Who Dat Picked the Saints?

Before the game a lot of celebrities are polled to see who they thought would win.  The majority picked the Colts, mainly due to Peyton.  Just thought I'd share two picks with everyone.  I always knew I liked Valerie and Ms. Jett is one of my favorite rockers.

VALERIE BERTINELLI Actress

New Orleans, 24-21. With those two quarterbacks, there has to be some scoring because they are both brilliant. The Saints have a deep offense and the defense is so good, they will hold them back. It will be a great game no matter what ... especially when the Saints win.

JOAN JETT Rock star

New Orleans, 45-33.

Two Scary Words - President Palin

I admit that I find the words President Palin to be just about the two scariest words I can think of.  She is saying that running is on her mind.  Fred Kaplan from Slate explains why those two words should be scary.

Let's be clear on why those words should terrify anyone with a thinking brain. Palin is someone who has clearly never seriously thought through any issue of national importance on her own. She's excellent at reciting a raucous speech, but she can't improvise a coherent sentence, which usually reflects an inability to form a coherent idea. (At Nashville, she even had to scribble her five-word legislative agenda on her palm, andglanced down at it during the Q&A.) She is deluded enough to believe (or at least to saySunday morning on Fox News) that her brief, aborted stint as Alaska's governor gave her more executive experience than President Obama has even now. She believes that the country should elect leaders, including presumably herself, who seek solutions in "divine intervention."

Saints Win!

I know I'm late, but I had to work for the Superbowl and afterwards we re-opened to sell Superbowl shirts and hats.  There literally was thousands of people in line tonight.  I'm sure I'll have more to talk about the Saints win later, but it's time for bed.

Maybe They Can't Get Enough

I know it was only a post or two ago that I talked about the bonuses of big companies, but I came across this and had to pass it on.  Go read here.  This is the type of stuff that makes me think President Obama isn't delivering on his promises.

The Queen's Meme

I got this Meme from Trav and while I commented and answered some of the questions at his blog I really wanted to do it over here, so here it is.


The Queen's Meme #22 - Come on Baby, Light My Fire


Before you get carried away and let your mind wander down a trail of romantic and erotic intrigue, stop. We're not talking about that kind of fire. Not today anyway. We're talking about intellect, entertainment and adventure. 

I'd like you to take a look at the what makes you happy and brings you joy. Pretend you are talking to a new friend. Answer the questions as enthusiastically as you can and share with your friend what lights your fire. Recommend your favorites, what you're passionate about - and tell us why. If it's too hard to choose just one, narrow it down to the best of the best. Everyone who reads your answers will not only get a better sense of who you are but we might be inspired to check it out upon your expert recommendation. I like learning something new everyday. If you open the door of my imagination, I just might step through. Tell me!


1. Which historical figure do you admire the most? Why?  I'm going to stretch this one and not pick just one person, but a group.  I am fascinated with the men and women who created this country.  You can find fault with them if you wish, but have a group of people ever created something so good and great? 


2. Name the band or artist you'd like to see live in concert before you leave the planet or tell us about a concert or album that has already rocked your world.  I've had the good fortune to see some amazing concerts: Bruce Springsteen at Jazz Fest the year after Katrina, Will Hoge at Bonnaroo, Joss Stone at the HOB, Shannon McNally, Theresa Anderson, Dylan at the Zoo, John Boutte and Paul Sanchez at French Quarter Fest....these and more are shows that thrilled me, moved me, brought me to tears.  And still there are ones I've missed and want to see: Neko Case, Tom Petty, Avett Brothers; but I'm going to cheat a little because I'm going to pick someone that I could not see today.  The top of my wish list would be to see the Beatles.  I saw Paul McCartney on his last tour and I felt like that captured some of the excitement of a Beatles show, but I know it really comes nowhere what a true Beatles show would have been.  Of any concert I could see that would be who I most want to see.


