Recently in Miscellaneous Category

First off, Happy Fourth of July everyone! It's nice to just chill out and have very little to do. We are going to a bar-b-que tonight, and having a friend over tomorrow night for dinner. We really tried this year to do little to nothing on this long weekend. We need the rest! Sometimes, when you have a smaller work week, it's a bit more difficult to get through. You still have the same amount of work to get done.

I thought I'd share this with you. It's a bit humorous and tickled my funny bone. Hope you enjoy.

THE American Family Association has a strict policy to replace the word "gay" with "homosexual" on its news website - but it created a problem with sprinter Tyson Gay.

The association's computer's auto-corrected the US sprint star's name to Tyson Homosexual.

Here's an extract of an Associated Press story as it ran on the association's OneNewsNow Christian news website:

Tyson Homosexual was a blur in blue, sprinting 100 meters faster than anyone ever has. His time of 9.68 seconds at the U.S. Olympic trials Sunday doesn't count as a world record, because it was run with the help of a too-strong tailwind.

Here's what does matter: Homosexual qualified for his first Summer Games team and served notice he's certainly someone to watch in Beijing.

"It means a lot to me," the 25-year-old Homosexual said. "I'm glad my body could do it, because now I know I have it in me." (source)

What's with all the pink shirts lately?

Wearing pink just doesn't seem so special anymore. Perhaps I shall wear red.

"I shall wear red yes, and how he kissed me under the Moorish wall and I thought well as well him as another and then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will yes." - James Joyce, Ulysses

YES!!!     YES!!!     YES!!!

I need a cold shower now.

It wasn't long ago... a few days ago, that it was in the 70's and very comfortable. Within one day, it's climbed into the high 90's. I was mowing the lawn this last Sunday. I was fine for the first 30 minutes, but I kept thinking that I was having allergies or asthma, because I just couldn't get my breath. It's not that I'm really out of shape. It was because of the air quality I think. And this morning on the news they were warning everyone to stay indoors and not do anything outside because of dangerously high levels of ozone. So I'm wondering if that was the problem.

At any rate, I didn't complete the lawn. I did what I could and went into the house where I was faced with a pissed off cat (Maxwell) who wanted the air turned on. I told him, "Maxwell, remember... we talked about the size of your 'carbon footprint', and how we were going to try to not contribute to global warming?" His reply was a quick swipe at my leg (his way of saying, "This is CRAP!"), so... I ended up closing the windows and turning on the cooling. At 72 degrees, he's a happy cat. He jumped up on his post in front of the window for his afternoon sunbath, with the vent above gently blowing down cool air upon him, and then he had the audacity to want the window cracked open so he could get fresh air from the outside as well (we didn't do that)!. I know, it's scary how I understand what he's saying to me.

At any rate, schools are now closing. People are leaving work to go get their kids. It's like a disaster has happened. Here's the current weather, courtesy of AccuWeather.com.

So I'm going directly home from work. I made Gazpacho this weekend so we would have something refreshing to have for dinner, without heating up the kitchen.

And to keep those cool thoughts going, an image comes to mind when I was enjoying myself so much after a winter storm had hit. Seems like a long time ago now.

Where to start? I guess I'll start with what is on CNN now. This from former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan's new book entitled "What Happened", that was just released...

President Bush has always been an instinctive leader more than an intellectual leader. He is not one to delve deeply into the possible policy options-including sitting around engaging in extended debate about them-before making a choice. Rather, he chooses based on his gut and his most deeply held convictions. Such was the case with Iraq. [...]

What I do know is that war should only be waged when necessary, and the Iraq war was not necessary.

In American slang terms, "the chicken has come home to roost." For my non-American friends, that means that the truth of this morally and intellectually corrupt administration is coming out. We went to war in Iraq for nothing more than OIL and PROFIT. This schmuck sent our young men and women to war based really on nothing, except his own interests. This will be his legacy. But I'm not worried about his legacy. That man has the intellect of a mushroom. I can forgive not being that smart (I'm not that smart myself), but, I have enough smarts to ask the right questions to the people who have the smarts. There are two differences between me and President Schmuck. 1) I THINK. I ask questions. I evaluate. I act. 2) I wouldn't bring down a whole freakin country based on what I wanted to do out of some feeling of revenge, or what I thought the American people wanted after 9/11, or any other factor WITHOUT THE FACTS.

You will probably say, "we acted on what we knew at the time." I'm so sick of hearing that crap. When you send young men and women into war, you assume nothing. You take nothing for granted. You make damn sure that there are no other options. President Schmuck didn't do that. And the worst part of it is, we are all going to pay for this schmuck for a very long time to come. And how many Iraqis were killed? How many of our brave soldiers were killed? And here we are at home complaining about the cost of gasoline. You don't really think this all happened in a vacuum, do you? Fasten your seat belts. The next 40 years is going to be a bumpy ride!

THE GOOD NEWS is that this is all coming out now. That is where healing begins. Perhaps we can start to put all of this together and move forward. This is why, in my opinion, our country will stand or fall based on what we do in the next presidential election. In the entire history of our country, we had good and bad Presidents (same goes for Congress). But I believe this is the breaking point. This is the one pivotal election in the history of our country. If it goes badly, we will loose our ability to be the country we all grew up knowing.

VOTE. AND VOTE INTELLIGENTLY, LIKE YOUR LIVES DEPENDED ON IT.

Well, I went off on a bit of a ramble. I'm still passionate about my country. I have more good news. It appears that I will continue living more. I went for a check up with my doctor today. I love my doctor. He's great. Aside from being incredibly handsome, smart... you get the idea... he's actually very good at taking time to sit down and talk to you about your check up. My God he is such a hunk!! But I digress...

