My Last Email Exchange (as of this 07/31/2014 writing)

My Buddy: So when are we going to get together to do that deal on the CZ (a gun)?

Me: I don't know, I'm trying to figure out a way to tie it to coercing you to hang out with me. I never see you anymore. I miss your scent. I miss your musk.

My Buddy: Uh, thanks for making things get weird. This is uncomfortable

Thursday's Thoughts

Classes we should have had.

• UFC and MMA in general are correctly getting normal prime time news coverage as boxing always received in the past. There could come a time though, when boxing basically disappears- when the risks are fully understood.
• Will MMA ever be an Olympic sport? I say yes but getting it there itself will be a battle. 
• There used to be a guy who lived near Boyd who had a pig that thought he was a dog. He would come out to your truck making a woof noise while running in a pack with the other dogs. He would even try to hike his leg to pee on your tire. The guys wife put a dog collar on him. He would rub on you and beg to be petted and would sit on command.
• Wonder what happened to him? Did they eat him?
• Don't worry they probably did it slowly - over time. You know- cut off a ham here, some bacon there and then turn him out to play for a while. I mean a pig like that you don't just eat him all at once.
  
• My children are watching Scooby Doo (06/08/2014). It is much more terrible than I remember. Not even so bad it is good or at least charming- it is just awful.
• Patrick Warburton is doing one of the voices- what are the odds?.
  
• Although I know the prices of most of the  services by heart and have access to the scales anyway, I am specifically forbidden from discussing fees with my patients at work. It is a blessing. It is a blessing as it keeps me from getting bogged down with money concerns and I don't cause mixed signals between the back offices and front desk. However, like most rules it has to be broken sometimes. If I'm not careful we'll lose patients who need treatment if they don't understand the visits following the first two are dirt cheap. I have had to learn to read them and explain the evaluation was the expensive part- the rest is cushion change money.
• Sex Pistols Holidays In TheSun
  
  

Wednesday's Digressions

• When a headline refers to Illinois as the location of a murder you can bet they mean Chicago and just didn't want to pile on and make the city look more horrible.
• Is the same true for Michigan and Detroit?

  

  Pretty funny. The idea is with their running shoes you can run your dog to death. There was self righteous hand wringing over this ad. Hand wringing that was like a lot of other hand wringing- an attempt to make the hand wringers look smarter and more well evolved than they are and symptomatic of a severe humor impairment. 

• Vietnam has told China they're tired of their crap and they better cool it. Hey homes- you're not post US-Vietnam war good and well equipped and China's military sure ain't 1970s-1980s bad and awful. Really dude- cool it, they will hurt you and are totally looking for a do-over to the beatin' you totally heinoused them with back in the 70s and it isn't worth it brah.
• My shoulder surfer dude sometimes dabbles in international diplomacy.
• Most what would be called liberal policies are bad ideas if nothing else because they're based on emotions (specifically and oddly-guilt), politics and are unsustainable.
• Also, spending is easy when it's other peoples money. Amiright?
  
• Journey has been on the playlist a lot lately and it makes me surprised they had fell off the radar for years. They're amazing.

  

  Diabetes, disability, bypass surgery- how much will this lady cost us before her heart can't take anymore and explodes?

• Something that just crossed my mind: I had a lot of close friends in Tennessee during my college days- do they ever think of me? For a while I kept in touch and in fact would drive back and see some of them but over time we lost touch. Often I sensed some liked to hang around me or at least were initially intrigued by the fact I was from Texas. Do they tell stories, I had this crazy friend once from Texas... Do they think of me at all?
• I hardly ever actually turn my camera off- I just allow it to go into power save mode.
• If I had to advise Adam Sandler what to do after his latest abortion of a film Blended I would be at a loss. He either needs quit while he still has a huge pile of money or figure out an amazing comeback.
  

  

  In Clark Gardens

Use This Saying At Your Earliest Opportunity and You'll Be Cool

 I learned a valuable lesson today. Never trust a pretty girl, or a lonely midget.