3. What's your favorite television show or series of all time? Why should I care?  This is a tough one, I have a few favorite shows, which one being my favorite probably depends on when you ask me.  On Trav's blog I agreed with his choice of The West Wing, one that definitely fights for a spot as my number one.  It's one of the few shows I've watched from start to finish at least three times.  It's one of those shows that makes you think, makes you proud of your country even as it makes you question it at the same time.  It's just that good a show.  But I think for my number one show I'm going to have to go with the show that gave a name to my dog...Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  I watched this show at least three, if not more times, from start to finish.  If you think it's only a show about vampires and horror, you've never watched this show.  This is a show about people and belonging and how we fight off loneliness and just plain about the human condition.   


4. Movies! I am so behind on the movie scene. What should I watch this weekend? Should I watch it alone or with someone?   I am really behind in my movie watching.  Once upon a time I would be seeing at least two or three movies a week, now I can't remember the last movie I saw at the theater.  Or even on DVD.  There's a lot of great movies, but one that hardly anyone remembers or even saw, that was always one of my favorites is Creator.  It came out in 1985 and stars Peter O'Toole, Mariel Hemingway, Vincent Spano and Virginia Madsen.  It didn't make much of a dent when it came out, I think it was pushed as a teen comedy and it was far from that.  It's a movie that will make you laugh and cry and think.  What more can you ask of a movie?


5. You are hopping on a plane tomorrow morning. Where did you choose to go and why?  Lots of places I'd love to go visit, never been to Japan and want to, but I think I would have to pick Alaska.  I've been there twice and I don't think there's any place more beautiful.  It's a beautiful place filled with some amazing people (ex vice presidential candidates excepted).


6. Who is your favorite author? What about their writing inspires you or simply entertains you? Recommend at least one book that you feel I must read.  I have a core group of writers that I can go back and read their work over and over.  John D. MacDonald is one, I never tire of reading his books.  The World According to Garp is a book I have to read every few years.  But the one writer that I read constantly is Harlan Ellison.  His fiction and non fiction has moved me, has made me think, has inspired me to want to write.  A month rarely passes that I don't pick up a book and read one of his stories or essays.


7. Hobbies and passions. What brings you joy in your spare time? How did you get into it?  Reading, writing and music.  I can't play or sing, but I love to listen to music.  And I love to read.  I think Travis said it best when he talks about not being able to part with his books, I understand the feeling very well. But at the rate it's going I'll have to move out and leave the place for my books.  And though it seems to be something I don't do very well I love to write.  Once upon a time I would write everyday, all the time.  I would stay home while everyone was out having a good time because I wanted to write.  Unfortunately it seems that desire has been derailed by a million and one excuses that should not matter, but writing is still a passion and one I want to make myself get back to more seriously.

That's All?

Evidently the news that the Chief Executive of Goldman Sachs only recieved $9 million dollar bonus for last year seems to have most thinking it was a small bonus.  Now where I come from that is definitely no where a small bonus.  Go read more about it here.

Glory Bound

Thanks to Aimee for sending me this cause somehow I missed it.  And me being a really BIG Theresa Andersson fan.

LOST

Ok, the first two hours just ended.  If this is the season we start getting some answers than they better get on with it, because I have more questions after tonight than ever before.  Not that I'm complaining, it was a great two hours.

Oh, just to be safe...SPOILERS AHEAD...if you haven't seen the first two episodes yet, don't read anymore.

So now there seem to be two versions of all the characters running through the series.  One making the flight back from Australia and landing in L.A.  It's interesting to see how the characters are meeting up as they land in the land of angels and you have to wonder where all this is going.  There has to be more to this than just a simple alternative reality where they don't crash on the island.  Especially since they seem to be having the characters interact.

I have to admit that I was on the edge of my seat when the show started and Jack was on the plane and he looked over to see Rose.  Than when the plane started to shake I had to think it was all going to happen again.

You know for a mysterious island there sure seems to be a lot of people on it and always new ones popping up. More Others.

Thinking that Jacob, Richard and the mysterious "Monster" that is Locke now all were part of some ship that wrecked on the island a looooong time ago.  Death doesn't seem to slow Jacob down too much.

One thing I ask, no beg if I have to, let's not visit the Jack/Kate/Sawyer triangle again.  I'm so sick of that, let's move on.  I wish Juliet had lived, but I guess her commitments to her other show precluded that.

Ok, thoughts?  Any ideas on what's going on?  I know I can't wait for next Tuesday.

