Iraqi Election Day From the Front Lines

Another great front row seat posting at Armor Geddon. Always a great read from this tank platoon commander. Fair warning, the writing is not for prime time more like late night cable. I would recommend you read it even if the language or the situations being described may bother you. Honest portrayal of real events is engrossing. You'll find yourself spending way too much time reading and not enough time working. Are you here on company time?? Get back to work!

Before you go, though, read his post from 11-9-2004

Nice Shot!

I've been browsing through the photos on Suzanne William's pages located on Webshots. She does some beautiful work! There are hundreds of photos to look through. A couple favorite photo albums of mine are "Black and White Photographs" and "Skyscapes". I have a number of them on my Webshots wallpaper. Check out the "Inspirational" category too!

While you're at Webshots, stop by my page and check out the pictures of the day my daughter received her scuba diving certification. It's a lot of work to put on all that equipment!

Front Line Action

This link is a guy who's blogging on the front lines. His posts are like transcripts of the action. Blow by blow and seemingly word for coarse word. It's "R" rated for the language. Not a bedtime reader. Don't let that keep you from checking it out. Very interesting and engrossing reading. Drop him a note and let him know that you appreciate his service!

Jailed and Tortured Bloggers

This is a very informative site with many links and information on bloggers who have been or are jailed for speaking out against tyranny in their countries. Some very sad situations.

Is there a reason why we should NOT be trying to spread liberty around the world??

My limited, but essential TV time habits

My current alphabet soup network favorite is Joan of Arcadia. Something about the show is very moving. Every episode is an emotional rollercoaster (what is he talking about?). Check out some of the links to the clips. Deep.

Anything on Discovery, Discovery Wings, The History Channel and HInt. I think if these were the only channels available that would be fine with me. Well maybe a biography or two would add some spice.

Get U.S. out of the UN

Just despicable. We need to get out of the UN like yesterday. Not only that, we need to boot their pathetic banana republic butts out of New York. Maybe if they were headquartered in Somalia or Zimbabwe, they might actually accomplish something. Then again there is not enough resources there to bribe them to do anything in a third world country. The resorces are in industrial nations. If they can just steal all of them and give them to despots around the world they would be quite proud of themselves. Conferences such as these are good indications of how they are effectively managing THEIR resources as an organization

Move America Forward has the right idea and a good base of support along with, it appears, a cash flow. Kofi Annan needs to be in prison along with just about every other person in that pathetic organization.

My blood pressure is elevated. I need to relax....more later.

...about 15 minutes...

That's all he said it would take. 15 minutes to install.

I bought a new (to me) radio for may car. It's an OEM am/fm, CD, cassette. My current equipment does not include the CD. Rather than have this bizarre looking, non-matching, oddball sized thing stuffed into my dashboard, I decided to find an original equipment radio with the CD. I successfully bid on and won the correct unit on eBay. Hey, a snap to install! OEM right? Just remove and replace!

I made my first attempt between jobs. It's only 15 minutes, right? Thinking I had all the necessary tools I began deconstructing the dashboard. After breaking a plastic tab or two and a few modules into the process, DOH! I don't have a 3/8" nut driver. I'm in the parking lot of one place of employment and need to be at the other relatively soon. Hmm, keep tearing down or replace and regroup for another attack?? A command decision was made to replace and regroup not wanting to lose any of the multitude of parts I removed while I drive around for another day or two until the next attempt at installation.

The best laid plans of mice and men.....

The thrilling epilogue to be released soon.

Reality Strikes

My wife's Aunt died Friday night 1/21/05. She had been ill with cancer and general degradation of health for several years. It was still a shock to hear the news, though. I don't believe anyone thought that she was down to the last few moments recently. She was in her 80's I believe. She lived a lot and lived hard at times. She always had a joke (or 3) to tell and a smile on her face. Was a whiz at poker and blackjack. We last saw her I believe over the summer in her assisted living facility. She seemed to be doing as well as could be expected. I think that kind of living could wear down your will to continue. Alone in your room except for meals. Maybe if your lucky a relative comes to see you. Is that what we have to look forward to? We are going to her memorial service in the central valley next weekend.

Where are they now?

I miss my hockey season. I don't follow any sports except hockey. I'm not the freakish, stop everything it's Monday night football, bet on fantasy league, stat memorizer type. Just someone who enjoys watching the sport. Former player Phil Esposito had it right in this article. I think there isn't the market that the players feel there is for astronomical salaries.

My friend Joe has an opinion on the subject that led me to write this posting. There is also a vague reference in his post to someone who could be construed as me. Wow, that's pathetically shallow. That's also a good reason to reciprocate his veiled reference. A shameless, selfserving attempt to have myself vaguely referred to (that's shallow AND depressing). Actually I agree that this lockout could hurt the league irrepairably. However I don't believe that the owners should end the lockout, I think the players should accept a salary cap. There is just not a large enough fan base to support unlimited earnings.

Hey, Let's Remodel!

It all started a number of years ago with a new dishwasher. We naively thought we could just buy one and put it in. Sounds pretty simple, right? Well, when the old dishwasher was removed we found that there was years of water damage on the subfloor and even a portion of the 6"X12" on the foundation was rotted. Once you start tearing things up there is no going back! This little new dishwasher project led to the replacement of a large portion of the kitchen subfloor, all of the floorcovering (was vinyl, now tile) and new base cabinets (because of water damage). Well, if you are getting base cabinets you'll need uppers to match. And of course there is the countertop (was formica, now tile) to think about also! Since they no longer make a "drop-in" stove/range they also do not make cabinets for it. Well, we'll need a new stove too!

The seemingly neverending projects at home certainly sap the lifeforce out of you. My kitchen has been ongoing for years now. It's gone on so long that I can't get the same finish of cabinets anymore. We had to get "relatively close". That's a nice oak finish we picked out and renamed.

I need another vacation...

Lead them astray...then run!

I've done it. I have lead someone astray AND posted on the same day! Just the posting itself is a minor miracle. The astray part is just the icing on the cake. Now Joe, you can waste your precious time on your stupid rants that only those of us that deeply care for you would understand. I can only hope that my incredibly successful blog (right) will lead many visitors to your newly syndicated top notch sports and venom site. I'm sure you will be hogging bandwidth in no time.

Fortunately I won't have to attend your Bloggers Anonymous meetings anytime soon. I do pity those that will have to see you blogging in the middle of the night. Hunched over the dim glow of your monitor in an old pair of boxer shorts and a tattered, beer stained tank top. Toes sticking out of the ends of your worn out Homer Simpson slippers. 5:00 shadow and a small crusty area of tomato sauce on your chin from the hastily prepared frozen pizza. The crunchy little "sleepy's" in the corner of your eyes flaking onto the keyboard as you squint at the keys in the darkness. The gooey ear wax football that you retrieved during the last pageload sits poised under your left little finger's nail just waiting to be deposited on the "Caps Lock" key with the next all caps rant.

Anyway.....just a little slice of the future for ya! Have fun.