Horse Manure Park

Today I finally did something which I've been thinking about doing for months now. I've finally logged off Facebook and washed my hands of it. I call Facebook "The Great Experiment Gone Terribly Wrong." It is one of those ideas which seemed great in theory: keeping connected with friends and family you don't get to see often. What a great way to stay in touch! Sounds nice. But something happened on the way to heaven, as Phil Collins would say. At some point Facebook got ugly. It got gross. It happened about four years ago, toward the dawn of the presidential election of 2016. A line was drawn in the sand. It became the MAGA cult (by definition, that's what it is) on the attack and on the defense, against the rest of the world. Democrat versus Republican. It quickly dissolved into a perceived Good versus Evil. So-called Patriots versus Snowflakes. And there it has remained. Civilized discourse was severed like a head in a guillotine. Friends started fighting wi...

Way back on 25 October 2007 I made my first blog post. That was almost nine years ago. For a while I was a blogmaster. I wrote constantly about my life and times. Then this turd called Facebook came along and I pretty much abandoned my beloved blog. Blogging became mundane. It was stupid. I mean, nobody wrote blogs anymore. Now I've come full circle. I've not been here at Blogger.com for some time. In fact, it was called Blogspot.com last time I was here. They've done a lot of cool improvements. I like it. And it's free. In the meantime, I've come to despise the world of Facebook. I enjoy connecting and communicating with family and friends, but there are also many jerk-offs on Facebook. Not long ago, Facebook must have changed a setting with one of their updates. Suddenly, people you don't know - complete strangers - can read stuff you write if you have a mutual friend who has commented/liked a posting of yours. Now, this is a problem, because those stra...

It is already June 6th. Life is moving fast and furious. It was a long week of work. It is Saturday and I don't really have any plans (I'm waiting for it to rain) and I feel guilty for not having any plans. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law (B&B Construction) were here this past week and they installed wood paneling in our downstairs living room. It is amazing what a little accent like that can do to a room. I got home late from work but took some "before" pictures after the project was already started. The living room wall is bisected by a wooden shelf. The wall, top and bottom, was orange peel consistency and plain white. After almost 15 years of living here, we decided to kick it up a notch.  Work in progress... The finished project... Now to paint the living room... but the jury is still out on what color to use. As you can see in the top picture, we flirted with yellow hues, but it does not work at all with the color of wood we have. It l...

No one ever seems to have a problem when you say you need to "vent." "You go, girl!" they say (if you're female).  They say venting is a healthy.  They say it's good for your blood pressure and your immune system. Everybody should vent, they say. The dictionary definition of "venting" is: To express one's opinions or feelings, especially forcefully. Odd, because it sounds perilously similar to "complaining," which is defined as: To express feelings of pain, displeasure or resentment. Nobody likes a complainer, so I will take this moment to be a venter. Warning: my vents have been known to turn into rants, which is an altogether different animal. ~ Most of you know I am repulsed by WalMart and I frequent the place only in moments of despair. Yet every time I go there, I end up with awesome writing material; WalMart never fails to deliver the goods -- something that just drives me over the edge. A recent adventure ...

If you watch the steer get slaughtered, that  filet mignon  might not taste as good. First impressions are powerful things. One of the interesting exercises in writing (and debate) is to look at the other side of an argument.  It can be a humbling experience. In order to see the other side, you must acknowledge that your side is not necessarily correct; you simply have an opinion.  That's usually enough to scare most people off. This brings me to the interesting "controversy" over Richard Sherman, cornerback for the Seattle Seahawks. And before you stop reading because this is "football talk," please understand that it is not. This is more to do with first impressions, fledgling opinions, and having the courage to admit that you just might be wrong. You see, most of the world, including myself, had an initial 20-second impression of Richard Sherman immediately after the biggest play in the biggest game of his life. Seconds after the game, h...

The days when we could walk outside and feel completely safe and secure are long over. People die going to school now. They die going to the movies. They die going shopping. They die going to work. They die enjoying themselves on a beautiful spring morning. We live in a country where expecting the worst and steeling ourselves for what unthinkable act of violence will happen next is simply routine. We can only pray that we - or someone we love - is not in the wrong place at the wrong time. I am not being pessimistic.  I am not being negative. This is our reality in today's America. And yes, it is really fucked up.

