most recent blogs

Of Terrapins and Kings

(only_playing) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 05:14:00 GMT

Wow, has it really been so long since I've been on the boards? You see, a funny thing happened on the way to the forum... actually not so much. I miss playing DnD. I'm currently playing White Wolf, specifically Vampire, two games worth, which happens to be held in my apartment on alternating Saturdays and Sundays.

I am playing a Dark Ages gangrel (think ranger barbarian), which is very fun. She's really intellegent put downplays it, and is willing to follow whoever wants to take charge. She's always willing to offer a helping hand, or in this case claw. She's a big, happy, feathery, killing machine.

In the second game I am playing a Modern Nights Toreador anti-tribu. Character concept dominatrix. She's very elegant and cultured and earns her living by whipping her clients bloody. She has a lot of guts, which only really shows when the going gets tough and the tough get going.

But anyway, I've been missing you guys.

Been out of it a while now.

(Death_Jester) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 07:33:48 GMT

Man do things get away from you when you have your head buried in a book. Here it is mid-term and I haven't played anything. Not that I have had time to miss it all that much. School is always hoppin and trying to eat up my free time. So far it is doing an excellent job of it too.

I really feel sorry for Ryan and Dave that are in classes and trying to have familes. I don't think I could pull it off. In a very short time I'd be so frustrated I'd be pulling my hair out.

Best of luck to all of us. I think we are going to need it.

Peace
Jester

Rant and Rave

(only_playing) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 09:35:57 GMT

I'm feeling really let down by people about this whole wedding thing. It seems like lots of people volunteered to help, but no one is doing anything. My bridesmaids just yesterday asked me who I wanted at the bachelorette party which is to be held THIS SATURDAY. 4 days notice. Thanks, ladies. Plus, I don't seem to be able to get both of them to anything.

Basil isn't much help with preparations either. It's kinda understandable as he's in school, but still. I've done all the flowers, by my self; shopped for flowergirl dresses, by my self (and Dan); found my engagement ring, by my self; found the favor boxes, by my self; and arranged transportation to and from, by my self. I wrote out the entire fucking ceremony, printed the invitation, and am going to be printing the programs. All by my fucking self. The only thing he has helped with is 1) getting my wedding band because I tricked him into going shopping, and 2) ordering the cake, because I basically said he had to come with me or we weren't having one.

Is it too much to ask that they people who have a vested interest in this wedding turning out right, meaning the people who are going to be IN the wedding, to have some interest in it? Is it too hard for the people that I am supposed to be able to rely on for help during this whole fucking fiasco to actually show up and supply the much needed support that only they can supply?

This is one of the reasons why I dropped my class this semester; somehow I just KNEW that it would be all on me to take care of everything, and that everyone else would some how fuck around.

Wedding Showers

(only_playing) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 01:36:20 GMT

I hate wedding showers, even when they are my own. Stupid games, food that you are too busy to really eat, and having to squeal with delight with the opening of every basket of cleaning supplies. Not that I am complaining about getting presents, merely complaining about having to open said presents while segregated from the rest of the group and having to act as if a bottle of bleach is the most exciting thing in the world. At least there was alcohol. I had 4 cosmos in 3 hours. With alcohol, even my family is tolerable.

moved

(only_playing) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 03:45:54 GMT

Well, Basil and I moved into our new apartment this weekend. It is larger than any apartment that either of us have lived in before- 1100 square feet. 2 bed, 2 bath, and a kitchen that actually works! We're still working on unpacking, but we have a lot done. Master bedroom, mbath, guest bath, and kitchen are all unpacked and put away, livingroom mostly finished (except Dan took the bolts for the daybed we are going to use as a couch). Guest bedroom hasn't been touched. We need to get pins for the bookshelves- unfortunately, the pins have been lost in the depth of time and noone knows where to look for them. The thing is, I remember putting them in a plastic container so I wouldn't lose them, but I don't remember where the plastic container went to. Oh well.
And with the wedding shower this weekend, we don't want to get anything for fear that we might be getting it at the shower.

friends and gaming

(only_playing) — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 04:57:56 GMT

I miss gaming more than I currently do. I miss hanging out with the guys, drinking too much soda, and laughing my ass off. And something I wasn't expecting, I miss running a game. I DM'ed on a whim just to see what it was like and if I could do it, and found out I really enjoyed it. Hopefully after April things will calm down enough so I can get back into the thick of things.

