Friday, September 26, 2008

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Can't wait for tonight's show

Railroad Earth
7/4/08 High Sierra Music Festival, Quincy, CA


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Monday, September 22, 2008

First Day of Fall at Last

Those who know me best are very well aware of my love of Fall. It's been my favorite season since I was a kid and I don't know why. I remember the weekends with crisp leaves, fireplaces and Redskins game comin' over the rabbit ears onto the color 13" Sony TV in the "family room". I believe we even had a red shag carpet in those days. Sweet!

But either way Fall brings the annual holiday ritual of craving Wild Turkey Surprise and dressing up like a complete idiot to drink a foggy cocktail with your neighbors (you know the scene I'm talking about, with the puggle dressed as a bat and the weiner dog with a butler outfit on). It brings turkey, stuffing and the like.

And I suppose it all started as the season of the bountiful harvest. Sure, now-a-days we think of summer as the bounty because we're used to southern fruits like citrus and nectarines and peaches. But those northern pilgranatives were plantin' away the corn, squash and maybe even a hearty melon. Certainly pumpkins and gourds. Lord knows how much butternut squash an average Pilgrim had to consume in an average Fall.

Anyway, I digress. My point is that I never thought of Fall as the bounty. But now that I'm in the CSA program this is my 4th season since I joined and my first summer into fall. Summer brought lots of goodies like 2-3 melons per basket. Do you know what that meant? Well, since Catherine isn't a big melon-eater (she's a apple, peach, banana, grape kinda girl) I basically eat fruit salad every day. But the gourds are coming from the farm. And the pumpkins. And the apples and pears have already started. We're talking tarts and pies time. Hot food. The goodbye for gazpacho and the hello to goulash.

And maybe that's why I'm glad it's the first day of Fall at last.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Bacon vs Financials

You could read the reports that the Nasdaq dropped 5% today and the Dow 4% (over an additional 4% two days ago). And you could fret that your 401k is nearly valueless. You could laugh that our next President may be so dumb as to privatize Social Security or thinks the economy is ok.

Or you could spend much more valuable time reading this recent find that a friend sent to me which is essentially the only real financial decision you have to make: buy bacon now or buy bacon later?

You could spend your time whithering away in your cubicle at work wondering when you'll lose your job as your grandfather before you did in 1929 or attempting to distract your children from telling you how hungry they are because you couldn't afford to buy Pop-Tarts anymore.

Or you could look at this lovely photo of me eating a bacon-bit-laden chocolate bar. Yes, baco-chocolate bar. No, you didn't read that wrong. See the photo evidence!

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Palin: Pales in Comparison

For days now I've been in absolute shock. You see, it's not that I didn't realize that John McCain is an irrational war-mongering idiot; but rather I now see that I was blind to his complete lack of understanding of a fundamental fact: he is an old geezer.

There, I said it. McCain is an old geezer. He is obviously senile. Whereas sometime around 2002 I might have actually found McCain's anti-Republican-but-still-Republican message somewhat agreeable (after all, this was a man who didn't just bow to Bush's every whim) it is now apparent that he is crazy. An unfortunate reality folks. He not only now bows to Bush's every whim but also, in his complete denial of his own age, is pushing a crazed maniac from the Christian-right as his replacement for when he keels over in 18-24 months from heart-related issues.

Now then, I was going to take the time to rant about Palin's ignorance on everything from foreign policy to women's rights (rights which she apparently loves to have for her knocked-up 17-year-old daughter -- prominently featured with a bottle of Captain Morgan or some such thing on various websites) but I needn't do so. For the Daily Show has already completed my quest. Thanks Jon Stewart!



My opinion now is that McCain's perfect choice would have been an equally crazed 72-year-old Jewish grandmother with senile dementia. This would have been a knock-out choice, and I'll explain why.

First off, starvation for the poor of the USA would be a thing of the past because she'd forget we'd just eaten any gov't cheese and try to "feed the country" some more. Secondly, we'd all get tax rebates every Xmas because... well, because that's what Grandma's are good at, especially crazy ones. And lastly foreign heads-of-state dinner parties would be a riot. Just imagine the two of them forgetting everyone's name and slamming down a few swigs of Manischewitz blackberry wine and releasing some noxious gas fumes. What a scene it could have been. Alas, I'll be voting for Obama.