone was being forcefully removed from your neighborhood? Just don't seem very Christian to me. Oh wait...never mind...

Now I don't know where this is all going, I'll leave all the prognosticating and theorizing to people who know more about the politics of the conflict over there, but this is my blog and well I just felt like saying something.

From the Center of the biggest Red State

2005-08-15T09:01:00.000-04:00

Just saw an amusing article linked through MSN Chat's 'MSN Today'. Apparently some neighbor of President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas has had enough and shot off a shotgun while the 'doves', as MSN terms them, were holding some sort of protest-prayer-vigil thingy. When asked by reporters why he shot in the air with a shotgun, Larry Mattlage said 'This is Texas'. I don't really know what that means exactly, but still, it's kind of funny. A few things I find telling about this article:

1) That this is such a big deal that MSN printed an article about it. Of course they were assuredly waiting for something like this to happen so that they could make a big deal out of it. Now if he had shot at the 'doves', then that would be a story. But instead we get 'that evil Texas Red Stater shot a gun in the air'.

2) Mr, Mattlage just wants things to get back to normal. Quote: "Mattlage said he was sympathetic toward the demonstrators at first, but they have blocked roads in the area and caused traffic problems. He said he fired his gun in preparation for dove-hunting season but when asked if he had another motive, he said, “Figure it out for yourself.”" *guilty chuckle*

3)This is the proverbial money line. I don't wanna get too much into these 'doves' down at Crawford wasting everyone's time too much, but this will tell you what Cindy Sheehan thinks of most of America:“I think we knew of the risks when we came down here,” she said. “I’m surprised we haven’t had more of that since we’re in Bush country.” Yup, there you go. Bush supporters or 'Bush Country' = Shotgun totin', mesh hat wearin', violent yokels who just don't understand the progressiveness of a 'peace protest'.

Now I know why Cindy Sheehan is there to protest or meet the President or whatever the hell she wants. The loss of a loved one in a war must be difficult to deal with, but I could think of some other more constructive uses of one's time than badgering the president to admit that he killed her son, even though he didn't. I still have sympathy for the mother in Cindy Sheehan, but not the political activist.

Why do I put the word 'doves' which MSN so eloquently used to describe Cindy Sheehan's ilk in quotes you ask? Well, because doves don't go around squawking and drawing attention to themselves for political causes. Once again I'd like to quote Mr. Mattlage.. "Figure it out for yourself".

The U.N. Springs into action!!!

2005-08-11T11:55:00.000-04:00

Hot on the heels of my recent viewing of the movie 'Hotel Rwanda', the U.N. is still living up to its reputation as a organization that gets the job done. (not)

Now that Iran has decided to continue towards creating a nuclear warhead and has violated all of the U.N. agreements it was supposedly abiding by, the U.N. has come out and acted! Looky here, they show 'concern'! That'll show those pesky mullahs in Iran! Even better, maybe they can furrow their collective brows at them about the nuclear thingy! Yeah, that's the ticket!

If anyone has a clue about history they will see what happens when the U.N. shows 'concern'. See Iraq, Bosnia, Rwanda, Ivory Coast, etc. etc. (the U.S. cleans up the mess)

Thoughts on Mortality and Sickness

2005-08-11T10:43:00.000-04:00

Ugh.

I came back from San Diego with a sunburn and a sore throat. The sore throat changed into a brief head cold that seemed to go away over the weekend. Then Wednesday afternoon my voice started getting hoarse and by the time I got home from work, I couldn't talk. I basically was making odd hoarse raspy noises that vaguely sounded like the English language, or a frog choking on a freshly caught fly (how's that for simile?), depends on your angle of hearing it I guess. Oh and my throat hurt. I had to call in sick on Thursday and half day Friday because of this 'thing' that invaded my body.