Wedding date

(only_playing) — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 05:36:35 GMT

Well, the wedding date is being changed. The good news, this gives me more time to get things done. The bad news, now we have to change the friggin' date.
The reason behind this is two fold. 1) IUS was booked for the day we had originally planned.
2) My mother threw such a fit about having it on 3/29, told me that I was "hurting my grandfather deeply" and then told me it is because that is the day that my grandmother died on. I basically don't have the energy to argue, so the date is being changed.

Ug

(only_playing) — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 03:21:45 GMT

I just got spending 5 days with my family, which actually went really well. My sister and I didn't fight at all; in fact, she actually trimmed my hair and made me alcoholic beverages of my choice. My mom was well behaved, except she is kinda pushy about Basil and me moving the wedding date. She wants us to have it in April, but I definitely want it on 3/29.

I got lots o' loot for christmas, mostly clothes and stuff for the new apartment/ married life. Good times.

Oh yeah, I currently have one of those gods-aweful head colds that make you feel like your head is an extra 20 lbs. Yay

Orion

(Aestic) — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 03:47:09 GMT

So... Morgan and I went and did something crazy over the weekend. We rescued a VERY cute 2 month old puppy from the Shamrock Foundation. We named him Orion. His mom was an Australian Cattle Dog (aka Blue Heeler), and Dad was a "handsome vistor." (We think Dad might have been an Akita or possibly part German Shephard).

So of course this has meant getting up every 2-3 hours at night to let the dog out. However, despite that, we're pretty excited.

TEH DRESS!

(only_playing) — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 05:03:13 GMT

My girlfriends and I went shopping Saturday, and we found THE DRESS! Halter top, A-line skirt, subtle yet gorgeous beading. Yeah, like you really care. :) Anyway, it is simply amazing.

The girls called me their living barbie-doll. I didn't even have to/ get to pick out any of the dresses to try on. They were WAY to excited to wait for me to look through them.

I'm spending close to $400 for a dress I will wear once, but honestly, it is totally worth it.

2 weeks, 2 days, 9 hours

(Ki Ryn) — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 09:29:44 GMT

I hit level 50 in Lord of the Rings Online today. Like most of my recent time in game, it came about without great fanfare while the bear and I solo'ed Goblin Town. While LotRO is by far my favorite of the MMORPGs, even it has gotten dull in the end game - guess my play style just doesn't match what the game companies want.

I know I said I was going to hold off and let Dan hit 50 first, but my account is going to expire at the start of January and wanted to 'finish' the game while I had some spare time for it. Sorry for that. I expect that it's not as big a deal as it would have been a month ago.

Dec 16

(Ki Ryn) — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 07:01:28 GMT

So I have successfully orchestrated a full blow birthday party for a 5 year old. It went well, but far from perfect. Luckily Andi is still young enough to be easy going. We held the event at the Louisville Nature Center (Andi actually chose that over the bouncy-house party) - we had some little critters brought over from the zoo - and had planned a nature hike but the weather killed that. Still, the arts & crafts and games inside went well enough. My biggest mistake was not keeping the ice cream cake frozen enough. It turned into ice cream soup half way through the party but luckily there is a DQ just a few blocks away (so we had frozen cake for the kids and ice cream soup for the adults :).

Her last birthday got completely run over by Christmas because we were visiting the grandparants at the time and they gave presents etc. to all of the kids there. So this time I wanted it to be an event specifically for her. Of course, I didn't have any idea how much work that took. On the bright side, we have lots of left overs, the kid made out really well with the gifts, and all of the little ones had a good time.

Next year, I think we might just do the bouncy-house thing and party room at one of the local play emporiums. That or a little party at home. Had I not been a stay-at-home dad (or had I any real idea of the actual expense), I doubt this thing could have happened.

