Maybe They Can Sense Evil

My guess is cats are smarter than I give them credit for. Don't tell me they can't sense evil.

2 weeks!

Seriously, it's been 2 weeks since I last posted? Holy crap!

Let's see what's been going on:

1) Bought the new Vanessa Carlton album Heroes & Thieves. It's good, though it continues in the melodramatic vein of the previous two. Not as dark as Harmonium, at least. Love the song "Hands on Me"! If you listen to it & think martial arts, well, you're as sick an individual as I am. :-)

2) Continuing the job-search for South Carolina - which included updating the resume. It's like starting all over again, since I took this promotion. Crap.

3) Still haven't beat Halo 3. Note to self: "Checkpoint" does not equal "Save".

4) Stupid apartment place decided painting the walls this weekend was a great idea. Yeah, the weekend I'm off. BTW, painting a dark, wood door white is dumb.

5) I have the greatest microwave, ever! It microwaves (duh!), grills and uses convection. I now can cook a steak medium without worry about it.

6) Transformers - The Movie: Meh (One word! Take that, two-word Roses!). It was decent, the lady was unbelievably beautiful & the original voice actors were a nice touch. Nothing wonderful but worth a watch.

7) Friends: Largely upsetting me lately. Specifically, the ones who wanted me to move to days so we could hang out more. Yeah, where are you now, jerks?

8) Harry Reid: Nice move, numbnuts! First, you & 40 cohorts slam a private citizen, then you try & take the credit for $4.2M being donated to the Marine Corps - Law Enforcement Foundation as a result of the slam letter being auctioned off. Apologize. Idiot.

9) Harvey, of Bad Example: Why? ha ha

10) VP Cheney: We won't let Iran go nuclear. Omitted qualifier: ...at least not in the way they think. Mwahahahahaha!!!

11) Fred Thompson: Give a five-minute speech. That's all the time he needs, people!

Mutually Exclusive

I was headed to lunch yesterday when I saw a car on the highway.

It had two bumper stickers that were political in nature.

The first, on the bottom left of the rear window, read, "Stop Abortion Now".

The second, on the top right of the trunk, read, "Hillary for President".

Um, hello! How on earth could you want something stopped that your candidate of choice most definitely wants?

Chained Up!

Not exactly what you may have on your mind. I had a (rather brilliant) set of ideas to make things flow more smoothly at my job during the months when chains are required in WA and OR: October 15 to April 15.

The idea is simple enough: Use the resources we have to improve our process for getting chains from one team of drivers to another. While this may seem like a simple enough process, the fact is there are almost 2000 trucks in our company & trying to find one of the roughly 300 that have chains to give is tough. Add to that we need them to be on the same route as a team that requires chains & you have a nightmare in the making.

My idea was simply to use the mapping software we have & other recent improvements to generate a "fleet" of all trucks with chains. We filter out the ones that need to keep theirs & BAM! we have a system that reduces 80% of the time required to find a swap.

I tried, in vain, to get this "excellent" & "brilliant" (according to a couple managers) idea set up for four years. It took my recent promotion & my new boss with an interest in listening to get this pushed through. My old department gave me the lip service for four years & my new one let me push an idea through within a month of pitching it. Gee, where will I be happier?

Halo 3

I had a short online gaming time with a buddy tonight on this new game & it was a blast.

I only have one headset & he's the better trash-talker, so he was on the mike. Needless to say, our first few outings were about as trashy as the talk...terrible. Yeah, we got better but there are some people out there who help me realize having a full time job does not a good gamer make!

I'm probably going to lose more than a few precious hours of my life on this game (One of the benefits of being perpetually single). Since I can only make class on certain nights because of my schedule, I may as well get virtual exercise! ha ha

Am I In Trouble?

I forgot my own Blogiversary!

Harvey of Bad Example had to remind me that one year ago today I officially became a blogger. That's fitting since he inspired me to get started with blogging. I'd like to think he inspired more than a few of my posts, particularly one of my best.

Thanks for getting me started, Harvey! I hope for many more years of blogging enjoyment.

Oh, That's Rich

Senator Harry Reid is attacking Rush Limbaugh for his statement about "phony troops" - in reference to Jesse Macbeth, a man who falsely claimed to be a Ranger. This is rich. From the man who claimed the war in Iraq is "lost" & that the Surge has "failed", we get a claim that someone else is attacking the troops.

Here's the Reid quote:

Here is what we wrote: "Dear Mr. Mays." Here's the letter, Mr. President. "At the time we signed this letter, 3,801 hundred American soldiers had been killed in Iraq. Another 27,936 have been wounded. One hundred and sixty others awoke this morning on foreign sand far from home to face the danger and uncertainty of another day at war. Although Americans of goodwill debate the merits of this war, we can all agree that those who serve with such great courage deserve our deepest respect and gratitude.

That's why Rush Limbaugh's recent characterization of troops who oppose the war as "phony soldiers" is an outrage. Our troops are fighting and dying to bring to others the freedoms that many take for granted. It is unconscionable that Mr. Limbaugh would criticize them for exercising the fundamental American right to free speech. We call on you to publicly repudiate these comments that call into question their service and sacrifice and ask Mr. Limbaugh to apologize for his comments.

Obviously, the Senator from Nevada is concerned someone is going to hate the troops more than he does - something for which Senator Reid cannot stand! A man who has opposed the military at many turns has the nerve to accuse one of the most openly declared supporters of our troops - a man who has backed it up by his visits to Afghanistan & military hospitals - of calling ALL soldiers who oppose the war "phony troops".

Now, Mr. Limbaugh can stand up for himself, so I won't go any farther into defending his discussion.

As for the Senator, how dare he declare a war lost? Attempting to demoralize our troops is the same as providing aid and comfort to the enemy. For those of you who may have forgotten what Senator Reid said on this subject:

I believe myself that the secretary of state, secretary of defense and — you have to make your own decisions as to what the president knows — (know) this war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything as indicated by the extreme violence in Iraq yesterday. Senator Harry Reid - April,20 2007

Oh and you know how, Senator? I forgot you're the preeminent military strategist. Fact is, anyone who thinks the Democrats as a party have ever supported our troops in the modern era is misled. I served in the military under President Clinton & his lack of concern for our military was evident on everything from downsizing to early-retirement programs. There was even talk of reducing paid leave from 30 to 18 days (that's just hearsay, though). I honestly can't believe there's any support from the Democrats towards our men & women in uniform.

We have a Senator who takes the same oath as other officials to "support and defend" the Constitution. Obviously, the Distinguished Gentleman from Nevada takes exception to that when he disagrees with the action being taken. Denouncing the military and their mission is nothing more than a political football to him and his party.

Shame on you, Senator. Our military deserves better representatives in government than you.