Friday's Winter

As seen through my windshield: I think of "Turn the Page" by Bob Seger.

Fresh coffee scent

I started coughing when I had coffee in my mouth. Had I done the natural thing, I would have spit it out in the direction I was facing, but that would have been nasty in a public place. I coughed, hacked, tried to swallow slowly. I was doing a very slow, but okay job. My father patted my back to "help" and it re-routed to my nose. Thanks! I still smell coffee, 13 hours later, despite clearing my nose. It didn't burn nearly as bad as soda or milk.

Whether or not to see Weather Man

Don't. There is a website, Angry Alien productions that does 30 sec. versions of movies. Well, they could do a 10 sec version of this movie and miss nothing. Weather can change quickly, but not this movie. It starts slow, mostly unemotional, bits of nothing in between with a sour finish.

I sneeze at this movie.

Magic Man!

Charlie performed magic last night. Into an ordinary cup he slowly poured water. He poured and poured and poured. He then turned over the cup and viola! The water appeared to be gone in the continually thirsty cup. Well done Charlie.

Another picture, not shown, Charlie revealed his secret, which most magicians would not dare do. It isn't a trick cup. Magic is in the believing.

Charlie painted

Okay, I'll admit it. That isn't a real tattoo, but ...

What kind of nurse?

Been caught cheatin' (once, when he was five)

Monkeyjack and I were trying desperately to boost the money on Lego Star Wars II. This is actually Charlie's game. Monkeyjack and I were mid-level when, Charlie had to use the bathroom at night. He popped out into the other room to find his Gamecube in use. "What's that?" "Whatcha doing'?" "I'll just shut that off."

Monkeyjack and I "fibbed" about our not not using it and said that we were about to watch a movie. Monkeyjack moved the unit, trying to prevent his clever son from turning off the unit. Try as he might ... Charlie was faster. We tried again, with no sound this time, and finished. 3 a.m. and Monkeyjack was sleeping at the control. Monkeyjack bought the desired unit -- Boba Fett.

I guess it doesn't pay to lie.

Sgt. Naked

Yeah, well ... whatever!

Sgt. poses for Playboy and "didn't do anything wrong". Well, technically, she's right. Wearing dog tags and playing to the fact she's a Sgt. was a bad call. I can only guess that she and her family needed a bit of money, hence the spread. If she is docked pay or discharge the military will suffer a blow at a time when it doesn't need more bad news.

Timing is everything. I suppose she might have accepted it due to the timing, "I dare you to discharge me!"

In any case, the military, if smart needs to bite the bullet on this one and let it go, then re-write codes of conduct.

Calling Veruca Salt

"bill will have little or no effect on federal spending and provide no substantial savings to the government", so says Tony Snow. Who gives a care? The government won't save? Excuse me doofi (plural of doofus), but the measure is to help individuals, persons, not the body of government. The president's call to veto it I think will downgrade his rating yet more, if that matters.

I don't care if Republicans or Democrats wrote and passed the thing, if it helps -- do it!

"... don't care how, I want it now!"

"The president and his Republican allies have argued that this bill would do nothing. Then why, I must ask, would he bother to veto it?" said Dingell, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Speech leaves questions

"So America will change our strategy to help the Iraqis carry out their campaign to put down sectarian violence — and bring security to the people of Baghdad."

So ... what were we doing?

"To show that it is committed to delivering a better life, the Iraqi government will spend 10 billion dollars of its own money on reconstruction and infrastructure projects that will create new jobs."

Okay. So, they haven't spent the money on that. I could go on regarding the US expediture on job creation, but that is another story.

"We will use America's full diplomatic resources to rally support for Iraq from nations throughout the Middle East. Countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and the Gulf States need to understand that an American defeat in Iraq would create a new sanctuary for extremists — and a strategic threat to their survival."

Dear Bush, the US has no diplomatic resources in the Middle East. Oh, yeah. Egypt really listens to the US. uh, no.

"The challenge playing out across the broader Middle East is more than a military conflict. It is the decisive ideological struggle of our time. On one side are those who believe in freedom and moderation. On the other side are extremists who kill the innocent, and have declared their intention to destroy our way of life."

What should have been stated is that the region must either control itself or be dominated. They can either be dominated by Iran, Jordan, and Syria or by the US. If the region goes civil war -- a very strong likelihood, Iran will take it with ease. We could intervene and place a person in charge in Iraq, but wait ... that was Saddam. Oh, well.
'00 is the new 60s

"Victory will not look like the ones our fathers and grandfathers achieved. There will be no surrender ceremony on the deck of a battleship." -- correct.

"In these dangerous times, the United States is blessed to have extraordinary and selfless men and women willing to step forward and defend us."

-- I submit that the US stopping lying about things for the military and pony up. They have repeatedly not paid out for families of dead service personnel the correct levels, have lied about the money for tuitions and have lied about the periods of deployment and their length of engagement. If the US starts telling the truth, then they'll get people more inclined to join.

"Author of Liberty", speech writer botched it on this one.

More good photos of 2006

-- photo courtesy of S. Cramer

Good photos of 2006

-- photo courtesy of Megan O.

There will be more to come

quirky titles

I pieced all the titles on this page. They were, well ... funny. It is amazing what you sometimes find looking for jobs. I like the picture titles of "man on computer" and "woman_pointing".