Yea I know, who really cares? I just figured it was too quiet around here with Mr. Wynn AWOL so thought I'd blog something. Anyway, now I can start thinking about Christmas. :)

Kilts

(only_playing) — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 05:40:11 GMT

Honestly, I'm not really sure how the decision that all the gentlemen in the wedding party were going to be wearing kilts came to be. But they are. Kilts. So, Bas and I went to the Celtic Centre in Louisville last night to find out prices for renting kilt kits. A full kit (kilt, jacket, vest, and the little bag thingy they wear) rents for $170. And they look amazing. The only things they don't rent are dress shirts, bow ties, stockings and dress shoes. The plan is for Basil to find a day (probably 12/29) and take everyone down there to get fitted. This is Basil, Mike, Joe, James, and my father for the full kit, and George and Rob need to get fitted for the jacket and vest. They are going to look so amazing. :)

More wedding stuff

(only_playing) — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 04:48:00 GMT

After a 2 hr + conversation with my mother and my aunt, the ball is starting to get rolling for the wedding. My parents have offered to pay for my dress, the reception venue, some decorations, and (if we hold it at the American Legion) the catering. This leaves me to get flowers (which I think I'll do myself), favors, the wedding venue, the cake, and invitations. On the to- do list for this week: Finish guest list, call my sister, look for cakes, get an idea about invitations, go dress shopping on Saturday.

Aunt Barb is a god-send for helping with the wedding. She has had three children get married (one twice), and planned her own wedding all within the past 15 years, so she knows what she is doing.

Wedding stuff

(only_playing) — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 07:12:37 GMT

So, the date is set for March 29th, with a small wedding at IUS and a huge reception at Richo's. Friends have offered/demanded to be the photographer, caterer, musician, ushers, and other attendants. I have picked my bridesmaids (and they already have dresses from a wedding that is going to be held on 3/15), Basil has picked his groomsmen, and we found our rings yesterday. I still need a dress, we need invitations, a cake, a florist, transportation, and a hotel room. Things are going much smoother than I would ever thought... knock on wood.

Stupid Doctors

(only_playing) — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 07:21:09 GMT

Today's tests came out inconclusive
1) Ultrasound showed no signs of a pregnancy, nor of a tubal pregnancy.
2) Symptoms point to miscarriage
BUT
3)My hormone levels rose from 400 to 528- Not nearly as high as they should be, but enough to point toward a pregnancy

So I need to get more blood drawn on Monday. It could be one of two things either
A) I had a miscarriage and my body just hasn't figured it out yet OR
B) I'm just not as far along as they calculated.

Both the doctor and I think it is most likely A, but there is a chance for B.

major changes

(only_playing) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 04:21:13 GMT

I've had some major changes happen in the past week.
Last monday I found out I was pregnant.
Tuesday, I told my best friend, who left without talking to me.
Thursday, my boyfriend and I told my parents; I lost my best friend.
Saturday, we tell Basil's father; I start worrying because I'm spotting.
Sunday, I'm terrified that I'm going to lose the baby; Basil and I get engaged.
Monday, I go to the doctor and find out that my hormone levels are a little too low for a normal pregnancy.

I get to take more tests on Wed to find out if I lost the baby or not. I'm scared to death that I have. I just keep telling myself what the doc told me: If I have, it is not because of anything I did or failed to do, it is not going to affect future pregnancies, it could be because of a problem with the child or... anything. Honestly, right now all I want to do is go to sleep and wake up tomorrow, knowing how everything will turn out.

Thanksgiving Dinner

(Cataphractos) — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 03:59:06 GMT

I came, I saw, I cooked.

Never before have I cooked for that amount of people, and let me tell ya, brothers and sisters mine, with a single oven and tiny microwave, it's a challenge. The two largest obstacles to comfortable success was the cooking time for the hens, and the ability to keep the rest of the food hot enough until sit-down.

All in all, I was satisfied. Too many vegetables, I think, but that beats hell out of too much turkey. everyone raved about the food, but their family, and it's not as if they'll look you in the face and say "boy, Rob, that tasted like asshole-stew."

The Empress-Consort and I took the rug-rats to the 'Light Up Louisville' last night. The city did a great job with the lights and the displays. We missed the fireworks, which Brenndan wanted to see very badly. I understand this need. I myself have not grown out of the childhood appreciation for things that explode into showers of light and color. We'll make up for it this New Years, hopefully.

