Limericks

Somehow last night limericks came up in casual conversation. A "brief statement of faith" is required as part of my officer training to the church session. I told Tory I should serve mine up in the form of a limerick. It probably hasn't been done before so I might be seen as an innovator or a visionary.

November is National Write A Novel In A Month month. I don't think I can do that. But I bet I can write a limerick each day of November. I shall give it a go. I put the over under a about 5 days.

It won't be enough to write limericks though. Much like Chopin reinvented the scherzo, prelude, and etude, I shall attempt to elevate the limerick to a new poetic artform. Limericks have typically been on the bawdy, off color side - I will have none of that! IE the following will not appear ....

The once was a man named Glass
Whose [insert male reproductive organs here] were made of brass
If he rubbed them together
During bad weather
Lightning would shoot out of his arse.

None of that!

I may slip in a haiku or two.

The Times They Are A Changing

The New York Times has been rated as an extremely risky debtor. Maybe the government should step in and take ownership of this and like newspapers in a bailout effort. Aren't we all in favor of a state run news agency, well, outside of NPR? As long as WILLz keeps the crosswords coming.

A Big Government is going to need a big press.

Re-Obama-fication

I can see by the Big Board we've got a Negative Nelly in Sector 2. Prepare for some re-Obama-fication.

Poor Joe The Plumber. Ask a simple question and find yourself a candidate for the Gulag.

Thankfully we have another Joe. The Biden. Both Joes have a knack for telling the truth about the Democrats and Obama. Can't have that tho.

Apparently The Biden has been pulled back into the tall grass and is probably getting some needed re-Obama-fication himself.

Senator Government

McCain refers to Obama tonight in the debate as Senator Government! How screamingly accurate. He should call him that at every chance until the election.

I thought McCain brought great eloquence and passion with his remarks about being adoptive parents himself with his wife Cindy. He followed with the defense of the unborn. Very well spoken and honest. Obama just filibustered and spun - nowhere near the middle ground - not to be trusted, especially with the Supreme Court.

A good job by McCain.

Librarian's Patron Saint

My mom, being a retired librarian, might appreciate knowing who the patron saint of librarians is. I didn't know, but I am not a librarian. But as an avid user of libraries anywhere I wouldn't mind an invite to a feast for St. Jerome.

Spirit Of AggieLand

Samantha and I went over to College Station for the A and M v. Army football game on the last weekend of September. It was an 11:30 a.m. kickoff so we had to leave Austin early. We got our tickets from some friends here and met them at Rudy's BBQ in Round Rock. After a few breakfast tacos we drove over to AggieLand.

We arrived in plenty of time. In fact I had to walk back to the car twice forgetting once the camera and then our notepaper with phone numbers and such of the people we were to meet over the day. Our seats were 3 rows up from the field, behind the north end zone. Actually a great place to see all the events of the day, but most of the football we saw on the jumbo-tron.

We were in our seats in plenty of time for the National Anthem, Texas Our Texas, The Spirit of AggieLand, and the Aggie War Hymm. Sam and I sawed the horns off with 80,000 plus other Aggies there. It was awesome to see the entire statium, and it was nearly full, all sawing and singing.

It was "Armed Forces Appreciation Day" so there was a helicopter flyover and four paratroopers dropped into Kyle Field before the start. The Aggie band played all of the military marches from each branch of service, and the Singing Cadets sang America.

After the game we went and took our pictures on the 50 yard line and in the end zones. Next we walked across the campus visiting some old favorites of mine, my old dorm, the All Faiths Chapel where my parents were married 50 years ago. Then we met some fraternity buddies I haven't seen in over 25 years and they were cooking fajitas, so we had a few bites to eat and visited. Next we walked thru the Bonfire Memorial and the headed back to our car and left campus.

We headed into Bryan to visit my cousin Susan and her dad my uncle Bubba. A nice visit of about 30 minutes and then we started our drive back to Austin.

Sam and I had a grand time.

Banana skin usefullness

Next time you slip up on a banana skin, you might want to hesitate before picking it up. You never know where its been.

Apparently, hockey announcers don't have much to do in the off season.

Razor - go guest host on the Hardline or something. Geesh.

An old fable in a new bottle

Michelle Malkin spins a nifty yarn.

"Barack Cicada" had me laughing. I see cicada shells all over the back yard, the bugs shedding their skin, talking of change, but still the same old pests they were before.

I need early voting to get here asap so I can cast my ballot and be done with it.