Monday's Missives

• It shocks me Japan still kills their citizens for certain offenses. It is weird they do so as for over 300 years it was abolished there.
• Dumb, awful, evil, stupid, counterproductive, archaic- the thoughts that flood my mind when the death penalty subject comes up.
• The idea of modern drug cocktails being cruel and unusual though are a smokescreen and actually the abolitionists grasping at straws- I have personally  been under multiple times with the drug (s) used to knock the prisoner out- you are totally and absolutely unaware of what is going on around you.
• An interesting thought: journalists, lawyers etc. should allow themselves to be put under and have their consciousness tested. That would be getting too real though I can guess.
• Good story of how government ineptitude can ruin our lives
• Being a cruise ship captain must be among the best jobs in the world while being any other crew member is probably worser than we could ever grasp. Seriously, I have never heard anything good about being in any other crew position.
• If it were up to me I'd go to bed about 8 every night read for an hour or so awaken at about 3 get a drink, stretch and read for 30 minutes or an hour then nap for an hour to hour and a half then awaken and start my day.
• No, it isn't always up to me- I have an FG and children.
• Recently I took some time off without conferring with FG. It never occurred to her I might want some me time so she promptly went off, castigating me for not including her in the decision making flow chart.
• If while looking at Craigslist ad for a car it says, "good conditions" instead of, "good condition" you can bet it is a Hispanic person selling it and in my area at least be careful it is not a salvage title rebuild that they're curbing to sell.
• Curbing: process whereby a car lot or body shop employee takes a vehicle home to make it look like a private party sale.
• The bicycle I am considering buying is a bargain at a grand. As I boy I could not have dreamed of saying that- on multiple levels especially as this is not an idle research- I'll most likely actually buy it soon.

Iraq Flashback

• To fit in in my platoon in Iraq you'd have better known the words to every country song, classic rock song, present day pop and be able to adapt and quote nearly every movie to what was happening at the time.
• A guy from my platoon was getting on my buddies nerves (or at least he acted that way) while he was playing a video game. Finally he acted like he'd had enough grabbed the guy, picked him up and threw him out of the tent and said,  And stay out of the Woolworths!
• Jersey barriers at our gate had, We Don't Rent Pigs! spray painted on them.
• Come back from leave and get asked how it was? You get a distant, cold stare in your eyes and say, When I was in the desert all I could think of was getting back to the world and when I was in the world all I could think of was getting back to the desert.
• Get surrounded by a pack of wild dogs on the way to the chow hall? You act like a stark raving maniac when you tell the story, I gotta remember- never leave the tent! Never leave the tent maaaaan!
• Overwatching an intersection to catch bomb placers? You're cold, bored, tired, hungry or hot or some crazy combination of the five just hoping you can shoot somebody when across the radio comes a voice in an impossibly over the top twang, Well I was drunk the day my momma got out of prison. Then another voice from another radio, And I went to pick her up in the rain. From a third radio, But, before I could get to the station in my pickup truck- she got got runned over by a danged ole train...
• Yeah, that was the kind of stuff we did.
• Guess you had to be there.

I Was

just watching a video about Winona's Big Brown Beaver but another good Primus tune is Tommy The Cat

Friday's Dispatch

Mi24 on a gun run against insurgents in Ukraine. Click to enlargenate and you'll actually be able to see the empty shell casings falling away from the bird.

• Big Agnes' new Z core sleeping mat is getting nothing but good press- so much so nobody can keep them in stock. It is supposed to be light for its size, quick to inflate and deflate and pack reasonably small. One has been back ordered for me by REI for 3 weeks now. Gag, they look ugly though- a bright baby blue. Hopefully it won't look that bad in real life. Backpacker magazine's testers literally gushed over it. It is as I recall 4 inches thick but cored and chambered to not feel mushy and wobbly. It will be good to see how it compares to my Thermarest which is OK, especially for the price on sale but man, it could inflate quicker and be 1 inch thicker. Interestingly, Thermarest has been around 40 years and you still read testimonials from people who report still using their first edition versions made in 1972.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Hummingbird feeders are very nice. It would go a long way toward keeping them calm, cool and sane if guys in prison were taught to watch and care for birds, wildlife and nature in general.
• Ribeyes were on sale for 7.97 a pound yesterday (05/30/2014). Wow, does that sound as crazy to you as it does to me? Eight dollars a pound for steak- and it is a bargain?!
• My nursing buddy comes back to work on Monday. I hope I am missed as much as he is by the other nurses.

  

  Here, have a picture of a kitten.