I cannot possibly blog here without whining about something, so I'll go ahead and get it out now. I have, for your reading (dis)pleasure, two observations:

Our Police. Since when did our Mayor raid the local Highschools for a police force ? I'm dead-serious when i say that the cops I saw downtown last night, not only appeared to be 17 years of age, but acted it as well. From a Vet's standpoint, an armed, protective detail does ZERO good, if it's clustered together and playing grab-ass, in the center of a semi-crowded avenue, particularly if that same detail IS NOT observing the activties and people they are there to protect. Yes, these were cops. Not security-guards. 17 year-olds with guns and badges. I wonder if these represent the police that Louisville hired out of the Detroit area. They were certainly built like HS football players. And as I said before, had the same professionalism. Yet another reason to carry-conceal.

My Army. Gentlemen and Lady readers, I belong to one seriously fugged up Battalion. I'll 'splain this to clarify.
As you may know, I am the guy who assigns honors-teams to the funerals for veterans here in the KY-IN-OH-MI area, when it is our Battalion's turn to provide such a service. It involves PC, phone, and instruction-work. Simple. Now, all of the Soldiers in this BN know when adn if they're assigned the duty of funeral-honors during this period. How do they know this ? Simply because their leadership puts the teams together, and schedules them weeks ahead.
I have copies of said schedules. I have the signatures of these Sr. NCOS on the schedules.
So, late at night on friday, I get notified of the burial detail, thats to take place this morning ; so far, so good...until you get to the rank of the veteran we're doing the honors for. Colonel. did I mention Colonel? Thats...one rank below LT. General. Colonel. You get that rank via about 25-30 years of service.
In order to do the service, an Officer has to be present; his sole purpose for being is to present the folded flag to the surviving relative of the deceased Colonel.The rank of that Officer must be of Captain or above. So...with a phone-roster in hand, I start making phone calls at 0700 hours this morning, in order to get me an Officer. Did I find one of the appropriate rank?

No.

Who did I find ?

A Lieutenant.

A Lieutenant who was squared away enough to have answered his government-issued cell-phone, during a period in which he knew he might be called to duty. Now, here's the kicker: had none of the enlisted personnel picked up their phones or remained otherwise unreachable, there would be hell-to-pay. A Staff-Seargeant would be punished. Incidentally, this same LT. is an OCS-grad. Which is to say, he did a few years as an enlisted Soldier.

Thank the War Goddess for prior-enlisted Officers.

My terrible grammar.

(Cataphractos) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 04:23:38 GMT

I'd like to apologize for the massive amount of grammatical errors I make when I blog here.
I've got zero control on editing, and I'm generally too lazy to spell-check. This blog represents a pressure-valve for me, and thusfar, it works well. So, without further ado, I bring you...

Our Army goes to insane, absolutely **INSANE** lengths to remain concealed from the civilian population. Why do we do it? Read my last blog entry. Thats why. At oh-dark-thirtee, when 95% of you are asleep, is when we move our convoys to railheads, and to the ports. Experience has shown that we cannot trust a tiny fraction of you to not harm us, or our equipment, while it's in transition to and from operations. Only since this series of wars has begun, have we been allowed to wear our uniforms off-base, and into stores. Prior to 2002, how many Soldiers did any of you see, walking through an airport, or at a bus terminal, wearing our camo uniforms? If you did, it was likely a Soldier working at that airport at the USO, or an Air National Guardsman, also working there. And now, you see us by the bulk.

But we've always been there. Always. By the handful or in the dozens, moving from our OCONUS installations back here to CONUS. Your army was gigantic in 1988. There were more Soldiers in West Germany than there are now in the Active US Army. And we all had to hide our true identities from you, because we didn't know who of you would try to harm us, either physically or verbally. We could not afford the bad press that would follow our Service, after we made you swallow your teeth and bits of tongue.

Also, back then we had to deal with terrorists of a different ideology, which managed to blend in with you better; Red Army Faction, Bader-Meinhoff, etc.

