Sunday, August 28, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
234- You're Out!
As a lifelong Detroit Tigers fan it was especially satisfying to see the Tigers sweep their three game series with the Cleveland Indians. It pushed their AL Central Division lead to 4 1/2 games. The game ended on a bang bang play. The Indians hit into a wild double play to end the game. Austin Jackson made a good running catch on Matt Laporta's shallow fly ball to center field and then threw a "frozen rope" to catcher Alex Avila who easily put the take on Kosuke Fukodome to end the game.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
233- Newsflash
Five things:
1- We are in the process of getting a new roof/solar panels for our house. Too many roof leaks and cracked tiles--- all resulting from poor workmanship in the beginning 26 years ago. The cost will be high... but the benefits of solar power and no electric bills in the future make it appealing. Rebates and tax credits also drove the price downward by nearly $13,ooo.
2- K is now in Afghanistan. She says that it is worse than we hear about. Injured children are everywhere. Please pray for her.
3- My dad has been ailing lately and needs your prayers, too.
4- BMO is getting ready for college. He's really excited.
5- BMOs friend Conner graduates from MCRD boot camp on 9/9.
232- Victory at Sea
I am enjoying re-watching the acclaimed "Victory at Sea" Documentaries of WW2. It's three DVDs and I am just finishing up the first. A few days ago an old friend reminded me how we used to watch these during military inservice training. For anyone out there who hasn't had the opportunity you should watch them. In fact you can probably check them out of your public library.
PS the music soundtrack is fantastic.
231- USS Essex Reunion
It was fun to get together and relieve the old ship days. I met up with Ernie and Peter and enjoyed reliving good times. Peter is retired now and Ernie works over at Camp Pendleton. Even though it had been a few years since we had seen each other it was like old times.
230- Chargers Win
San Diego evened their preseason record at 1-1 by thumping the Cowboys 20-7 in Dallas. The first team offense looked mighty good and so did the defense. A Super Bowl would be pretty sweet.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
228- CSU-N photo 2
This is really pretty cool because when you look at it from 90 degrees it reads the same thing... that's why it's a little squiggly.
226- Look What I Found
Out for a pleasant Sunday morning walk... I found this stiletto.
What's the story behind this?
1- used to rob a guy
2- used to rob a store
3- girlfriend found ti and threw it out the window of a car
4- kid bought it but had to throw it away because his mom found it
5- dropped by a thug
6- only used to peel apple skins
7- used by a clandestine surgeon to do roadside appendectomies
8- fell off the stiletto truck
9- used by a bully to extort lunch money
10- was given by a grandfather (in prison) for his grandson's 8th b-day
Saturday, August 13, 2011
225- Boxes ready to go
I packed, wrapped and addressed the four boxes K wanted me to ship to her in Afghanistan. On Monday they'll get mailed out. Homemade pizza for dinner tonight.
224- Hoarders
Watching an episode of "Hoarders" on TLC... it's a show that makes you want to clean up and toss stuff out. Period.
223- Orientation part 3
So what did I do?
1- went to Lowe's. Never been to a Lowe's before. Very nice- in fact nicer than Home Depot and much more friendly and helpful. I picked up a book on backyard design, a bucket for BMO, a new flag and a tool bag.
2. Office Max.
3. Costco. Got gas and then went inside (10 am) to get a bag of chips and a new lunch box for work.
4. Went over to the mall and walked around... a lot. Got a 10 minute back massage and then went to see Harry Potter 7b. (not bad for a finale). Had lunch at the food court.
5. went to tour the campus, then went to the parking garage, took a short nap and waited for BMO to finish up.
222- Orientation part 2
CSU-N Earthquake history:
The 1994 Northridge earthquake, caused $400 million dollars in damage which was the heaviest damage ever experienced by an American college campus at the time[18]. The epicenter of the quake is within two miles of the campus. On that same month, then Vice President Al Gore visited the campus with promises of funds.[3] The campus was heavily damaged by the earthquake, including entire sections of the main library, art building, etc., but classes continued in alternative structures. The art courtyard survived. Among the structures that were considered too heavily damaged for repair were the Fine Arts building, which was designed by Richard Neutra, and the South Library, which was the oldest permanent building on campus. Due to inadequate earthquake engineering, the parking structure next to the Matadome was completely destroyed, and is currently a grass field used for kinesiology instruction, though the driveway formerly used to enter the structure is still visible from Zelzah Avenue. As of August 22, 2007, the University has completed the rebuilding project.