LOST Returns

Tonight it comes back on.  Get ready for weekly reviews and feel free to drop in and talk about what you think is going on.  I have a lot of faith with the writers of this show, but I can't figure out how they're going to wrap this whole thing up.  But than I guess that's the fun of it.

Who Dat!

IE vs Firefox vs Chrome

Like most I started with the browser from Microsoft, the Internet Explorer.  I used if for a few years before I moved onto the Firefox browser.  Everyone kept saying how much better it was, how much faster, etc.  I'm not sure how much that was to it being really better or how much that some people really don't like Microsoft.

Still I was happy with Firefox and actually did find it better to use than my old IE.  I've been using it for the last I'm not sure how many years.  But lately I've been having problems with it.  I found I couldn't copy and paste.  Now I use that feature a lot, what with the three blogs I have and adding music to the Voices to hear one.  Without that feature it sucked.  Trying to figure out why this feature was no longer working I discovered it was a bug or something with Firefox.  And I couldn't find any simple solutions to fixing it.

So now I've moved over to Goggle's Chrome.  Even before this problem I've been reading how Chrome is going to basically push Firefox out of the picture of which browser to use and it'll be down to just IE and Chrome.  I don't know if I really believe that, but it is fast growing in popularity, which considering it has the power of Google behind it, shouldn't come as much of a surprise.

I've just started using Chrome today, but I'm liking it pretty much overall.  It does seem to load faster and it has a cleaner, more stark look to it.  It jettisons  all the tool bars and other stuff that appears at the top of the page and basically gives you one thin line of buttons.  What I don't like is it doesn't import your bookmarks completely, or at least it didn't mine and to actually get them like I want I'm pretty much having to re-do them over, but once I get them on the top I think I'll like the format better.

Only time will tell if I like Chrome better, but for now I think it will be the browser I use.  Has anyone else tried it yet?  Any thoughts?

Scott Brown and the Health Care Plan

This picture is from a different event, but for me the look on President Obama's face says it all.  With Scott Brown elected as a Senator and letting everyone and his brother know that he will vote no on the Health Plan it looks like another chance for this country to offer health care to all its people will go down the tube again.

And this from a state that offers a health care plan for all it's residents.

I don't see this completely as the voice of the people rejecting the President and his plans, there was a lot more going on in that vote.  The Democrat thought it was a lock and did very little campaigning until it was too late.  And I think the Republican machine is a  lot better at scaring people into believing that the President is not doing his job.  It's no longer a fight over right or wrong, it's become just a fight over who wins.  (And I say that for both sides, the Republicans and the Democrats.)  The GOP will say or do just about anything to convince the people they are right, even if they know they aren't.

It really worries me about the mid term elections coming up.  I would hate to see the GOP voted in for a fear factor.

And even though whenever we see an election locally the media always tries to give it a larger meaning, someone once said "all politics are local" so we should all remember that.

The above photo is from the AP.

Kids Say The Darndest Things

Not to sound like one of those old fools that are always saying kids just aren't the same as they were when I was one.... but I have to say it.  Go read this and than come back and tell me what you think.

Robert Parker Dies

Robert Parker, the writer died today.  He was 77 years old.  Apparently he died of a heart attack, at his desk working on a new book.

Parker was the creator of the private eye Spenser.  I was a big fan of Spenser for years, but have to admit that in recent years I haven't been following the character.  More recently Parker created Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall as series characters. 

Parker was a very influential writer in the mystery field and is credited with helping bring back the tough guy private eye when he debuted Spenser.  Reading that he died was a shock to me, even though I haven't been reading his books lately, I still admired him and always figured I'd go back to reading the books eventually.

The Best Albums of 2009

Over at my music site, Voices to hear I've made a list of what I consider the top ten albums of 2009.  Now since that site is about talent deserving more recognition I have omitted any of the more established, bigger acts.  So you won't find Green Day or U2, but you will find what I think are ten albums that were very good this past year.

Up At The Crack of Dawn...eh, never went to bed....

Just got home from work.  Today was inventory, so it was pretty much an all nighter.  It actually went very well, last year we didn't leave the store until after seven in the morning, so we're doing better.  And I'm still not tired yet....

