Thankful

I know I'm late, Thanksgiving was two days ago. Thanksgiving is not one of my favorite holidays. Being in retail it just means it's the day before Black Friday, which is a crazy day. On this day we in the retail business get to see what this holiday season really means: rude, angry, short tempered people that think just because we work in retail that we have to listen to them call us every name in the book because we are out of whatever they just must have this holiday season. Whatever happened to a season of joy and goodwill to man?

But I digress, the topic of this post was things that I am thankful for. I know it's easy to gripe about how terrible things are, how I'm not exactyly where I thought I'd be in life at this point, a million and one other problems and complaints. But truly I have to say the thing I am most thankful for is my life at this moment. I'm healthy (after a health scare recently) and I have good friends and family. I survived my parents living with me the past three days, something I wasn't sure would work out. I have really great friends: Heather, Larry, Nick, Mark, Sal, Claire, Jason...the list goes on and I don't want to try to include everyone cause I will forgot someone just because I am that absent minded. But I wouldn't give up my friends for anything. Some of them I don't see as much as I used to, but that doesn't mean that they still don't mean just as much to me as they did when I saw them everyday. And the ones that I do see everyday, I don't know what I'd do without. Friends mean a lot to me, sometimes I act grumpy and it might be easy to think I'm mad, but I'm not, that's just me being a jerk, I really do think the world of my friends. This also includes the friends I've made online through this blog, yall are out there and I have a special fondness for you too.

So I really do have a lot to be thankful. My life is good.

Attack of the Wonder Dog

Pics from Turkey Day

My sister.

Turkey Day pics

My brother.

Thanksgivng pics

My mom with Buffy.

Thanksgiving pictures

My Dad.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving this year was spent at my house. My parents have sold their home and are in the process of moving to Tennessee. Due to events beyond their control they are currently out of their old home and not yet in their new one. So they're spending the next few days at my house. Which meant they were here for Thanksgiving. I had at first thought I would be spending this holiday home by myself, just resting up for the big day at work tommorrow. But all in all it turned out to be a good day. My brother came over and we had a good meal. I even took some pictures.

My parents with the wonder dog.

Rebuild New Orleans

Contact Congress to let them know that New Orleans deserves to be rebuilt and protected properly this time. I'm so tired of hearing people say that we shouldn't rebuild New Orleans. Not to take into account the food and the music that have come out of this city, have these people forgot that New Orleans is one this country's biggest ports. It was built here due to being at the mouth of the Mississippi. It needs to be here. The editoral I posted to says it better than I can. It also links to the names of the senators and congressmen that YOU need to contact and tell them to get off their butts and get to work rebuilding New Orleans, but I wanted to put the list here, out front where everyone can see it and act on. During WWII this country did extraordinary things in short periods of time. When we have our back pressed to the wall this country can do amazing things. We should be able to rebuild this city, better and faster than the naysayers predict.

One final note: if New Orleans had been destroyed by a terrorist attack the rest of the country and Congress would be rallying to its aid. Because it was a natural diaster we have to act like it's our fault.

SENATE MAJORITY LEADER

Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn.; 509 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; (202) 224-3344; Web site: www.frist.senate.gov. Email can be sent to this Senator Frist via a mailform on his site.

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss, chairman; 113 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; (202) 224-5054; e-mail address: senator@cochran.senate.gov.

Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., ranking member; 311 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; (202) 224-3954. E-mail can be sent to Senator Byrd via a mailform on his website at: http://byrd.senate.gov/

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska; 522 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; (202) 224-3004; Web site: www.stevens.senate.gov

SENATE BUDGET COMMITTEE

Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., chairman; 393 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; (202) 224-3324; Web site: www.gregg.senate.gov

Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., ranking member; 530 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; (202) 224-2043; Web site: www.conrad.senate.gov

SENATE ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE

Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., chairman; 453 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; (202) 224-4721; Web site: www.inhofe.senate.gov

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., ranking member; 511 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; (202) 224-2651; e-mail address: max@baucus.senate.gov

SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE

Rep. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.; 235 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515; (202) 225-2976; Web site: www.house.gov/hastert

HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER

Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; 217 Cannon House Office Building; Washington, D.C. 20515; (202) 225-6536; Web site: www.blunt.house.gov

HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., chairman; 2112 Rayburn House Office Building; Washington, D.C. 20515; (202) 225-5861; Web site: www.house.gov/jerrylewis

Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., ranking member; 2314 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515; (202) 225-3365; Web site: www.obey.house.gov

