Horse Manure Park

The new year will be here in about three hours or so, and I keep thinking about sitting down and writing a little something. I suppose I better do it now and make this my last entry for the year, looking forward to a new and better one in '08. I have to work tonight, beginning my seven night "tour of duty" so there will be no partying or revelling for me tonight. I will ring in the new year sober, but that's fine with me. Besides, I get paid double time for doing it and I won't be hung over in the morning (just really tired). I can live with that. I haven't blogged for a while. Busy with the holidays, family stuff, you know... the usual Christmas things that everyone gets preoccupied with. I hope everyone had a good Christmas and stays safe tonight. Of course, everyone is asking about New Years Resolutions and I always give the answer my dad once gave when he was about 79 years old: "This year I'll give up riding motorcycles." My dad co

Why do they call it "PMS"? Because "Mad Cow Disease" had already been taken. I love that joke.

I saw the other day that Ike Turner died. He was one of rock and roll's first true pioneers, credited with making one of the first, if not the first, rock and roll record: "Rocket 88". You can download the tune anywhere and it is a pretty cool little number. It is found under the artist Jackie Brenston, but Ike Turner is behind it. Of course, Ike went on to create the image of Tina Turner. Tina had the legs and voice, but Ike had the brains. I love songs like "Knock on Wood" (the Ike and Tina Turner version, not the '70's disco version). The song is ballsy and brassy, and Ike arranged it. He was one of those guys who never got the credit he ever fully deserved, mostly because his name was smeared by accusations of spousal abuse. He's spent more time in jail than the Rolling Stones collectively, and snorted more cocaine in a week than Rick James had in a lifetime. In all, he reportedly wasn't a very nice guy. However, they say the last 15 years of

I just don't understand what our country is coming to. First the Virginia Tech massacre in April, then four mall shootings over the year, the most recent this week in Nebraska, and today a church shooting in Colorado. I've heard the saying "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." That's a load of bullshit. People with guns kill people . More precisely, crazy bastards with guns kill people . But what can be done about it? The right to own firearms is a constitutional right. Our society seems to accept -- or at the very least tolerate -- random acts of violence, and we've grown callous to the headlines. Mass shootings are simply becoming a part of the American lifestyle. Until we stop tolerating this crap, and until the media, such as CNN, Fox, ABC, NBC and CBS stop making superstars out of these people that commit these horrible acts, they will continue. In fact, the piece of shit that killed all those people in Omaha earlier this week said in

I hope no one stuck their tongue on the pump handle this morning. When I got off work and walked outside this morning, the ol' nostrils stuck together: a sure sign of bitter cold. It was -18 degrees, which even a Minnesotan would call a little chilly. Thankfully, the trusty ol' Camry started on the first try. That car has always run like a top (courtesy Dan's of Big Lake). In fact, the last Toyota I had (a '91 Tercel) started every single time, every single winter for 10 years. Our Honda Pilot (also courtesy Dan's of Big Lake) has run equally well. Say what you want about foreign models, but they work . Not much else happening. I am entering night number 6 of 7, so I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's been busy, but the week seems to have gone pretty quickly. Really not much to say, just thought I would jot a couple lines. I've been watching ESPN's coverage of the division 1-AA and division 2 football playoffs. Wow, college football playoff

I haven't written for a few days; you'll have to forgive me. I've been busy clearing out my driveway over and over (and over) again. There's no doubt we got more snow last Saturday than we got between November '06 and February '07 combined. In fact, last winter I didn't even fire up my snowblower until March. I've already used it twice this week and we got another inch or two of snow today. The seasonal businesses here in my neck o' the woods have been waiting for a winter like this for the past, I don't know, six or seven years. I saw on the news that we haven't had this much snow this early in the winter season in 11 years. It is still nothing like 1991, though. That Halloween blizzard was the most snow I've ever seen fall at one time. I wonder if I'll ever see anything like it again? Guess I'll have to wait and see. Not much happening here on the home front. I am in the middle of my week of work. Beth has been off

‘Tis the season when it drives me crazy to watch ESPN and hear about which team deserves to be in the national championship and which one doesn’t, and how it all depends on how the computer looks at it. This year is even crazier than most because of all of the upsets in NCAA football. In fact, last night both the #1 and #2 teams were upset and now everything is up in the air. This is the perfect opportunity for Division 1-A football to stop being the laughing stock of NCAA sports, design at the very least an eight team playoff system, and let the teams decide the national championship on the field. Anything less is a joke, really. Div. 1-A football is the only collegiate sport (actually, the only sport, period) that does not have a playoff system to determine a true champion. Yesterday, two talking heads were debating whether the University of Hawaii, who has a perfect record, should be eligible for a major bowl game. Imagine that, having a perfect record, but still not being ranked hi

Ava was up a lot last night. She's running a fever and just doesn't feel good. I got up with her at 3 a.m and again around 5 a.m. and fell asleep in the chair with her until almost 7 a.m. A pretty rough night. She threw up a couple times today, we gave her a couple cool baths, pushed the fluids and gave her a few doses of Tylenol and Motrin. Hopefully tomorrow -- er, today -- will be a better day. Now I can't sleep tonight. I lay in bed and just wait for her to cry, because I'm sure she will at some point. It is frustrating. Instead of staring at the ceiling, I decided to get up and see what is on television. I often watch Turner Classic Movies, which I think I've mentioned before. They are showing Madame Bovary right now. I tried to read the book once and it bored me to tears. I blamed it on the 19th century prose, but the movie (made in 1949) isn't doing much for me either. So I thought I'd write a little something in my blog to kill a little