New TV Show

I'm not a fan of all the CSI shows on TV.  The few times I've tried to watch them I never make it through an episode.  But whenever I go to visit my Mom, one of the shows we have to watch every Monday night is NCIS.  And if there's nothing else on she can always find a re run of the show somewhere on cable.  So slowly it's been burrowing under my skin.  The problem was that I saw the shows out of order and it didn't make sense.  This was Navy...so why was everyone in civilian clothes.  A little research and I discovered that NCIS is civilian. 

But slowly, oh so slowly, this show was growing on me.  Until now I'm a fan.  I've bought the first two seasons on DVD and am on my way through the second season now.  The first season was great.  There's an episode in the second season about a Medal of Honour winner that will hit you in the heart and hard.  It's an amazing piece of televsion. 

And my favorite character.  Why Abby of course!

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

It's like 21 degrees outside right now.  There's a reason I live in the South and it's so I don't have to put up with temperatures like this.

Gumby's Creator Dies

The creator of Gumby, Art Clokey, died today at the age of 88.  Gumby always fascinated me.

Vic Chesnut

On Christmas Day Vic Chesnut died. Vic was a singer/songwriter from Athens Georgia. At the age of 18 he was paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. He had very little use of his hands, but managed to play guitar. Michael Stipe from R.E.M. was an early fan of his work. Vic went on to record well over a dozen albums. Chesnut's death was a suicide. He was in debt from hospital bills he couldn't pay and faced a lifetime of continued hospital bills he had no way of paying.

And the Republicans still can fight a health plan....(and please don't say that they just oppose the current one, they've made no effort to pass one on their own.)

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untitled post (because I couldn't think of what to title it)

I was in the car today with my brother and we were looking for some place to eat. (Didn't figure on as many places being closed today as there was.) I'm not even sure what he said, but when he said it and than tugged on the brim of his baseball cap I "saw/heard" my Dad. He sounded so much like him in the phrasing of his words as much as the sound and than the tug was just something I had forgotten my Dad did until that moment. You couldn't really call it deja vu, but I actually had to not say anything for a moment, the feeling of my Dad was so strong at that moment.

Complete Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone has always been one of my favorite magazines. It was one of the first mags I ever bought a subscription to and I probably had a closet full of issues from the seventies and eighties until I realized that storing a bunch of paper in big stacks wasn't the greatest thing in the world. Now I have some issues with the direction of the Stone over the last few years, but when it finds its groove there's no one better.

This digital collection has the complete run of the Stone from the first issue in 1969 to 2007. That's a lot of issues, especially when you figure that the magazine was published every two weeks. I just picked this up at Barnes & Noble today for less than twenty five dollars. You can find it on Amazon for even less. I've been looking through briefly and it looks amazing. It reproduces the entire issue, ads and all. I have a feeling I'm going to be spending some serious time reading this.

Merry Christmas

My best wishes to everyone on this day and hopefully everyone will have a great day.

I'm kinda bittersweet about today. My mom and brother and sister are up in Tennessee and I'm stuck down here. There was no way I could get off to drive up there and get back for work tomorrow at six a.m. This is the first Christmas I have never been able to be with my Mom (and Dad while he was still alive), so I'm a little sad to be honest.

I've spent the day reading and cooked a ham and did some laundry and cleaning that I've neglected because of the extra hours I've been working. I've actually got to make a schedule for work and than a little more reading and probably to bed.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas.

Dancing Spiderman

This one's for Trav, a different type of Dancing with the Stars.

The Bail-Out

As regular readers of this blog know I am a big supporter of President Obama. When he was elected he promised change in the government. I think on the economic bailout he needs to go for more change than what has happened so far. We all were told that the CEOs of all these companies that were getting money from us the taxpayers would not be able to walk away with big paydays and bonuses for basically running their companies into the ground, but lately there's been a lot of news about these same CEOs ending their year ends with some big payouts. What's happened? For two looks at this go and read some news from Mother Jones and another article from Rolling Stone.

The Big Bang Theory

For my money this is probably the funniest show on TV right now. But what makes it great is that it's more than just the jokes, the characters on this show are so true. This bit was from last year's Christmas episode but it still is great.