• Although great my new Columbia Bora Bora hat is a little too big for my jug head. That is a new one for me.
• My head has to big- to hold all those brains.
• Stedman Graham went to college in Weatherford. I considered purchasing a house that he supposedly lived in the associated garage apartment during his college days here. 
• A girl at the pool is named Zefra. Well, she has the name ready made if goes into stripping. I'm thinking Zefra Starr! Yes, with an exclamation mark. What did you have pictured?
• I was surprised and heartened this video had 42 million views. There is hope for this corrupt, rotten species after all.
  

Clark Gardens After Action Report

Not a flower

What are these things?

• Clark Gardens in Mineral Wells is perfect. If you knew me and went with me yesterday (05/25/2014) you would have braced for me to beat you down with all the maintenance problems and design flaws I noted. Only thing is I didn't have a thing to say- it is basically perfect. Some of the walking surfaces need to be redone and I would have liked to see more birds but it was so well cared for and designed those are true nitpicking thoughts.
• There were lizards everywhere and we saw one snake. We saw Texas spiny lizards and what I'll identify (possibly incorrectly) as a spotted whiptail. We didn't see the peafowl that were heard screaming but we did see a swan, some ducks and a bunch of guinea fowl.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• I have always liked the sound of a peacocks scream although I'm sure a little goes a long way.
• The chapel is gorgeous.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Although I didn't see one in person or on their site the gardens would lend itself very well to webcams and I would be highly curious about the wildlife who call the gardens home.
• The pavilions that overlook the lakes are beautiful.
• The G-scale trains were a surprise treat, although I'll admit when I heard about them I didn't know what G Scale meant so I was pumped at the idea of getting to ride a train through a park! I'm a gooberhead that way.
  
  
  
  
  
• They were advertising for volunteers but the hours posted were for Monday-Friday. Maybe I can burn up some personal time.
• There were plants for sale- decidedly ugly and slightly expensive plants- I would have guessed the expensive part but was surprised at the apparent low-ish quality.
• While not rigidly so, it is a formal garden although thankfully here and there somebody with a sense of humor got to choose accouterments to sitting areas.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

In a hundred years, people will ask for explanations concerning the political and economic failure in the early 21st century. The answer will probably be that the most important reason was the lack of political will to steer a global economy without regard to blind ideology; our inability to understand complex economic relationships and our unwillingness to implement them in non-ideological politics. Nobody will believe it.

In a hundred years, people will ask for explanations concerning the political and economic failure in the early 21st century. The answer will probably be that the most important reason was the lack of political will to steer a global economy without regard to blind ideology; our inability to understand complex economic relationships and our unwillingness to implement them in non-ideological politics. Nobody will believe it.

Wednesday's Digressions

The masters of hammockry

• Women are like rivers- they meander without purpose. They flood their banks out of control and without reason and cause destruction. Men we're like like lakes. We have depth... I glanced over at the guy he was abusing with his retarded diatribe and he looked at me as if to say, If you had a soul and a gun you would shoot one of us in the head- and at this point I don't care which one you choose. I snickered and kept walking.
• The previous bullet is from the, Overheard at Scarborough 2014 file.
• There were passable (but expensive) gyros to be had there.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• That place makes a literal fortune. I busted a 100 dollar bill in the butt within 2 hours and my eldest used some of her own money and I was trying to keep spending low.
• There is a guy who is always there whose character is way more gay looking than he ever intended or would admit,
• No, I'm not being rude and using the term gay to mean lame- I just mean he looked super gay- like a gay superhero and there is no way that was his intention.
  
• The birds of prey show continues to inspire me like few things in this ole world. The director always calls a young person up, gives them a call to duty and a medallion and sends them on their way to change the world or whatever. Sunday 05/18/2014 his young charge nearly fell out from the heat and nerves- she was white as a sheet.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Saxon Moon was great- trancelike music that I could listen to for hours. I don't know how legit it is to the time period but it is really, really good.
• Barring being out of the park completely our parking spot nearly could not have been further from the entrance.
• After we left we stopped for drinks at the Sonic. There was a kid behind us in line who was furiously smoking dope all the way to the pick up window. I tried to get it on video but haven't checked yet to see how it worked.
• There have been cars from 5 different states in the parking lot over my last 2 visits.
• It occurred to me as we watched the belly dance show that one of the dancers is a stripper in another life. I don't know where that idea came from and I may be wrong but  wouldn't be shocked to learn it is true.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Funnel cake was on the menu for the first time in my life. Well, to be more correct I tried for the first time as I recall- I may have tried it before.
• Verdict: it is all that is right and horribly wrong with America- and it may have come from somewhere else.