HOUSE BUDGET COMMITTEE

Rep. Jim Nussle, R-Iowa, chairman; 303 Cannon House Office Building; Washington, D.C. 20515; (202) 225-2911. E-mail can be sent to Congressman Nussle via a mailform on his website at: http://nussle.house.gov/

Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., ranking member; 1401 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515; (202) 225-5501; Web site: www.house.gov/spratt

HOUSE RESOURCES COMMITTEE

Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., chairman; 2411 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515; (202) 225-1947; e-mail: rpombo@mail.house.gov

Rep. Nick J. Rahall II, D-W.Va., ranking member; 2307 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515; (202) 225-3452; e-mail: nrahall@mail.house.gov

HOUSE TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE

Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, chairman; 2111 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515; (202) 225-5765; Web site: www.donyoung.house.gov

Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn, ranking member; 2365 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515; (202) 225-6211; Web site: www.oberstar.house.gov

Nuff Said

This link is from an editoral from the Time Picayune, New Orleans' local paper. I couldn't have said it any better.

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/editorials/index.ssf?/news/content/editorial112005.html

10 Comics That Shook The World

Everyone loves lists. I just found this on the internet. A list of what this writer considers 10 comic books that shook the world. While some of his choices I agree with, some I don't. I won't list mine yet, read his choices, let me know what 10 comics you think belong on the list. (If enough of you out there even read comic books, ha!)

http://www.laweekly.com/ink/05/52/features-harvey.php

Twenty Five Years Ago

It was a Monday night. I was still living at home. Everyone was in their rooms, I was in the living room. I had just came out, got something to eat and sat down to turn the television on. I remember hearing the end of the newscast, Angela Hill was talking about someone in New York being shot, his condition not known at the moment. Who it was I didn't catch.

M*A*S*H was coming on. I think somewhere everyday there is a rerun of M*A*S*H showing. About ten minutes into the show there was a special report breaking in. Now I found out who the person shot in New York had been. It was reported that ex-Beatle John Lennon has been shot and is dead in New York city.

There is simply no way I can put into words what this meant, what this still means to me. I have few real heroes, few people that I think of as people that just awe me. There are a lot of people I admire, that do things I think are heroic, but few that I just am in complete awe of, who I admire completely. John Lennon was one such.

The following days, listening to the news, to all the interviews he had been giving for his new album (and album it was, vinyl, this was before cds had taken over the form), it was heartbreaking. He was so happy, so ready to move into the new decade. He talked about how much a drag the seventies had been, but the eighties were here and we were all still here, still alive, with so much more to offer.

I collected most of the magazines, the newspaper accounts of those days. I have a box of all these clippings in my closet. I haven't looked at them since those days. I don't think I can. I can read about it all in a book, hear it on tv, but to see those clippings that I cut out of the paper, all those magazines I collected would just be too much for me. I taped his last interview that he gave, just hours before his death, it's like hours long and later ran on radio. I haven't listened to it since. I don't think I can, hearing him talk about what the future held for him, how much he looked forward to making new music. To me these items I personally cut out or taped are too personal for me, if I see them in a book or hear them on the radio they seem at least a step removed from me and my feelings at that time. I know it might not make a lot of sense but sometimes these things don't.

That it was twenty five years ago seems impossible. It can't have been that long ago, can it? I'm older now than he was when he was killed. To think of all the music we have lost in those twenty five years.

This was all brought home to me tonight when NBC ran a special on the man who killed John Lennon. They had tapes of Mark David Chapman, from years ago when a reporter intervewied him for a book he was writing about the murder. Chapman comes up with all these reasons why he killed Lennon, how crazy he was...that he had little people in his head...it's all crap as far as I'm concerned. He wanted to be famous and he found a way to accomplish that goal. Most of his reasons sound like what he thinks peole want to hear, what he's learned about how crazy people get off. I just don't buy it. But it doesn't really matter. He killed John Lennon, for whatever reason.

He's been in jail for twenty five years and in my heart I can't find the compassion to forgive him, to think he might deserve to be free. I think he deserves to be in jail till he dies, however many years it takes.

It actually hasn't been twenty five years yet. December 8 is the day he was shot and killed. It's a day I never forget.