And now I begin to feel tired of this shameful way of operating. I am tired of looking at the civilians around me as a potential threat. Our Army, and the men and women who serve in it, should neither have to fear for their safety, peace-of-mind, or that of their families and comrades. A threatening person or group should fear for their own health. They should know that pouring concrete over railroad tracks endangers the lives of the train-engineers, and the security detail who may be posted with the train. And there should be zero doubt that, should you endanger the lives of us who serve you, you forfeit your own life. If you endanger the lives of those Policemen and Policewomen, in their lines-of-duty, while they protect us from you, your life is forfeit, once again. All other alternatives smack of a dishonor, disrespect, and cowardice not seen anywhere else, particularly in the countries we operate in.

There is no chance that this will ever change, and less so in the upcoming Administration(s). Our Army will continue to move as if we're in a zone-of-occupation, and we'll have to hide eveything we do. How can I continue to laugh at conspiracy-theorists, when the people of this nation and it's Army are so vastly seperated? I can't. It'll be even worse when we cut and run from Iraq. I had a MT Dew bottle thrown at me when I was on recruiting duty during the peacetime Clinton-years (well, not entirely true; W.J. Clinto loved to launch cruise-missles
at hospital and hotels.) I can only imagine what's getting thrown in Seattle, and what'll become anti-soldier missles in the next two or three years.

In 1988.

(Cataphractos) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 03:38:26 GMT

Standing in the Louisville Military Entry Processing Station, after having signed my contract with the Army, I took this thing called an 'Oath of Enlistment.' Now, I don't know folks generally feel about oaths, but I take them pretty damned seriously, but that another topic. Back to this particular oath.

In it, a Soldier swears to Protect the Constitution. He or she also swears to do so, from enemies, both Foreign and Domestic. And for the life of me, I couldn't clearly decide at the age of 17, what a Domestic Enemy looks, thinks, sounds like, or what such a doomed individual eats for breakfast. Breakfast is pretty important, you know, because it's generally the first thing the enemy vomits up, once he's been shot and starts down the road into shock.
The foreign enemies I'm familiar with coughed up some muck whcih seemed to be a mixture of chai-tea, goat, and flat-bread, but I digress. So, not entirely sure of the Domestic part, I took the 'Oath of Enlistment.'

Nineteen years later, I believe I have discovered the awful truth of what constitutes a Domestic Enemy. At least, I've discovered what they act like. And their breakfast probably was a bit healthier than their foreign counterparts. Before I post a link here, I want to tell you what I've discovered a Domestic Enemy is not:

1. The People of the United States who, through their Legislature and the press / media, protest America's involvement in any number of issues.

2. The educators within our nation's schools who explain current affairs to their students, and give their opinions, based upon experience, knowledge, and solid judgement.
(it may be seditious, and severely misguided, but still American in it's intent)

3. The half-baked college student who plasters his or her tiny car with dozens of seditious-sounding bumper-stickers, supporting his or her view on the government
(of course, supported and influenced by #1, above)

4. The radically-religious who lawfully protest at the funerals of the very Soldiers who died for their right to protest.
(no matter how much violence Soldiers would all love to bring to these folks of the WBC)

And so on.

Incidentally, I've witnessed how Germany handles it's peaceful protestors; it involves German Shephards and high-pressure firetruck hoses. Anyhooo...

Here's how a Domestic Enemy acts:
_____________________________________________________________________________
War Protesters Arrested at Wash. Port
By RACHEL LA CORTE ? 1 day ago

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) ? Police used pepper spray on a crowd of about 150 demonstrators as they tried to block shipments of military gear from Iraq, but officials managed to move out several loads to a nearby Army base through a side entrance.

Police arrested 43 people Tuesday night at the Port of Olympia in the state capital during the second week of demonstrations against the shipments, which arrived at the port after an Army Stryker brigade based at Fort Lewis returned from the war.

Those arrested were released until prosecutors decide whether to charge them, police spokesman Dick Machlan said.

Police wearing riot gear fired pepper spray projectiles into the crowd. Demonstrators had been warned five times that pepper spray would be used, police Lt. James Costa said.

A window in a police cruiser was broken by several rocks and another rock hit an officer in the knee, he said.

The protesters first sought to block truck convoys at the port's main gate. Arrests began after authorities moved several loads through a side gate and protesters rushed there to attempt to block them, police said. Demonstrators poured cement over railroad tracks at the port but were unsuccessful in halting trains.