A few months ago, I went in to see him on a routine check up. It didn't go so well. I had put on some weight, had high glucose, high blood pressure, and my cholesterol wasn't what it should be. My doctor warned me of diabetes, heart disease, etc. I decided to do something about it.

I started watching what I eat, and I walk two miles a day as I listen to my iPod. I do this during lunch. The result is the following:

Weight at the time I started: 225
Weight today: 212

Readings on 2/22/2008:
Cholesterol levels: 192 (normal range 158-199)
Triglyceride: 177 (normal range < 150)
HDL: 30 (normal range >= 40)
LDL: 127 (normal range < 160)
Glucose: 113 (normal range 70-100)

Readings on 5/28/2008:
Cholesterol levels: 181 (normal range 158-199)
Triglyceride: 152 (normal range < 150) Yes!
HDL: 32 (normal range >= 40)
LDL: 119 (normal range < 160) Yes!
Glucose: 99 (normal range 70-100) VERY PROUD OF THIS!

My doctor said, "This is awesome!" I feel good about it. Loosing the weight is just an added bonus because it gives me an excuse to buy new clothes. Don't get me wrong, I haven't given up martinis (I'm not stupid). ;-) But I now stop to think about what I'm eating. If I really need those salty fat-fried chips with salsa, I'll allow myself to have 12 chips instead of half a bag. And I take in each one. After that, I'm done.

Life is good!

Well CRAP....

I am bummed out. I planned to go to Boston this weekend to meet with a friend. He called me tonight and asked if I could reschedule because he is busy. It was an oversight I guess. I told him, "Well, I really can't. I'm staying at a five star hotel and they don't take kindly to last minute changes." Granted, they wouldn't really care if I changed to next weekend, as long as they bill me for each weekend. Doesn't matter to them. Anyway, I guess I'm on my own this weekend.

I'm going to go ahead with the trip. I'm going to check on what is being offered in Boston this weekend. There has to be something. Maybe some museum exhibits. I don't know.

I got this call while in Hartford at a nice restaurant. They know me there. I guess they could see my disappointment. I had a nice dinner. They offered me an aperitif on the house. I turned it down and asked for a cup of stong coffee. I came home.

Current mood = Sir Edgar Elgar Cello Concerto, First Movement. Listen to it. You will know where I'm at.

I read this on the Internet. So true, it seems.

Religions always need an enemy to keep themselves relevant.

I have friends always asking me if I'm available for one thing or another, especially for my trip to Idaho. So, I decided to just publish my calendar and put it on the website.

There's a link under "Feeds" at the right, or you can just view it by clicking here.

Off for bagels at Charlies.

Now I know I've changed a great deal. I received what I would call a rather hate-filled comment last night from, you guessed it, a religious conservative. It was from an older entry. It's not new. Every once in awhile I will get them. What is new is that I no longer engage them. I read the comment, and let her go on and on about what a pervert I am, etc.... and I then hit the delete button. That's what has changed.

A couple of years ago, I would have posted the comment, then responded to the comment. But I've learned a few things. One, she's not open to hearing about what I have to say. She's made up her mind. Two, it's no longer worth the effort for me to acknowledge or react to her comment. What was really interesting is that I read it without emotional reaction. Sometimes, you have to compare yourself to a couple of years back to realize the change in yourself. At any rate, I'm happy with the change. If anything, I feel sorry for people who are so filled with anger (I used to be one of them) that they miss life. You can spend your whole life fighting and fighting and fighting, and be left looking back on your life and all the energy you spent fighting. I'm not saying there aren't things worth fighting for, but you have to balance it.

For ever bit of energy you put into something, something else in your life will not receive that energy. So I pick my battles. I've spent my fair share marching for one cause or another and doing my due diligence in making the world a better place. It's time for others to take up the cause. As Cher would say, "I'm BUZY!".

And right now, on this rather dreary day on Saturday (misting outside), I'm sitting in my lazy chair upstairs listening to my iPod on my new Bose speakers that I bought this morning. They sound like a concert hall. And downstairs, I have some whole wheat sourdough bread rising in the oven. With a little luck, the whole house will soon smell of freshly baked bread. I love that smell.

I started playing violin again. God, it's awful. My cats always go downstairs when I practice my scales. I can't blame them. I sound almost like a beginner. I wonder if I should just stop. It feels so foreign to me. I'm trying to be patient.

I was going to go back to Idaho for a visit the first week in July. I would be there over the 4th, but that's not working out so well. Everyone has plans of course. It's just that, on July 4, 1968, my nephews passed away. So, this Fourth of July marks the 40th anniversary of their death. I wanted to be there. But it won't work out. I'll probably go in late June, or mid July.

Guess that's it for now. I'm off to work on scales.

We are having a "Long Term Health Care" meeting today at work. It talks about very long term health care, after short term disability and long term disability are exhausted. It is a voluntary coverage and deals with very long term care situations, like hospice or nursing home care. I thought it would be good to attend (since I just turned 32 and all), to see what they had to say.

I thought the choice of food for the gathering was a bit odd. We are talking about health care here, and for lunch, we will have ... pizza.

I was sorting through some old stuff this morning and came across a box that I've carried around most of my life. This box came from Idaho in my pre-college days. Inside the box, along with other memories, I came across this pin from the John F. Kennedy election days. I wonder how many are still around.

Also in the box was my great grand fathers pocket watch with a gold chain. It dates from the 1850's. I gently wound it a bit, and it started ticking again. Nice.