Heroes

The dictionary defines hero as:

1.	a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.

2.	a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal: He was a local hero when he saved the drowning child.

3.	the principal male character in a story, play, film, etc.

4.	Classical Mythology a. a being of godlike prowess and beneficence who often came to be honored as a divinity. b. (in the Homeric period) a warrior-chieftain of special strength, courage, or ability. c. (in later antiquity) an immortal being; demigod.

In our lifetime we come across many types of heroes. Some are heroes that put their life on the line everyday to protect us. Police officers, fire men, men and women in the military; all are heroes the are willing to risk their lives for others. For some of us we are lucky enough to have our parents be our heroes. Now when I was younger I would never have admitted such a thing, but as we get older we see things in a different light. More than anyone else I would consider my Mom and Dad my greatest heroes, helping me see what right and wrong is and shaping my life more than any other person.

Still as we grow up we find heroes in other places. Some find them in sports. Growing up I was never the kid that was that enamoured of the baseball player or the football player. My Dad and brother were both sports fanatics, watching the games and rooting on their teams, but I never had a team or a player. I just never got into it, never looked at the players and wanted to be them.

Instead I found my heroes in other spots. One of my first was in the pages of comic books. I didn't learn right or wrong from comics, but reading the four color adventures of the Marvel Comic heroes helped me to see how such concepts operated in the "real" world. The man putting the words in the character's mouths was Stan Lee. These heroes were not dark, they were not going to kill or maim another. They would give up their own life before they allowed harm to come to another. For a kid this was powerful stuff.

Two other men that helped me see things in a different light were also writers. Isaac Asimov and Harlan Ellison were two writers that were more than just writers to me. Between their stories and their words inbetween the stories I saw life in more than just black and white, but that even with shades of grey you could still do what was right and maintain your ethical compass. From these writers I formed the desire to be a writer myself. I really don't remember wanting to be anything else but a writer since I first started reading their books.

And than there is one final man that I consider a personal hero. Twenty nine years ago today he was murdered in New York City. Of course that man was John Lennon. From his music to his life I am in admiration. Was he perfect? No, of course not. None of these men were or are, they just tried to live as best as they could and they tried to live their life as they thought it should be. John was more than just his music, he tried to save the world. He was willing to be thought of as a fool if he thought it might do some good. And of course there is the music. No matter how I'm feeling if I hear a Beatle song my heart skips a little and even if I'm depressed or upset I'm going to feel somewhat better. Even today their music matters and is listened to. For the last decade, the decade of 2000-2010 the Beatles had the number one album in sales. This is thirty to forty years after they stopped recording, their music is still selling. In this decade they sold over thirty million albums.

There's a saying that you should never meet your heroes because they'll only let you down. And that might be true. Heroes are only human after all and no one is perfect. But I think we need our heroes, we all have our own, for each of us our heroes may seem strange to another, but for us they touched us or moved us or made us want to strive to be a better person and that should be enough.

John Lennon lived only forty years, I've lived longer than he did, as strange as that seems to me. But in those four decades he lived as well as he could, sometimes not always the hero, but trying to live his life as well as he could, and creating some of the greatest music ever. Can we ask for more?

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Men Of A Certain Age

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

A new show starring two of my favorite actors started tonight on TNT. The show is Men of a Certain Age starring Ray Romano, Scott Bakula and Andrea Braugher. The two that are my favorites are Bakula who was in Quantum Leap and Braugher who was in Homicide. I have to admit that I was never a fan of Romano in Everybody Loves Raymond. It's a show about men moving into middle age, not what you see on network tv very often. The first show aired tonight and was interesting enough that I'll be back for more.

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White Christmas

I caught the last half of this on AMC tonight. I like Holiday Inn better but I still enjoy this one.

Rain

Today has been one of those days you just want to stay in bed and curl up with a good book. Unfortunately I had to finish up my Christmas shopping today. I need to get it all done and than I have to get everything wrapped by this weekend so I can bring it all to my brother. My Mom won't be coming down this year, she just doesn't feel like she's up to the drive. My brother will be able to make the trip up for the holiday, but unfortunately I won't be able to. Christmas season is just not a good time for me to be taking much time off. I'm really not looking forward to this Christmas Day, it'll be the first time in my life that I don't spend the day with my parents (or now my Mom). And with my brother up there I won't have any family down here. I'm glad he is able to go though.