Also present were 30 to 40 counter-demonstrators who said the protesters were a disgrace and returning troops should be welcomed home without being denied their equipment.

Andrew Yankey, a spokesman for a protest group calling itself the Olympia Port Militarization Resistance, said Wednesday that demonstrators weren't protesting soldiers ? just the equipment that he said is likely being sent back for repair before being shipped out again.

"The soldiers have made it home, and we're really glad about that," he said. "This is about the military equipment. As long as the government refuses to listen to the will of the vast majority of people who want an end to this war, it's not safe to allow the military to have its hands on this equipment because it will continue to support the war in Iraq."

At a City Council meeting earlier Tuesday, several people accused police of overreacting with the use of pepper spray and batons to move protesters out of the way of convoys in earlier protests.

Patti Grant, spokeswoman for the port, said she could not say whether any additional equipment would be unloaded Wednesday, citing security. She said the port suffered minimal damage.

"The port respects the right of people to protest against the war. Lawful, peaceful demonstrations is what our society is all about," she said. "Unfortunately, the demonstrators here in Olympia have chosen tactics that break the law."

Protester Sandy Mayes said that the group did not condone the damage that was done downtown, but noted that most of the protesters "have been engaging in peaceful, nonviolent resistance."
_____________________________________________________________________________

This is not all of the story, of course, and in order to get a fuller picture than what the A.P provides, you'll have to be a member of an organization or two that counters what these sort of people do.

Anyway, the greater question for one who has taken an oath such as I did back in 1988 is, how am I to feel about this sort of illegal, unconstitutional activity, particulary when it not only disrupts the deployment of my Brothers, but their return, as well ? Should I laugh at something that sounds this ridiculous, as being part and parcel of normal moon-bat activity in that part of the US, and even more importantly when it endangers the lives of Soldiers, and ties up law-enforcement and city-infrastructure? I know the answer to this, of course.

But I love to share my view, and the viewpoints of a great deal of those of us in uniform.

Our general view: treat them as if they we're insurgents involved in disrupting military operations in our current theatres of deployment. Since the majority of them are / were unarmed, and would react with some critical-thinking skills to the situation, this would involve zip-strips and being stuffed into an APC.

For the dummies, well, that would be a different case.

Dangerous funeral missions.

(Cataphractos) — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 07:38:08 GMT

I hate double-standards. No. Really. I do. They rank up there with political pandering, and children used as suicide-bombers.

So, here's one standard the Army uses:

Lets say you wanted to go on a pass for four days and your home was 8 hours away, and for some reason, you had to be there at 10 AM the next morning. I, as your supervisor, would do a risk-assessment based upon weather, distance, and rest factors. If it rated in the 'high-risk' category, I'd have to tell you that you couldn't leave until the next morning. It's out of my hands, and in those of Army Regulations. An example of 'high-risk' would be driving for 8 hours, through inclement weather such as sleet, rain, snow, etcetera; added to the 8 hours being done over-night.

Here's the other standard: Casualty assistance calls you at 1PM to tell you that you have to send two soldiers, 9 hours away, through snow and rain, and they must be there, absolutely, positively, the next morning. No risk-assessment is to be done, and there are no excuses for failure to show up on time. It doesn't matter that the funeral team will show up after the drive, in a terrible condition, because they checked in at their hotel at 1AM and didn't get crap for sleep.

The killer is that this is completely unneccessary. The Ohio National Guard has units up there that do nothing but bury veterans. Or at least they did, until the weather up there turned cold and wet. Fair-weather patriots. Hmmph.

Suh-low news week

(Cataphractos) — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 02:31:34 GMT

With little to fume over, hence, little to blog about.

OK, so there are a few things that sorta caught my ear:

1) Hollywood Writer's Strike.

Its always difficult for me to get behind a group of people who drive $60,000 + sedans and SUVs up to their demonstration area. I understand that Horrorwood is feeling an economic pich of some sort, though, and it probably sucks for the little guys and gals, like set carpenters, assistants, etc. My crystal-ball shows me future out-sourcing of scripts and more market for foreign films.

2) The POTUS campaign.