What's my point? I have a point, really I do. You just don't realize how important your voice is until you lose it. I could not do my work and I work with computers most of the day when I wouldn't think I would have to be able to speak. It threw me out of my normal 'comfort zone' and into a realm of the unknown where I had to communicate using hand signals mixed with whispers. Digital communication can only do so much, but face to face is still where we as a species make and break relationships. Now I have an idea of what it would be like to be mute, and it isn't fun. I have since recovered, but the experience will last with me for a while.

Hopefully I won't have spread it to my wife and baby girl. We might have to learn American Sign Language then. Or get a big whiteboard with some dry erase markers.

Don't think I'm getting waaaay too deep here, I mean it's almost football season and I'll have plenty to pontificate upon then that some may deem shallow.

San Diegoooooo....

2005-08-04T09:41:00.000-04:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I realize that I may be losing many of my loyal fans by my lack of blogactivity (is that a word?). I have been at a conference all last week in San Diego, California.

Wow. What a great place and a great conference.

It was the big ESRI International GIS conference at the San Diego Convention Center. It was my first time going and I couldn't beleive that there were almost 15,000 GeoGeeks all in one place at once! It was incredible, There were hundreds of technical workshops on GIS software, thousands and thousands of map displays, hundreds of GIS demos, User papers, maps, aerial photos, and maps, oh my! It was definitely a great time to network and learn alot about my industry.

My thesis advisor in graduate school at USC, Dr. Cowen, got a lifetime GIS achievement award at the plenary session on Monday in front of thousands of other GIS colleagues. He was moved to tears. It was a great moment for a man I am a big fan of. Congratulations Dr. Cowen! and of course, as he was leaving the stage, after the thunderous applause, someone shouted 'Go Gamecocks!'. and the grand poobah of all things GIS, Jack Dangermond said from the podium 'umm, yes.'

*sniff* it was beautiful.

The keynote address was given by Jane Goodall of Chimpanzees in Africa fame. She gave a really good speech about the Earth and how were destroying it and all and how she got to come to know the chimps in Gombe. Then after her speech, she and Jack Dangermond were on the stage and started chatting about things. He asked her a couple questions and it got pretty liberal, pretty fast. I have alot of respect for Dr. Goodall and the things that she has done for environmentalism and science in general, but some of her views on the world are a bit extreme. But then I suppose if you devote your life to these views, then I guess that's what one should expect to hear. Dr. Goodall proceeded to tell us (I paraphrase a bit, but this is what I remember):

- we are destroying the Earth and we should return to the good old days of
subsistence hunting and gathering (yeah that'll fix it!)
- that many of us buy things we don't need and that is one of the problems with
Western Society (I don't need this house or motor car? Who'd a thunk it?)
- Things would be so much better if we just gave more food and money to the poor in the world (You mean we don't already give BILLIONS of American Taxpayer dollars in aid to the world already?)
- She pushed her 'Giant Peace Doves' as some sort of statement that everyone on Earth really wants peace. She hoped that someday 'a satellite will fly over the planet and see thousands of giant peace doves all over the planet'. As jaded as it sounds, I couldn't help but chuckle at her peace doves. It's just funny. Check out the link - its good fun. I just hope those things come equipped with explosives for the terrorists and murderers in the world.

San Diego is a great town. The weather was unbeleivable, I kept shaking my head thinking to myself 'it's almost August, Pat, almost August..really!' as I was strolling through the Gaslamp District in the middle of the day in sunny, 74 degree temperatures with NO humidity. Being from Atlanta, I KNOW humidity. They don't have it in San Diego, and that is why it is so expensive to live there. Not only is the weather great, but the downtown area is happening with tons of restaurants, bars, shops, etc. that people actually go to at night. Yes I am referring to my own hometown's lack of downtown life, and the reasons are many, but I won't get into them here. Let's just say that SD sure as hell puts on a good nightlife time - whether it be a fancy reataurant, Mexican cantina eating on the sidewalk, or Irish pubs...they got it. Plus beautiful bayside scenery and palm trees.