Normal Day

Today was as close to a normal pre Katrina day that I've had since the storm. It started with waiting for Paige to meet me at the store before we headed out. As per Paige I waited about thirty minutes past our agreed upon meeting time. Paige is one of those people that will be late no matter what. You've heard the saying, you'd be late for your own funeral...well, that's Paige. We were going to Gulfport, which is in Mississippi, to the movies. The two movie houses in Slidell are closed, one due to the storm and the other due to looting. Why loot a movie house? Did they want those sno caps that bad?

Before we went to Gulfport we decided to take a side trip to Picayune to check out the local Hudsons there. After all the destroyed stores throughout the gulf coast and Florida Hudsons should have plenty of merchandise. Sometimes you can find some good dvds and cds and all sorts of things. This one was a bust though. Mainly bedding and clothing, which neither of us were that interested in. On the way to Gulfport we checked out the flea market that was off the interstate. Closed. When we got to Hudsons we went down to check out the Hudsons there, though I had already heard it was closed we were hoping we heard wrong. Nope, it was closed. And it looked totally destroyed, the roof peeled back, parts of the walls missing.

On the way to Gulfport there is one section of the interstate that has about eight billboards in a row, they always advertise the coming attractions at one of the local casinos in Mississippi. All the billboards were torn completely off, the frames bent over backwards.

Our next stop was to check out the Barnes and Noble. It too was closed. A sign said it would re open early 2006.

At least Chili's was open. The one in Slidell only opens at night. So we had lunch at Chilis. After lunch we went and saw Flightplan.

The movie wasn't bad. It wasn't a great movie, but it wasn't bad. Jodie Foster is good in anything she is in. But it was the first movie on the big screen I've seen since before the hurricane. Coming back the traffic on the interstate was at a dead stop for about thirty minutes.

After dropping Paige off I met Heather and we drove back out to Gulfport to see another movie. Haven't seen a movie in months, now two in one day! We had time to kill before the movie so we checked out Circuit City. Heather and I saw Jarhead, which was really good. I enjoyed this movie a lot.

This was as close to a normal day, without problems from the hurricane as I've had since the storm. Slowly things are getting somewhat normal, but it's going to be a long time before all the signs of the storm are gone.

Living Things

The debut cd from the brothers Berlin as the group Living Things shows that hard rock is still alive and kicking. This is a great cd full of loud music with lyrics that aren't the typical cliched heavy metal stupidity. "Bom Bom Bom" has become one of my favorite new songs. I've enjoyed the music of these new groups like the Strokes and the others but they've never quite managed to lift me to that spot that great music does. (Now I'm not talking about the White Stripes, they're in a league of their own.) But The Living Things proves that great rock still can exist.

Word Verification

I know it can be a pain to type in those wavy words in order to leave a comment, but it's the only thing I can do. I'm tired of all those comments from people selling stuff. They pop up as quick as I leave a post. Literally I had just posted something and one of them comments popped up. So this is the only way I know to fight it. I apologize for the added pain to just leave me a comment.

Traveling through New Orleans

Today I went to my brothers, it wasn't the first time I've been over to his place since the hurricane but it was the first time that I was able to take the twin spans since Katrina. The twin spans are a pair of bridges that cross Lake Ponchatrin from Slidell to New Orleans East. Katrina destroyed a good chuck out of both bridges. One span is repaired and traffic is traveling both ways on it now.

Taking the bridge I got a good look at the other span. A lot more of it is finished than I expected, but there are still huge chunks of it that are just missing.

Taking the interstate through New Orleans East was another eye opener. The areas on the side of the interstate were still in pretty bad shape. The Walmart there was still closed. And if you know how fast a Walmart opens after any type of diaster you can understand how bad this was.

I guess I've been getting used to Slidell being picked up somewhat. There is still a lot of damage over here, but when you drive down the street most of the trees have been removed from homes and buildings. They might still be by the side of the road, but they are not splitting a place of business in half. Here they still were. A sign for a Sav a lot grocery store was cracked in half and lying across the top of the store.

I have a feeling signs of the hurricane are going to be with us for quite awhile
.

Comic Books

I haven't talked much about comic books here. When I first started this blog I thought I would talk more about comic books. So I thought I'd just post some random thoughts on some recent comics.

Daredevil: Still my favorite comic. Bendis' writing on Daredevil is what got me reading superhero comcis again. I had whittled my reading list down to very few when I picked up one of his first issues of Daredevil and was hooked. The new issue, his last arc before he leaves the series, is just as wonderful as everything that has preceeded it. For most of his writings on this series it could have been titled the adventures of Matt Murdock more than his alter ego Daredevil. One of the high points of this series is that for one of the first times in this series I feel the bond between Foggy and Matt. Usually Foggy is played for laughs, and Bendis isn't above this same tactic, but he also shows the friendship between the two men. And the best line in the series, when Angela comes on Daredevil with Natasha and Electra with him: "You have backup singers now?"