In the aftermath of the 1994 earthquake, CSUN civil engineering faculty and students enthusiastically took part in the research on earthquake protection of building structures, in particular, in the field of seismic performance, vibration control, and base isolation.
On January 17, 1995, then President Bill Clinton visited the campus to commemorate the first anniversary since the quake.[3}221- Orientation for BMO part 1
BMO and I drove up to CSU-N for his orientation. He spent from 8-6 on campus getting a tour, lectures and oriented to his campus. He was pretty excited and talked about it all the way home. LA traffic on the 405 was horrible on Friday afternoon. It was stop and stop nearly all the way until we hit the toll road 73 near Irvin.
The campus was very nice and relatively new.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
217- Cowboys and Aliens
BMO took me to see "Cowboys and Aliens" for my birthday... that's right... movie, popcorn and soda. It was a fun movie and a great birthday present. The next day Gary took me out for a birthday dinner at Red Lobster. All in all not a bad way to spend my 52nd birthday.
216- Ranting on: Global Warming, Debt Problems and Broken Promises
Its been in the 90s and 100s for the3 past few weeks... record temps. Does anyone really doubt that thew world is warmer today than it was fifty years ago?
I think that politically we feel it important to place the blame for the warmer temperatures on someone.... perhaps because most of our politicians are lawyers and that's the way they always think.
Perhaps everyone who drives a car, wants to be warmed in the winter or breathes air should admit that they are part of the problem. The pseudo intellectuals want to blame the coal and gas producers... but they use computers that use electricity and that comes from power plants that burn things to make electricity. They ride in planes and cars and eat fruit and veggies that get trucked or flown in from places far away from where they live. Seems we have lots of stone throwers when in fact we all live in the same glass houses. (its a metaphor - figure it out).
Time to quit quibbling about who is at fault and start getting solar, geothermal, wind power on line... with all that stimulus money.... oh I forgot we used it to pay the state politicians and governments. So much for the shovel ready bullshit projects we heard about and were promised. Republican or Democrat--- no one keeps their promises as they belly up to the pig's trough that is our Washington DC government.
Disappointed.... you bet. I didn't vote for Obama- but I like what he said about green energy and renewable energy... an empty promise. We are just as dependent as ever on foreign oil and dirty coal. Oil companies making record profits... gas prices at record levels. Unemployment over 9%.
Tee Party.. elected to go to Washington and get our fiscal problems under control. Instead we get bickering, inflation, high consumer prices, low wages and now a downgrade in our credit rating. I am fiscally responsible in my life and now I'm getting dragged down by the reckless spending of politicians over the last 50 years who haven't had the balls to control their spending appetites or the sense to keep their greedy hands off the money that has been collected from every working american that was earmarked for social security.
It's both parties... the Republicans for building up the huge military complex and giving tax breaks to billionaire (Actually JFK made a huge tax cut to them in the 60s---that's another story--- and it opened the floodgates to tax break after tax break). The Democrats have used every opportunity to legislate social programs and increased then bleed the coffers of our country to pay for it...always blaming the Republicans and trying to tax the successful and wealthy. Under the Democrats dollars are funneled from successful businesses and put into the pockets of the unsuccessful. Never have so few been asked to support so many. It's a messed up system.
Why can't we all just pay 10% in taxes across the board? Bobby Bricklayer and Monty Moneybags each contribute 10 cents of every buck they earn. Sally Saleslady and Kenny Computer programmer, Ned Newscaster and Debbie Doctor. Everyone tosses in 10%. Whether its an $8/ hr job or $60/hr. And that's it. Washington has to live within that budget... Why those sorry bastards aren't required to balance the budget is totally asinine.
As you can tell I am pretty sick of these supposedly intelligent politicians (most are lawyers, businessmen, doctors, etc) can act so irresponsibly is crazy. Turn them all out into the street. Let them join the unemployment lines that they have created.
The End- unedited.
215- Dinner tonight...
was a nice plate of spicy Eggplant from China Fun. Very good. We have been trying not to eat out as much but with all the heat it was fun not to cook and it was TGIF anyways.
214- A Real Scary Movie
I got the movie "Insidious" from Netflix. Very scary. I don't recommend it if you don't like horror films... but if you want to get scared out of your socks than take a look.... 5 skulls! and two bony thumbs up.
213-What is BlogThis! ? - Blogger Help
What is BlogThis! ? - Blogger Help
Yes it's a crazy new thing from google. Somehow it wouldn't let me log in until I downloaded Blogthis... so here it is. Damn you Google.
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