But I have to be honest with yall, as great as it was to be out there, by the time the third morning dawned, I was reallly missing my wife and daughter. It just isn't the same to travel without them.

awwwwww.

Hurricane Emily

2005-07-20T13:08:00.000-04:00

In the latest weather news, Category 4 Hurricane Emily hit one of my favoritest (is that a word?)places in the world, Cozumel. As APC pointed out recently on her blog we are JONESIN to travel back to Mexico for a good old fashioned tequila-laden dive trip. Of course the storm hit the southern end of the island and as a result I was searching web forums and the news for any information on what happened to Cozumel. Sounds like there's lots of trees down, some structure damage, flooding, and no reported deaths. *phew* BUT the palapa toll was extensive. NOOOOOOO!!! What the hell am I gonna drink my fruity drink under next time I'm there? I hope they regrow! Damn you Emily...DAMN YOU ALL TO HELLL!

On a more serious note, the Eastern side of the island which had all of three bars on isolated beautiful beaches, was demolished. We will miss you, Mezcalitos.

APC at Mezcalitos

Me and Corona overlooking Caribbean at Mezcalitos *sob*

On that note, we are starting to plan a little trip sometime in the month of August. We are looking for some beachy type resorty place in SC,GA or NC where we are close to Hickory. Charleston? Myrtle Beach? HHI? Anyone have any great suggestions for an affordable family friendly beach resort to stay?

Random Thoughts...

2005-07-14T12:13:00.000-04:00

Hmm since a presentation I was supposed to give today was cancelled, I suddenly have a moment of free time to download (or is it upload?)a couple things to my blog.

- APC's Blog is getting serious traffic, she's just about caught up to me in hits. Dang, I just knew our baby girl was irresistible! Everyone wants to see her pictures :)

- I don't get all the fuss over the Karl Rove story - I understand it, I just dont get all the fuss. You'd think the media would have more on their mind than drilling the White House Press Secretary two days in a row with questions about 'Will Pres. Bush fire Karl Rove?' (See here and here) when nothing has been proven yet. Must be a slow news day, which is a good thing. But they sure do want Rove's head on a pike, don't they?

- Ate some good German food last night for dinner on our Wednesday Date night. I had the sausage platter with Weisswurst, Bratwurst, sauerkraut, german potato salad and spaetzle. Man I love spaetzle. Spaetzle with that really danged tasty German brown gravy. And of course washed it all down with a half liter mug of Paulaner..yummy hefeweizen goodness. Prosit!

- The London Bombing thing seems to be some big media cover up. I just this morning read on Boortz's blog that the four killers were Muslims. Now why did it take a week before the bombers identities were finally revealed as such? I had my initial thoughts that this may be the case, and shame on me for thinking that, but hey, if the shoe fits.... All I've heard is that it could be the IRA, it's 'home-grown' terrorists, etc, etc. When all along I knew with most people out there, that aren't in denial (or trying to protect the 'Religion of Peace'TM), who and what was behind this atrocity. People better wise up or lots of us are gonna get killed.

- Well just damn. The USC athletic department released a joint report with the NCAA stating that they in fact violated 10 NCAA regulations since 2001 under Lou Holtz. I don't care how 'trivial' the violations were, there were still violations. Lou, what's the story man? I suddenly lost lots of respect for him all in one morning. Guilty as charged, USC is, and I cannot defend those actions nor make excuses for them. I will however continue to pull like crazy for the Garnet and Black. Hopefully USC can take its knocks and move on and play some (clean) ball.

Those crazy Brits...

2005-07-12T15:06:00.000-04:00

Courtesy of Coach Thugg (little brother),

I just read this article on the web about a long lost food item in Britain. Apparently this food has a large 'underground' following and they would like it to come back into British menu prominence once again.

Don't know why, but I found it a little humorous, maybe its the picture of the family that is named after my nickname for Curley Ver 2.0's bowel movements.

Enjoy!

300!