Y: The Last Man: Another great book. Another great writer. Brian Vaughan is another writer that I'll follow to almost any book. His Ex Machina is another great series. One thing I'm hoping is that the whole back story of Yorrick's girlfriend is finally put to rest and he can get on with the rest of his life. He's kept himself celibrate out of respect to his girlfriend, what happens I wonder if he finds her and they break up? Will Yorrick go crazy as the only man in a world filled with women?

Infinite Crisis: This is the sort of comic that non readers of comics points to when they say they can't understand them. Even as a regular reader of comics and knowing most of the characters I was confused. It's also why these big bloated "events" are so bad. I dont' really care for the whole thing they've done between the big three: Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. And the ending of this issue should have been the type of thing that send chills down the spine of any type of long reading comic fan, but it was not much better than a bore.

House of M: The Marvel big event is better than the DC version, but I'm not all that crazy about it either. It was too much like a long issue of the old What If series. And plus I'm just tired of Wolverine. My favorite X-Man was always Cyclops. He was the good guy in the group, he stood for what was right, so of course he never had a chance. Let's give Wolverine a rest, people. The series actually gets better as it goes along. A lot has to do with Bendis' ear for dialogue. And not making Magneto the "mastermind" behind the whole thing was something of a surprise to me. Pietro was and is such a second, even a third string character. No matter what has been done with him, he's never been much more than that.

The Walking Dead: I'm not a big zombie fan. I haven't seen the movies and really have no desire to. I've ignored most of the other zombie comics out there. But the guy at the local comic shop talked me into picking this one up. His other choices were good (Ex Machina) so I decided to give it a shot. And it's really good. But the focus on the story isn't on the zombies. Some issues they are not even in the book. The story concerns the survivors and the problems they are having. That's what makes this book so good.

Other books I've been enjoying: Ex Machina, Young Avengers, Pulse. It's strange, I've always been a fan of superhero comics, but I have also been a fan of the independent comics too. Back in the black and white craze I was a big supporter of the black and white comics. But lately I find myself buying less of the independent comics. I'm sure I'm still buying some, but the stack of comics on my desk now have been pretty much superhero comics. Oh, excpet for Finder. A black and white science fiction comic that is really good.

Mississippi to Tennessee

My parents are moving. Currently, for a very small current that is, they are living in Picayune Mississippi. They are moving to just outside Memphis. My mother grew up here, this is my Grandfather's old farm, now divided up and split among his children, my mother's two sisters and two brothers. This is where we fled from Katrina, to my Uncle's house. It was than that my mother decided that she wanted to move up here, to build and live on her share of the land.

They came back home and talked some more about it. They put their home and land up for sale. It sold within two days. Right now land and homes are at a premium in the gulf coast, there's not enough to go around for all the people that now find themselves without either. They have a month to get out of their old home and into their new one.

They don't have their land cleared, it's full of trees and who knows what else. They don't have a home to put on this land yet. Their old home was a double wide trailer, that is probably what they'll purchase again. They have to pack all their belongings up, they have to get permits, they have a lot to do.

This was a week ago. They've got their land cleared, at least three acres of it. They've purcahsed a new home. They've got their permits. They've packed up a lot of their belongings.

I hate to admit that I'm kind of ambivalent about the whole thing. They live about thirty minutes from me now. And it's not like I see them every week. I get out there about once a month, sometimes less, sometimes more. But it's a weird feeling, knowing that they are leaving and won't be that thirty minute drive from me anymore. It'll be different. I'll probably be home for Christmas. I work in retail, I work the day before Christmas and I have to be at work the day after Christmas, probably for five in the morning. So an eight hour drive both ways witll be hard to do for just a day. So yea, it will be different without them here.

FIXED!

I know that this blog has not looked very good lately. I've had problems with getting a lot of the pictures back up and it's made the blog look half finished. I couldn't figure out what the problem was and unfortunately I just didn't feel like spending the time to work it out. The last few weeks have been mostly blog free and I've had to force myself to want to get on here and blog. And I love to blog! I think when I went without for so long due to the hurricane it's just getting myself back to a normal blogging pattern. So I'm going to try and get back to blogging as much as I did before Katrina. And I feel good cause I figured out what the problem was and have the pictures back up.