I have completely boycotted coverage of this issue. I wrote Senator Clinton's campaign and asked three simple questions, which were not answered, though I was invited to join her campaign efforts via donations, etc. All I wanted was three answers to three questions. I'll be shooting these off to the others this week. Once I've collected enough form-replies with excuses as to why I got no answer, I'll inform you all of who-said-what.

I will vomit in my cheezits if I hear the words "Hillary said today..." one more single time, on any given radio. Actually, I will spew if I hear quotes from any candidate.

3) World of Warcraft patches

I finally got keyed for my first-ever Kara run ! And you know what? It suxxors. My guild tried a raid last night, and it failed. Not because we werent prepared, or because we suck; we had to fight through two Alliance guilds, standing outside at the meeting-stone. By the time we chased them off, or inside, everyone was exhausted. Two hours of killing Nelfs will do that. We're trying again tonight at 5:30 server time.

As far as the patches that hit, there is even more to do in WoW. Unfortunately, it's too much, IMHO. I've heared a ton of cheers, some complaints, and it hasnt really affected me much. I still have a mana-pool to watch, +shadow damage to attend to, and gear to collect. And everyone I've had to fight has taken just about the same amount of mana to kill.

4) Home Maintenance

Am I alone in this particular fear: replacing or repairing anything electrical, in the home? Well, I had to tear out and replace a light-toggle, and did so without electrocution. I think it was luck. I dunno. It's not carpentry, where you bang a thumb. Your house will kill your dumbass, if you mess around with the wiring.

A Lunch Worth Your $1.15

(Cataphractos) — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 08:09:51 GMT

Chef Boyardee Mini-Ravioili(TM)

Absolutely dee-lish-us ! The best combo is to take a handful of Jalapeno Cheez-its(TM) and crumble them up as topping, them microwave the whole mess for 2 minutes. Mmmm.........

So, last night at about 11:30PM, this car alarm starts going off in the alley behind my house. Like anyone living in an urban environment, this sort of occurence means nothing; it's background noise, sorta like the traffic along WSCA and HWY 65. Well, thw Empress-Consort notices that it is, in fact, our own Toyota's alarm. Damn.
There is a trick played by scumbags in this neighborhood that includes walking along lines of cars, grabbing doorhandles, and lightly lifting to test the alarm and locks. I've seen this happen, but usually, the alarms or locks are set, and it results in my simply walking towards the idiot, and giving them the glare.
Any-hoo..in an alley, it's a bit different.
Too many places to hide and lots of darkness. So out comes the flashlight, and from the back-door of the house, to the alley I go. And...nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Excpet for a startled alley-cat. But thats not the end of it. Oh no...
Oh-dark-thirty this AM, Im pulling on the boots. Alarm sounds in the alley, from my Prius again. This time it's shotgun, flashlight, and a one-boot hop out to the car. My flashlight and gun-muzzle swing left and right, and beneath the cars, and behind the trashcans. Right about the time I start to feel, well, pretty stupid...I get a "meorw?" And it's the same one-eyed cat from net door. He looks up at me and says "Meorw?" again, which is to say "Hey buddy, is that thing loaded?" I look at this inquisitive cat, and then over at the hood of my car, which is noticeably covered in paw-prints, and it all comes together.
Apparently in Japan, cats steal cars alot, so they manufacture the car-alarms to sound off loudly, when one jumps onto the hood in order to raise it, or bash in the window with their diamond-covered claws. Naturally, this cat was not expecting a loud alarm from the tempting Prius, and definately did not expect a rapid, armed, one-boot wearing response to it's auto-theft attempt. Instead of shooting the potential car-thief, I decided to foot-ball kick him over into his yard next door.

Not really..but I damned sure thought about it.

A Movie Worth Your $8.00

(Cataphractos) — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 02:25:40 GMT

American Gangster.

Caution:

If your enjoyment of cinema is not complete without mult-million dollar budgetted CGI-shoot em' ups, don't waste your time. The antagonist here is not an Al Pacino with a grenade-launcher. The evil portrayed in this particular film goes much deeper than the typical 'cocaine lines on the night-club table.'

You'll get to see, along with some very fine acting, just why and how by 1971, one out of three casualties in the Vietnam War were drug overdoses...

Yesterday proved a theory I've held to be true...