Alkali Ike

Looks like Hurricane Ike may blow through Austin TX, and may be a CAT 2 when it arrives. It is predicted to get into town Saturday morning (9/13/8). I don't think we've had a storm system like this in my time here, almost 25 years. I can remember working long ago at the City Services oil refinery in Sulphur LA over 2 summers and having to prepare for approaching hurricanes - tying down scaffolding, moving barrels of stuff into storage, and other securing of loose items. All of that work usually meant spending the next week untying all those things.

So far in Austin, football games are being rescheduled, including the game between UT and Arkansas (not official yet, but likely). Gas prices are creeping up in anticipation of people on the Texas coast evacuating here.

The hurricane should make for an interesting weekend.

Obama voted YES on Bridge To Nowhere, Biden too

Barack Obama is trying to make hay about Sarah Palin being for the Bridge To Nowhere before being against it. Apparently he and Joe Biden were for the Bridge instead of diverting those funds to hurricane relief in New Orleans. Hilarity ensued.

I think I am going to side with Alaska's Governor Palin on this one. As a fellow blogger asks, where is the bridge now, and who is responsible for stopping it. Palin.

Sarah Palin

What a relief. I think I now look forward to voting for John McCain instead of having to vote for him. Sarah Palin is actually giving me hope McCain can win.

As an added bonus, Sarah Palin will be groomed for the presidential job when McCain's run is over.

A very nice choice for veep.

Ice, Ice baby

Here is someone blogging about a hot topic at our house. Ice cubes to drink ratio in a glass.

Here are the comments I left there ...

Ice to drink ratio is dependent on 3 variables: the temperature of the drink being cooled, the size of the ice cubes, and the drink glass size. As an example - freshly brewed tea is hot, but I need a drink. I have a large glass. If my wife has made ice (we use trays) the ice will be small, a whole tray will be used, and the ice will melt almost completely away, and I'll have no more left to cool it down further. If I filled the ice tray the cubes will likely be twice the size and I will use half as much initially. After melting I will still have some ice left to cool the drink to the desired temp, and a much more pleasing drink, provided I use the right amount of sweetener.

I also recommend using a straw. You can put the end in the drink right next to or in between the ice cubes and the drink will be colder. Its also easier to drink ice tea from a straw while in the car.

The straw is a key component as well. Potential drink stirrer, and it helps identify your glass from among similar drinks.

Theft!

Evan's car was broken into overnight. His stereo was taken and there's a bit of damage to the rear passenger door and window. Also an acoustic guitar was taken out of the trunk - the one Uncle John had a long time ago - sorry about that J. The car was parked on the street which is probably a mistake but its been parked there often with no incident. I guess we played those odds too long.

Not much to do at this point except call the police and have the car repaired.The back passenger window was broken in. Once inside all doors can be unlocked and there is a trunk release just inside front driver door. It is ironic the very day I wax poetic about the neighbors not getting vandalized, we get hit instead.

I blame it on fake hurricane Eduordo. We got nothing here - except a serious allergy headache. If maybe some serious rain had blown in our car might've been left alone.

I told Evan to try Homer's strategy by claiming there was a Picasso in the back seat too.

Documentary recommendations

Bob Sturm over at The Ticket and Bob's Blog likes documentaries. He has embedded trailers for most of his recommendations.

Bad Radio's host tends to like a bit of quirkiness in documentaries. I am not a big fan of SuperSize Me or any of Michael Moore's work. I tend to favor those films that are well edited, and are good humored. I don't like films that are out to make fun of the people they portray.

I'm thinking King Of Kong is next on the radar screen. Thanks Bob.

Salmon

Our neighbors across the street had to take down an ash tree in their front yard. Instead of cutting the tree all the way to ground level, they decided to have some salmon cut out of the trunk. After leaving about 8 feet of trunk above ground, a chainsaw artist came and over 2 and a half days cut the fish out of the wood.

Every car passing by stops to take a look or take pictures. I hope it doesn't get vandalized.

Camina

First Neil Young song I have ever heard covered in a different language. Crazy Notes and "Camina", Neil's "Walk On" from On The Beach.

Beauty And The Beast

Here are some photos taken at a performance of Beauty And The Beast we attended Friday night the 18th, at Zilker Hillside Theater, with some of Samantha's classmates. We saw the show with my brother Dave, Joan, Sydney, and Ben earlier in the summer, but it was enjoyable again. As you can see, Gaston is a sight. Performed outdoors at night, not too hot, a little breezy - good times. Oh, and cold root beers and orange crushes. Girls had fun.

Safe driving?

It isn't in Austin, and it doesn't look good for the rest of Texas either. New York Times has a story on the safest places to drive. There is a separate paragraph with some major Texas cities mentioned.