2005-07-08T09:21:00.000-04:00

WOOOHOOO!

I have now officially had 300 hits to my blog.

Thank you, thank you very much /Elvis

Hope you all have enjoyed your visit to this little corner of the blogosphere!

Zymurgy Take V - High Sierra Curley Pale Ale

2005-07-08T08:27:00.000-04:00

Last Friday Batch number 5 - my attempt at Pale Ale - was finally ready to taste. This was also my first attempt at brewing using a secondary fermenter using a glass carboy I bought at the friendly neighborhood beer supply store. Suposedly the secondary fermenting process matures the beer and lets it clarify more. So I took a bottle off of the conditioning shelf, walked back upstairs to the kitchen with it, grabbed a pint glass, popped the top *pop*. What an excellent sound that is - that 'pop'. That means that the priming sugar did its job and the beer is nice and carbonated.

I poured the bottle into the pint glass, hmmm nice color - a little darker than the picture above - kind of a tan-red color, nice head also. I noticed immediately the lack of sediment in the bottom of the bottle and also the clarity of the beer.

I took a sip...wow. This beer is better than the beer it is patterned after - Sierra Nevada Pale Ale - one of Angie's favorites. The aroma of hops hits you in the nose as you lift the glass and then the first sip is bitter and then finishes out with a sweet full bodied flavor. Yum. APC approves of this batch, since, well, I brewed it just for her knowing that when it was done she would not be pregnant any more and could drink it guilt free. I would say that the secondary fermentation indeed did prove to be a smashing success.

I found the recipe here: Pale Ale Let me know if you want a sample, I'll send you a bottle. (just kidding)

Now I think I'm going to go get my next batch of ingredients and attempt something I never thought would be possible for me to do, make a Belgian Abbey Ale. Well here's to the future! *clink*

London...

2005-07-07T16:27:00.000-04:00

Wow.

Awful news from London this morning, our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of this horrific attack. Once again the agents of evil in this world have attacked western civilization once again, as they have been for decades. This war is bigger than the current U.S. Presidency, this war has been going on longer than the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and even longer than the first invasion of Iraq in 1990. I only hope that the people in the West that still haven't figured this out yet might, MIGHT get a clue about the enemy. I will tell you this enemy is NOT President Bush or the United States of America. Just watch, this evil will happen again, and more than likely in Europe, whether or not President Bush is in office.

We all know inside that which drives this evil, and I fear that it will be too late before the world decides to get over offending our enemies, and properly name that which seeks to destroy us - us being everyone who does not submit to the teachings of Muhammad, or kneel to Allah.

Post Fireworks blues..

2005-07-05T09:19:00.000-04:00

Arggghhh...

After a nice long holiday weekend at the lakehouse in Tennessee, it's back to work for the MapGeek. Yuck.

Had a good 4th of July weekend, fishing and playing on the lake, ate lots of BBQ and determined that Apple Pie may be the quintessential American dessert, but in the South it's definitely peach pie.

Will have pics from the weekend up tomorrow.

Answers to last weeks geo-quiz (thanks for your participation, Seannibal - the rest of you - ptthhhhtttt):
1) Mt. Whitney, California (el. 14,491 ft above MSL)
2) Hibernia - Ireland
Dacia - Romania
Gallia - France
Hispania - Spain (and Portugal)

Oh and thanks for all the responses to my football query! /Sarcasm

May actually go to the Wild Wing for wings and trivia tomorrow - w00t!!

Geography Trivia Question O' the day II

2005-07-01T08:36:00.000-04:00

Continuing the awe inspring and brain wrenching trivia question series, here is your weekly geography question:

What is the highest elevation in the continental (Lower 48 - excluding Alaska & Hawaii) United States??

Extra credit question:

Name the modern day countries formerly known to the Romans by the following Latin names:
Hibernia
Dacia
Gallia
Hispania

Oh and no cheating on the web! Answers to be posted over the weekend.

Happy Geo-geeking!