So even though today has been cold and wet I've been running around finishing my shopping. I really thought I was done, but everytime I see something I think would be cool I end up having to get it. I really do have to stop it though.

In honor of the weather today I'm presenting Ms. Irma Thomas, the Soul Queen of New Orleans Music and "I Think It's Going to Rain."

Black Friday Deals A Day Early

Ok, I work in retail so Black Friday means something quite different for me than it does for most of you. If I was not working retail I would lock myself in my house and not even think about leaving for the Friday after Thanksgiving. But I do understand that there are a lot of good deals out there. Well Amazon (and this isn't a plug, I'm not getting any type of kickback from this) is running special deals throughout the day, for a certain amount of time, pre-Black Friday. I've got it open and am just picking things as they come on. I have the movie based on Neil Gamian's book Coroline for $4.99, so it's got some pretty good deals. We'll see what else I buy before the day is over.

Ho Ho Ho, More Christmas Music

I haven't been keeping up to date with this as I meant, but here's a local Christmas song from Benny Grunch and the Bunch. It's a local favorite, "The 12 Yats of Christmas."

Sarah Palin and her new book

From Mark Evanier's blog he links to Rolling Stone political writer Matt Taibbi and his thoughts on Sarah Palin and her new book. It's worth clicking over and reading. Taibbi is one of the reasons I continue to read Rolling Stone.

One of My Favorite New Shows

I am loving Glee. This is one of my favorite shows on TV. This song was on the show tonight and I loved it.

Under The Dome

Image via Wikipedia

Last night I was within fifty pages of finishing the novel, but had to give it up after I would read a paragraph and not realize what I had even read I was so tired. So today I finished the book.

WOW!

This could be Stephen King's best novel yet. It's that good. I don't want to say too much, I don't want to ruin any of the surprises, let me just say again....this novel is very, very good.

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Veterans Day

I really only have one thing to say: THANK YOU!

Just because I might not always support the war does not mean I do not support the soldiers. The men and women that are willing to pick up arm are what keeps us free. Never forget that freedom is sometimes hard won.

Thank you to every man and woman who serves and has served.

Happy Anniversary to Sesame Street

Sesame Street is 40 years old today. There's not a lot I can say about the show that a lot of other people aren't saying right now, but Happy Anniversary! Besides helping more than one generation of kids learn, this show introduced me to my hero....Kermit the Frog!

Bashing Dems

I know most of my rants usually have a Republican as the target. Well, it's not because I hate Republicans, it's mostly because they do so many stupid things they make a good target. And it's definitely not because I'm a Democrat and feel like both parties do now that it's not just enough to oppose the other side, you gotta destroy the other side. I'm a registered Independent. I couldn't belong to the Democrat party, I'm a proud flag waving liberal and to Dems now days that's like the kiss of death. To see that the Dems can be just as stupid and evil as the GOP go read this article about the health care's passage in the House.

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President Obama at Fort Hood

"This generation has more than proved itself the equal of those who have come before. We need not look to the past for greatness, because it is before our very eyes," the President said.

The President spoke at Ft. Hood today. This article at Time makes a good point about a speech a President gives nowdays. It's something I've thought of before. No matter how good (or bad) such speeches are, you're going to hear people on tv, newspapers, radio, blogs and wherever else taking it apart word by word and making it fit whatever side they want. Go read the article, it presents some interesting facts.

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New Stephen King Book!

I've always been a big fan of Stephen King. Have all his books save for the most recent two and I know I'll end up getting them. Not sure why but lately I slowed down on reading his books, like I said I never got Duma Key and Just After Sunset yet. But today Under The Dome came out and I picked it up. I'm pretty excited to read it. I think Mr. King is a very good writer and most of his books I'm a big fan of. This is a big book, in size and tone of the story this book reminds me of The Stand, which can be a good thing since that was one of my favorite books by the writer.

