Three Days Grace

The High Road rocks my world pretty Ok- what about yours?

Wednesday's Digressions

Azteks have  a perennial place of honor on every list of worst cars ever made however, you just nearly never see them that don't look like new- and a new one hasn't been made in nearly ten years. They are loved.

• People close to Robin Williams have reported they were hopeful for his future as he had started trying to do things he had previously enjoyed but had left behind for a long time. As I recall he had started reading and watching television after not doing so for months due to depression. In the past I have heard friends and family of a person who killed themselves take note of the decedent recently taking up an old hobby or pastime as evidence they didn't kill themselves as in, Hey, it is obvious somebody killed him as he just took up golf again. He loved golf! Why would he kill himself he was finally back to doing something he loved? Those things become a last ditch effort for a depressed person- when nothing else works and they don't want to return to drinking alcohol or other drugs. When there is no joy left in something they loved and know made them happy in the past they feel there is nothing left and so, they kill themselves.
• Everyone is capable of killing themselves. I'll be the rare person to just be honest and say I know I could but there is also a reason why I would be very, very unlikely to do so.

  

  It looks fancy and pretty  but it is a cheap instant coffee- literal swill.

• Last night (11/22/2014) I went to Bakers for a chopped sammie and then drove around to McDonald's for a large order of their amazing French fries.
• America- what a country.
• They serve something at Baker's called a Sloppy Spud. That sounds like a perverted sex act. I intend to try it at my earliest possible convenience (the food product-not a perverted sex act).

  

  I hung this Inova flashlight from my pack. One of the kids threw a pillow at the gear gear pile causing the brand new light to literally disintegrate. Ridiculous.

• There are a lot more black people in Weatherford than there were a few years ago.

  

  Pretty cool old car. It wouldn't be my first choice for a hot rod but I can dig it.

  
  
  
  

  

  Orphan.

  
  

  

  That is one messed up grill homeboy. Get yourself to a dentist yo!

• I'm trying a reusable cup for the Keurig. It is a metal and plastic contraption you put coffee grounds into. It is a little troublesome but a lot cheaper. After I make a cup of fresh delicious caffeinated beverage I dump the used grounds into a planter on the porch. Recently (today is 11/27/2014) I stepped out onto the porch wrapped in a towel to dump the grounds into said planter. FG's dumb cats took advantage of the cracked door and bolted causing me to have to try and get them back in the house. Taking advantage of my semi-nude weakness they evaded me with amazing agility. The towel fell away. Somehow I caught it with one hand and was able to mostly cover my hiney by holding the towel against my lower back while simultaneously reaching down and catching one of the Satanic beasts with the other hand. Then I was able to corral the other with my foot and shove it back toward the door as the normally not too vocal vermin meowed and hissed and spit all the way. Help! Hey look this naked freak is kicking cats up in here! Help! Meow! Meowww...
• Yes, I have herded cats naked- hasn't everybody?

  

  The first pumpkin I ever carved. No, really- the first ever. We found it a couple of days after Halloween 2014 on the banks of the Trinity.

  
  

  

  He will haunt your soooooul. Muwahhahaha! 

  
  

  

  He made a big splash as he left our lives forever.

  
  

  

  Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river...

  
  

  

  Thug Goose says, Whats up you orange freak!? I think you're in the wrong hood homes.

Mondays Missives

Besides straining a fly through a swatter is there anything more satisfying than murdering a mosquito after you catch it robbing you of your blood?

• Today (07/12/2014) I gave up on the stereo install and went to my local Best Buy to schedule them finishing it. He told me to come back at 6:00. Less than 10 minutes later I called back to change my mind about a service he offered which I initially declined which would add over a 100 bucks to the bill. The guy I spoke to when I called back said he didn't know what I was talking about and 6 o'clock was the time they close. I hung up on him. 
• I won't go back- no, probably never. There is no reason to- I'll order from Crutchfield and the gear will come to my door, for tech questions somebody will Email me hand drawn schematics and for the installs I'll man up and figure stuff out myself.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 40 million: the number of tons of concrete the Germans used to build the Atlantic Wall- from Norway to the South of France.
• There is a place in California on a beach that is protected due to jewel glass- just old broken glass that has been there long enough to have polished smooth by the sand and wave action working together. People like to take the glass for jewelry, arts and crafts. That has always made me wonder- there has to be somebody somewhere who has set out tons of the stuff elsewhere to let nature take it's course and hope to profit from it later. 
• And a connected thought: a literal pile of garbage has the weight of the US government behind it for protection. There are people who can't say that with confidence.
• Initially Gene Hackman was supposed to direct and possibly star in Silence of the Lambs. This would have ruined it before it got off the ground however, Daniel Day Lewis was also considered for the role of Lecter- interesting.
• A head scratcher: have you ever wondered why if the dollar is going to be worthless in the impending apocalypse as predicted by the doomsday preppers  they are so determined to get as many of yours as they can in exchange for their gold?
• Dead Kennedy's Night of the Living Rednecks

Miltitant Missives

• Yeah, when Americans kill in battle it's always with a sense of duty and self defense- no joy or pride in killing his enemy! This clip is from Afghanistan. Here, you'll see a couple of roadside bomb emplacers get blasted by gunships after a strike called by US Marines. The LRAS site mentioned is a long range advanced surveillance system. The PEQ site mentioned is a rifle mounted laser that has a long range and can be used to pinpoint targets for air strikes and coordinate ground fires.




• "i doubt there's even ONE virgin who would sleep with that mess, and good luck herding the other 71 sheep into their pens." comment on a page with a very graphic pic of dead suicide bomber.




• Apache engagement of insurgents in Iraq. Initials are given with persmission to fire in touchy situations in case of an incident.




• Why call fights engagements? Is this an effort to sanitize conversationally killing? No, part of the reason the term is: engagements can be anything from ground directed air strikes, direct rifle fire, hand to hand combat or even talking to people. If you say, "I engaged", it might also have the connotation of you not knowing whether or not people you shot at where killed or even wounded (and maybe didn't even care one way or the other) - you wanted them to stop what they were doing.




• One night late in my tour after a post of guard duty I walked home instead of waiting for the truck to carry me back after getting relieved. Several of us did this often- it could save you some time if the truck spent a lot of extra time dropping off guys at other posts and was actually a nice way to wind down although it was discouraged since it was so close to the wire and no one would have any idea where you were if you got hit. On my way I heard movement to my left that involved multiple sources and one seemed to run in front of me and stop to block my movement. I hurriedly jacked a round in the chamber of weapon and dropped to one knee in time to see and hear that I was surrounded by a pack of wild dogs who were nearly as surprised as me by our mutual presence in that God forsaken place.




• All I could think on the way to the tent was,"Good God- everything I've survived and I nearly got eaten by a pack of dogs?!"




• I took my chances in the truck more often after that night.

Today's Sad Caturday Story: Frankie and Louie Teh Worlds Oldest Two Faced Cat(s) Dead At Age 15

AP photo

Zacism

I like my new haircut, it just that- uh she didn't know anything about using powder and now my neck is all itchy!

I Tell You

Norman Schwarzkopf never met a zingy sound bite he didn't like.

"To show you what a difference retirement makes. Last year when I gave an order, 541,000 men and women jumped," he explained. "Now I can't even get the plumber to come over." Attributed to him following his 1991 retirement.