Horse Manure Park

I went to the Fox News web site today, just to get some uplifting news, because they are always the first to report positive, uplifting news (he said, sarcastically). Plastered on the front of their web site, as their lead story, was the following headline: Countdown to Destruction: 22-million ton asteriod could slam earth in 2036 . Obviously, it was a slow news day. As dramatic as they try to make it sound, I think a 22-million ton asteroid will do a bit more than "slam" earth. But that's just me.

Not much happening around here, but I guess I will jot a line anyway. I am working seven in a row, Beth is working six of the next seven, so it has been "leave me a note" week. We won't really see each other until November 29th. I hope Beth has nothing planned next weekend because I just want to STAY HOME. It was a cold drive home this morning, the outside thermometer in the car read 11 degrees at about 7:20 a.m., when I got out of work. It is Black Friday today... not sure why they call it that... but it is a uniquely American custom of going out shopping as early as possible on the day after Thanksgiving. No, I don't understand it: let's-all-go-shopping-at-the-same-place-at-the-same-time-and-get-pissed-off-at-each-other-because-you-are-trying-to-buy-the-same-thing-I-am-and-it-is-only-on-sale-until-10 a.m-even-though-Christmas-is-over-a-month-away. When I drove past Walgreen's at about 7:25 a.m., there was actually a line of people outside the store wa

It is a couple days early, but I'd like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Beth and I are working the entire week, but we do plan on having an "abbreviated" Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. Stove Top stuffing, fake potatoes, gravy out of a jar... but we'll be together and that's all that really matters. Many families would be willing to eat popcorn and Skittles, as long as they could spend Thanksgiving together. It is Tuesday night and Beth is upset because Boston Legal was preempted by The Bachelor. Yes, good quality family entertainment. We get something like 150 channels and nothing is worth watching tonight. Oh well, I have some good books to read... and I've got to get ready for work. It will be a long week. Everyone is quitting drinking for the holidays and going through alcohol withdrawal. Yippee! And some people say nurses get paid too much? They haven't got a clue.

It's been a good day. I hit Ticketmaster at noon with presale password in hand and with a little determination, got choice Bon Jovi tickets. We are right next to the stage, maybe the best seats I've ever gotten for any show. Now the waiting begins. The show isn't until March 18, 2008. Seems crazy getting tickets to a show that's more than four months away, but as the days get shorter and colder, at least we've got something to look forward to once the snow starts melting. Now if we can avoid a massive blizzard on March 18th, we'll be doing great! But there are certain things you can't worry about, right? Beth went to St. Cloud today with her mom and Christmas shopped for the day. Ava and I stayed home and played. Not much else to talk about right now. I've been watching YouTube lately, checking out the ghost sightings people have filmed. I don't know why I find it interesting -- I think almost all of it is baloney, although I've seen a

Every now and then something catches my eye which I find really interesting. This video clip supposedly shows a "ghost" caught on camera at a convenience store in Ohio. Personally, I think it is a hoax; a few simple editing tools on any PC makes it pretty easy for something to look convincing. With gas prices what they are, convenience store owners will do anything to lure people to the pumps, even if it means fabricating a ghost siting. Heck, it got on CNN didn't it? That must be good for a bit of business. Click on the link and judge for yourself. This posting is new to YouTube, but I bet it will become one of the biggest links over the coming months. You can be one of the first to see it! Lucky you. Ghost or Hoax?

It has been a while since I've jotted anything down. I finished my seven night "tour of duty" yesterday morning. It was a long week, but I've had worse. I was charge in the telemetry unit all week last week, which usually tends to be a little less stressful than charge in ICU. It is nice to have a change of scenery now and then. I slept for a few hours yesterday, got up in the early afternoon. It was nice, about 52 degrees, and it was the perfect opportunity to open up the camper and take everything out. I don't want to leave anything in there when I take it in to get repaired. Why open up another can of worms if you don't have to? I wanted to pop up the camper in reasonably warm weather so I didn't have to worry about anything else cracking or breaking in the cold. The timing was perfect and Beth and I got the job done in about 20 minutes. After we closed it back down, we tarped it over again for good measure. Now I just have to wait for the State Farm ch

The school referendum failed yesterday by a 2-1 margin. At work, we have a running joke when we encounter someone of below-average intelligence. We say "Just think, this person votes." Well, those folks were out in force Tuesday. We clearly have a double standard in this society. I think everyone agrees that our kids' education should be a priority. Politicians preach it and everyone goes, "Rah-rah" in agreement... until it is time to put one's money where one's mouth is. Education is not free. So this means there will be cuts galore in our school district. Music and fine art teachers might as well start preparing their resumes, but I doubt administration will volunteer a cut in pay for the benefit of retaining a teacher or two. And I am willing to bet the football coach's job is secure. Brainerd has made it to the state playoffs, and everyone loves a winner, right? This also means even more kids will never learn how to spell or put together a compr