Christmas Music

I think I've missed a week at least since I said I was going to try and post a Christmas song once a week here. Well, here's a new one. It's called "Santa Claus" and it's by the blues singer Sonny Boy Williamson. It's definitely not your typical holiday type song.

Still Needing Peace

On a day that we were trying to talk about peace a tragedy occurred at Ft. Hood. By now everyone knows the details. What can you say about such terrible events? Much smarter people than me will talk about the reasons and perhaps some of them will even make sense, but all I know is that we need peace now.

Gone But I'm Back

A few things came up and most of the last two weeks I've been out of town. But I'm back and I'll be posting again, of course tomorrow with the peace globes.

Blog For Peace

Go here and read.

Wall Street To Lose Top Talent

Some of the top Wall Street companies are complaining that if they are restricted in how much they can pay their top talent they'll lose them to other pursuits. And this is a bad thing. This so called top talent is what brought us to the situation we're in now. For more on this go read here.

Windows 7

Has anybody upgraded to Windows 7 yet? I was wondering how you liked it if you did.

I thought I had read that Microsoft was going to make Windows 7 fairly inexpensive. The prices I've seen are all over a hundred dollars. Now maybe that's inexpensive to Microsoft but it's going to make me think about upgrading first.

A Few Things That Have Been Bothering Me Lately...

Why are we still focusing on the balloon kid and his parents? You'd think with everything else going on in the world, you know things like the economy and the war and all, the media would have something a little more important to report on. If the media keeps making events like this EVENTS than parents are going to continue to do things like this.

How hard is it to get the fist in a fish fillet sandwich on the bun, not half on the bun or partly on the bun, but on the bun so when you go to eat it the sandwich isn't falling half out all over the place? This one really irks me, as usually the only time I'll get a fish fillet sandwich is when I'm running the streets and go through a drive through and keep going as I eat. Do you know how hard it is to get the sandwich back in place when you're trying to drive? Really how hard is it to get it right the first time?

Today at work I heard two customers complain about their wait and how it was Obama's fault. Don't ask me how, I had to keep going or I would have gotten into a lot of trouble. This happens a lot at work, I'll hear comments about the President that are so stupid or that make no sense and I just ignore it. At work I'm not there to argue with customers about their politics, but sometimes it's hard.

Ok, that's it for today. Just a few things I've been thinking about lately that has been bothering me.

The Difference Between Pot and Alcohol

Go here to read "Why Is It Bad to Smoke Weed but Ok To Drink Beer?" I don't do either, but I agree with the article. If someone wants to do either it should be their choice.

Two New Books

I recently ordered two books from Amazon and they came in the mail a few days ago. I didn't realize it at the time I ordered them but both comic strips shared the newspaper page around the same time and they both ended the same year.

The first book Looking For Calvin and Hobbes is as close to a biography of the strip's creator as we have and might get for awhile. The author was hoping to get an interview with the publicity shy Watterson to lend some insight into his book, but the creator never even contacted him to refuse his request. As far as I'm concerned Calvin is one of the best comic strips ever created, but after reading this book, I'm reminded of the old adage about not wanting to meet your heroes. Watterson comes off as a pretty cold person. He was passionate about his art and he believed that his comic strip was art (and I do too) but he comes across pretty much as a cold fish when it comes to interacting with other people. Still this was a fascinating book about the author's efforts to learn more about the creator.

The other book is the first in a five volume series that will reprint the entirety of Bloom County. I'm not sure where I would rank this comic strip but it was always one of my favorites and I look forward to exploring it from the first strip to the last.

We're living in a time where some of the great comic strips are being reprinted in deluxe editions. Besides Bloom County, there is the definite Calvin and Hobbes three huge volumes that reprint the entire run of the strip. And of course there is Peanuts which started with the first volume in 1959 and right now is up to the year 1973. Especially with the early volumes there are a lot of strips that no has seen in decades as Charles Schultz never wanted to reprint his early work until it came time for the complete edition. And happily there is Pogo coming, another of my favorite strips.

Peace For Everyone

Peace means more than just an absence of war. We need peace for everyone. I found this video on Mark Eavnier's blog.

Dress For Success

I'm going to sound like an old fart here, but I can't help it.