(Cataphractos) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 03:38:41 GMT

...in that, if you list a specific issue up for vote via referendum, and leave a name and political party affiliation away from it, you will get a 'No,' almost every time the issue deals with a tax-hike.

The scare tactic of "But I'll have to take money away from the Police and Fire Departments, " did not work. The other tool-of-the-trade didn't, either: "But, its fer the chidwen!" Yeah, because the chilluns need $40,000,000 over ten years to further their myspace and facebook accounts along. For-tee-million dollars...ten years...on a tax put in place to remain..one-zero-zero years.

Do you have any idea what can be done with 40Mill? On top of already-existing taxes? Well, truth be told, sine the $$$ would be governmentally managed funds, prolly not a whole lot..but give *me* that much money, and I'll build you a fuggin Empirical Library that'll rival the Vatican's. And staff it. And put books in it. And ask for not ONE single dollar more from your taxes, beyond the tiniest fraction you already fork over. And thats all from just 40Mill.

"Well, but, it's fer da chilluns!" .........................Sheee-it.

Anyone remember Algore's campaign promise to put a PC in every classroom, across the entire US? Great idea, huh? Now how in dee-fu*k were these MILLIONS of computers going to be paid for, *and* maintained? Screw maintained, how about upgraded? You can't just buy a single copy of MS Office and put it on all of the PCs in your organization. No, you have to buy one license per PC. Period. Know what happens when this regualtion / law is not followed? Even Army personnel go to jail.

FT Leavenworth, Kansas:
Bubba: "Hey, wut you here fer?"
Newly Incarcerated Training Tech: "Well, Mr. Bubba, I..uh, downloaded an unlicensed copy of MS Office onto my desktop. What are you here for?"
Bubba: "I raped a 13 year-old Iraqi girl, after I murdered her entire family. Now grab that Vaseline jar, and that grape jelly, n' come over here."

Anyhow, you get the grim picture. Point to my rant is this: do not invest public funds into a program that has such an incredibly unpredictable cost, such as that of PC technology, particularly when it serves only a small minority of people and more specifically, when it serves people who are not tax-payers. AKA chilluns.

An argument can be made against this, from several viewpoints, and I understand the need for said chilluns to have a place to go, and something to do, that doesn't involve crime. I can also understand that a great deal of the money goes towards the pay and benefits of the staff. Fine. Over 50% of the military budget does the same. I say this, however: do not go into Library Sciences, or any public-service job, expecting to build wealth. Hell, don't expect to live very comfortably, even. ZOMGIHAVETOSTACKANDCATALOGUEALLOFTHESEBOOKS!!!
Yeah, but for the other 7 hours, you sit on your ass, behind a PC, scanning cards. What pay we're you expecting for such a sedentary job? Don't buy the next razorphone to hit the market, and attend one or two less Wymensfest Concerts in Ohio, next year. The heating bill will be much easire to pay for, this winter.

Now that Louisvillians have shown themselves to be the true conservatives they, at the end of the day, really are, I can talk about the other offices that either changed or stayed the same.

Guv'nah: I was 100% incorrect on my predictions on this outcome. Sue me. I based it upon the amount of visible public-support for this guy, outside of Jefferson County. I mean this whole-heartedly: the amount of signs and window-stickers I and the EC saw out there in the country-side was staggering; you wouldn't even have known there was another candidate.

State AG: Saw this one coming for miles. I watched him debate with Stan Lee. Conway comes from the William Jefferson Clinton School of Debate and Politics. Which is to say, makeup, hairspray, tanning-creme, and the whole arsenal of high-school debater's body-language; it also included funny quips and comedy, when possible.

Comptroller: I saw this one, to; anytime a politician promises to do away with something in the goverment that sounds even *remotely* important, they lose. I wish it had been otherwise, but I'm apparently in the minority. ms. Linda told us that her hope was to do away with her position, entirely. Which is to say, the state of KY would be saved the $$$ of her salary, her operating expense, the salaries of her *gigantic* staff and their own operating expenses, and put the responsibilty of watching Kentucky's checkbook back into the hands of the person it belongs to: The Secretary of the Treasury, and the state's budgeting counsel.
I wonder how much money all of that would have come up to.

All of the others...I dinnae care either way, nor attempt to predict.

/rantoff