Drivers in the Texas cities of Houston, San Antonio and Dallas are 24 percent to 28 percent more likely to have accidents compared to national averages.

More info from an AllState link in that story. Austin not mentioned anywhere, but the local radio reports Austin does not have a good record.

And Evan and Tory wonder why I charge them for insurance. Amusing chart in the AllState page shows driving stats for Generation Y, and even for the safest cities, the numbers of years between accidents are remarkably low, meaning greater accidents for the younger drivers.

On the Left

Marginal Revolution presents the political greatness of being left handed. Of those listed I am not so sure I relish sharing left handed kinship with, except for Ronald Reagan.

Simpsons Overanalysis

I am a big fan of the Simpsons, and have the first 9 seasons on dvd. Over the past many years I have often been disappointed in the recent seasons and how the Simpsons aren't funny anymore, not even the Halloween episodes. Whenever I watch now, it will be something off one of my dvd's and not primetime.

Here's a link to link that takes a thorough look at all this. I think Brad Bird was key.

These Are A Few Of My 100 Things

Time Magazine has an article about living with only 100 things. That is a pretty tall order. Depends on what your definition of "thing" is. Does a set of golf clubs, tees, balls, cart, and bag all count as one thing. I sure hope so. One of the participants is quoted addressing this problem.

Cait Simmons, 27, a waitress in Chicago, takes a different approach. Although she has pared down her footwear collection from 35 to 20 pairs, she says, "All my shoes count as one item."

I am pretty partial to my stuff, and probably irrationally attached to several items I hold dear, particularly an afgan knitted for me by my grandmother, and my grandfather's old wooden creaky rocking chair. This article looks and smells like self-loathing freedom haters to me. As long as you are not consumed by possessing things, or them possessing you, I say what's the problem?

Einsteins

Tory has started the summer session here at Austin Community College. His class is a MW evening class from 5:30 pm to 7:10. The campus is fairly close but we want Tory to get home on the bus, its only 50 cents. Yesterday he gets on the wrong bus and ends up at a transit station north of our house and further away than ACC. Plus he had to get off since it was the end of the line, and had no money to get on another to get back home. I had to go get him.

After picking him up I needed to get a few items at Walmart. Tory and I go in and get our needed items. As we're getting ready to check out I discover I don't have my wallet, and can't pay. Luckily I have $19.75 in my pocket. So we put back most of what was in the basket. The final item, a big bag of chips, didn't make the cut. Why, oh why, did we need that aluminum foil?

Dinner was served just after 9 and there were some grumpy diners.

Father's Day and Golf

A pretty good Father's Day this year. Bagels and coffee with friends after church. Back home for a light lunch, a 30 minute nap, a glass of iced tea, and out to Morris Williams GC for a round of golf.

I teed off at 3:15, and the club house thermometer showed 98 degrees. Whew. The heat was somewhat mitigated by light breezes, and I tried to walk a good bit in the shades of trees. Promptly double bogeyed first hole.

I played the first 11 holes as a single, and waited not once to hit. I caught the fellow in front of me at the 12th tee and we played the remaining 7 together waiting occasionally on the twosome in front of us, and they did not appear to be to serious about golf hitting 2 or 3 shots from nearly every place. The entire round was just over 3 hours, a land speed record for me at this course. Overall score was 82 going 42 - 40 on the nines.

The problem with playing solo is no one sees your greatness. My greatness this day was off the tee. I was hitting some of my best drives ever. Unfortunately this greatness was offset by poor play from the fairway and on the green. The main theme of the day seemed to be having the ball below my feet on a thin lie. Also many times I'd be a full to half wedge away from the green and fail to get the ball on the green, often missing badly. Putting is also very unreliable. I hit all four par 3's in regulation, and had 11 putts. I did finally get on the birdie quest on the 11th hole, a par 5 sinking a 2 footer.

After teeing off at #5, I saw very bright blue bluebird. The feral parrots appear to have been run off as I neither saw nor heard any all day.

Later that night a family game of Scrabble. Tory passed off "nuke", which scored him about 6 points. "Thugs" and "jail" were in the same line together, and "ozone" made everyone giddy. Sean won this tense competition.

Popcorn bargain

Going to the movies? Consider the medium sized popcorn in a bag. (from Portfolio.com)

JK Rowling at Harvard

JK Rowling gave the commencement address at Harvard today. Our family has enjoyed her books so I was interested in what she had to say, and Jo (all her friends call her Jo) did not disappoint.

The site might add video of her address later.