Part of what I do at my job is interview and hire new associates. This week I've interviewed three young men. Now I realize that people don't wear a suit and tie to an interview. I wouldn't expect it. I had a job for twenty something years where I had to wear a suit and tie and am thankful now that the job I have is a lot more casual. We wear a polo shirt and slacks. So I'm not looking for a potential new hire to come dressed up, but....you all knew there was a but coming right? One guy came in shorts and flip flops! Now I'm sorry, that's way too under dressed to be coming to interview for a job. Another guy when I walked up to the counter where he was waiting for me was chewing so hard on gum that he looked like a cow. Really. I have nothing against gum chewing, but keep it low key. Throughout the interview he kept smacking his mouth as he chewed his gum.

I don't understand it. I would think this is common sense. A pair of jeans and a polo or nice shirt, that's all I ask for. You'd be surprised by how some people come dressed for an interview. I just don't understand it. I'm all for casual dress, but there is a limit.

Blog For Peace

Again we remind you that on November 5 everyone needs to blog for peace. Do we think that simply writing about peace everyone will lay down their weapons and we'll have everlasting peace? It would be nice, but no one that is doing this is that naive. But the long march towards that everlasting peace has to start with one step and that's what we're hoping for. Let's take that first step together. Who knows who might read you post about peace and be moved? Peace can start with a word. Let that word be yours.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Take the Pledge to Stand Against Racism (thepetitionsite.com)
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• Make Peace Today (takepart.com)

Peace Globes Are Coming

In my slowdown from blogging lately I've neglected to mention the BlogBlast For Peace. This idea was started by Mimi and has grown into a world wide event. On Nov. 5 every blogger puts a peace globe on their blog and writes whatever moves them to write that day. I know there will be a lot of you out there that scoff at the idea and think it's just a bunch of hippie nonsense. But large movements are built from the ground up, one step at a time.

Remember the most powerful weapon might not be a sword or a gun or a bomb....it might be a word. Words have power. Use them wisely.

Ho, Ho, Christmas Is Coming

Working in retail I have a love/hate relationship with Christmas. After seeing parents fight over a toy it's hard to get in the jolly peace and goodwill to all vibe about the holiday. When you have to work more hours than you thought possible it's hard to get too overjoyed when the day finally gets here except as a day off and much needed sleep.

But I still have to admit that there is something about the holiday that I love. Some of my favorite movies; Holiday Inn, It's A Wonderful Life deal with Christmas. And I love some Christmas music. Now I don't love it when I'm working or go shopping and I hear Christmas music and it's not even Halloween yet. Used to be Christmas didn't start going up in the stores until after Thanksgiving. Somehow it's snuck up past Halloween and I've seen some stores start decorating after Labor Day.

Still we only have something like nine weeks till Santa slides down that chimney. So even after what I just said about Christmas music I'm going to start a weekly posing of some of my favorite Christmas songs now.

And the first one is a surprise to me. Bob Dylan just released a Christmas album. I can hear the surprise in all your voices, cause it was in mine. Bob Dylan and a Christmas album! I figured this for a train wreck for sure. Dylan's singing style has always been, shall we say unique, but ten years or so ago he seems to have blown his voice out. It works great for the blues and old country style songs he has been favoring on recent albums. I don't think it works that well when he tries for the Tin Pan Alley material he goes after on his newer albums. I was just having trouble wrapping my mind around this concept.

Well, I am glad to report that it actually works out quite well. I enjoyed the album. His voice puts a different spin on the songs, but they come off quite nicely. I'm posting "Must Be Santa" because it's such a fun song. It's different than most of the other songs on the album, in that Dylan isn't the focus of the singing. On this song it's the chorus. But still it's a really fun Christmas song. Before the nine weeks are up I'll probably post another Dylan Christmas song and you'll hear him better singing yuletide cheer.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Bob Dylan's likely to pull anything out of his new Christmas bag (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Paul Snyder: Christmas in Bob Dylan's Heart (huffingtonpost.com)
• Bob, Ty Cobb, and the Macabre (pastemagazine.com)

Joss Stone Coming

As anyone that sees my heading for this site will know I'm a big Joss Stone fan. She has a new album coming out next week and this is the first single off of it.