It wasn't measurable, but we got our first few flakes of snow today. The best part is Ava ran to the window, chanting "Snow! Snow!". We have a few books which we read to her that have snow in them, but I didn't realize she knew what real snow was. Her mind soaks in so much information everyday, it makes me dizzy. I spoke to our claims person, Julie, on Saturday. She's based in Illinois and she said she was going to make arrangements for an adjuster to come out to our place Tuesday morning to look at our camper. I was home all day today (Monday, the start my seven night stretch tonight) and State Farm never called. I would like to think that an adjuster would call to make sure we were going to be home before just showing up. I suppose I could be wrong about that, but it seems the courteous thing to do. Then again, we're talking about insurance companies. They are God. They do what they please. So I am not sure if I should stay up tomorrow (Tuesday) m

If you're not interested in football, you won't be interested in my post tonight. I love football and love talking about football, so my blog would not be complete without a healthy dose of my football chatter. How about the Vikings? I had the day off, so I was able to watch the whole game and it was well worth watching. Beth made Buffalo chicken dip for the game (a recipe from my sister-in-law Mel, who is the world’s greatest cook) and I had the pleasure of sitting in front of my big screen t.v., munching on chips and dip and watching Vikings RB Adrian Peterson set the NFL single game rushing record today… against the Chargers defense of all teams. Korey went to the game today, so it was cool he got to see history being made. Yeah, Peterson’s pretty good. I’m not ready to declare him the best running back in the league yet, but I definitely smell a changing of the guard in the air. However, in front of every great running back there is a great offensive line (unless your name

I introduced Ava to one of her Grandma Branstner’s breakfast favorites today: poached eggs. They were a huge hit. I’m not sure where poached eggs came from (other than a chicken’s butt), probably an English dish, seems like something gross the English would do: crack open an egg and boil it in water. But in this case, it tastes great. So for breakfast we had poached eggs, wonderfully greasy bacon and English muffin toasting bread, slathered in real butter. In other words, it was fantastic. To top it off, there was an “I Love Lucy” marathon on television this morning; the first and still one of the best sitcoms ever produced. Funny script, great visuals gags and -- guess what modern-day Hollywood? -- not a solitary joke about penises or homosexuals, which seems to be the only way Hollywood writers think they can get a laugh these days (which is precisely the reason why I do not watch sitcom garbage anymore). I just heard that Hollywood writers are going on strike. I think what happened

Well, I got more done today than I was expecting. I went to Lewie's in the afternoon and was pleased to find out that a new manager is now in charge of the service department. The guy that was there before was a total idiot (maybe that's why he isn't there anymore. Perhaps I wasn't the only one unhappy with the service I got?). I kind of got the run around at first, the typical lines "well, this is up to you and your insurance company" and "we do charge a $250 estimate fee," and the like. Then I mentioned that I was a returning customer, having bought the camper there some 20 months ago, and suddenly the demeanor changed. The manager was suddenly interested in my story and said, "Oh! You just made my job much easier; what did you say your name was?" he asked as he sat down at his computer. Within 10 minutes I got an estimate right there, got the estimate fee waived and will get 10% off parts when the job is done. That's the good news. T

You may have noticed that I numbered this story…. Story 1. That’s because whenever I go to Wal-Mart, something stupid always happens to me, so I am sure I will have another stupid Wal-Mart story in the near future. I hate going to Wal-Mart, but they have low prices and a nice variety and Phyllis didn’t raise no fool. Sometimes you just do what you gotta do. This story happened a couple weeks ago. Beth went to work at 6: 30 a.m. and I got up when Ava started to fuss. I was up late, couldn’t sleep, which was nothing new for me. It was hard to get out of bed; a gentle rain was falling outside my window and an occasional roll of thunder yawned its way across the grey morning sky. I stayed under the covers as long as I could, until Ava was good and mad. Finally I staggered to her room, still half asleep, where she greeted me with a happy, “Hi!“ Bleary eyed, I changed her diaper, then trudged up the stairs. Coffee , I thought to myself. My only salvation is coffee right now . I poured Ava a

Man, a frustrating day so far. I've called Lewie's RV twice (I am very reluctant to use them to repair my camper because of the crappy experience I had last time, but I don't have a lot of choices without driving a considerable distance). The first time I left a voicemail for the service department, after staying on hold for a while. I know it was useless. I hardly think they will call back for someone who would like an estimate. But I left a message anyway. I waited a couple hours and called again. This time when I asked for the service department I was told, "They are busy with customers, can I direct you to their voicemail?" Useless. That part that pisses me off is I am a customer. I bought my frickin' camper there (unfortunately). The feeling is "Thanks for your business, now piss off." So, the next step is to just go there in person and see if I can get an appointment made. That way, they can't ignore me. At least, I would strongly encoura