Limerick Day 11

The razor sliced into my lip
From my chin, blood starts to drip
After thirty years
Nicks are real fears
My talent at shaving is zip

Starbucks Fun

Razor is having fun at Starbucks.

I will try the "Gretzky" alias my next trip.

Limericks Day 10

Who would think that at the end of the day
Fairly unique phrases don't get that much play
With all due respect
I personally object
Its a nightmare finding pleasing things to say.

Will Shortz on The Simpsons

Will Shortz and Merl Reagle will be on The Simpsons next week. I haven't been watching the new episodes for a long time but will check this one out. Reagle has constructed Simpson packed puzzles for next Sunday as well.

Limerick Day 6

What is the best way to go
Many of us really don't know
Inner peace is a snap
Visit Google Maps
And get from Pflugerville to Waco

Limerick Day 5

The national election has closed
The ballot boxes disposed
Obama has won
(His experience be none)
Republicans collectively got hosed.

Limerick Day 4

A limerick a day is quite daunting
In my brain the task is haunting
I know that I'm not
Writing a lot
Its worthy ideas I am wanting.



A bit of a stretch. Writing about writing. But I don't have any mulligans.

Limerick Day 3

Gas prices are finally abating
Its something we've all been awaiting
A solution was needed
Cause our pressure receded
The car's tires simply needed inflating.

Limerick Day 2

In the Express checkout line I stand
With 10 items or less in hand
Ahead of me I see
A lady with twenty
Hey! "Go to the other lines," I demand!


I wish I could do this, but I never do.

Limerick Day 1

On the day after Halloween
Samantha will then be fourteen
A wonderful daughter
and joy to her father
Happy Birthday to the silly-ness queen.

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.