I get so sick and tired of these morons wasting their time spouting off about the world ending today - 11/11/2011.  Why today?  They act as if this date has never happened before. One hundred years ago when this date occurred, 11/11/1911, I wonder if they thought the same thing? How about 200 years ago when it was 11/11/1811? The real doozy happened 900 years ago when it really was 11/11/1111.  I wonder if they had nut jobs predicting the end of the earth back then, or maybe they had more important things to be concerned about, like not contracting the measles or smallpox or some other disease which meant certain death. The point is this:  for some reason, we in the 21st century seem to think everything that happens to us is unique.  And it's not.  Time, a man-made concept in the first place, just keeps pushing forward and we keep coming up with excuses why the earth will end sooner rather than later.  When we entered a new century/millennium ...

I've been watching a little news today.  The demise of Colonel Moammar Gaddafi Gadhaffi Qaddafi  ...or however you spell his name... has finally come to fruition.  Yet another dictator has bit the dust.  It interests me because it will certainly be recorded in the history books - Colonel Gaddafi Gadhaffi Qaddafi ruled Lybia for 42 years.  A total megalomaniac. But why did he remain a Colonel?  You would've thought he would have promoted himself to General of the Army or Ruler of All Mankind or something.  I've always wondered about that. But anyway, I haven't been "tuned in" to the news as much as I normally would be simply because I find these news channels - namely the personalities of these news channels - very hard to watch.  I can't stand their faux concern, their calculated facial gestures.  The whole damn thing is nothing more than an orchestrated stage show under the guise of "news." However, good ol' Wolf Blitzer of CNN gav...

We all have a morbid side and mine is manifesting itself in the form of casually following the Conrad Murray manslaughter trial.  It interests me for a couple reasons - first, it involves a drug that I have personally administered hundreds of times in my nursing career, propofol. But mainly because it involves the unusual and tragic death of the greatest entertainer of my lifetime - and perhaps of all time.  Yes, that's how I feel about Michael Jackson.  I admit that I probably wouldn't feel this way if I hadn't seen him live in concert, but I did on Friday evening, May 6, 1988.  I entered the Met Center as a curious observer and I left a convert.  I've seen everyone from Kiss to the Rolling Stones to Paul McCartney to Elton John and only Kiss has come even remotely close to the kind of show Jackson put on. That's not to say I don't think Jackson was a man without problems really screwed up,  because he obviously was.  But he could put on a show...

Yesterday on Facebook I noticed a few people were commenting about the world ending on Saturday.  I saw enough comments to get me interested in what the heck this was all about.  Because I pretty much live in a cave - or perhaps better described as a "bubble" surrounded by Mac-n-Cheese, Dora and sippy cups - I hadn't heard that some quack named Harold Camping is predicting the world will end on May 21st at 6 p.m.  (I'm not sure what time zone he's referring to, so I can't help ya there.) Anyway this delusional man has convinced himself using "fuzzy math" and numerology that the Bible has revealed (in secret code that only he can decipher, of course) that Armageddon will occur on May 21, 2011. What makes Harold so special?  Well, he's managed to dupe his followers into contributing $12 million to help him build radio stations, called Family Radio, all around the world to spread his cultish point of view.  He's sort of the Wolfman Jack of ...

I seem to be on a blogging roll here.  I've nearly made as many entries this month as I've made in January and February combined.  That's okay, that's what a blog is for... blogging.  Right? Beth is feeling better.  Amazing what antibiotics can do for a person.  And she managed not to miss a single day of work. I've been working on a lot of Farm Fest stuff lately.  I'm not sure what I'll do with myself if we ever stop doing Farm Fest.  It occupies a lot of my time in late winter/early spring. Some of my recent projects include: Designing invitations and a t-shirt order form in a blog format, so that everything will be available in one place.   Finishing the "Prom" music for Thursday night (a mix of pretty much everything - 60's, disco, 80's, country... and more).  Fun party music! The biggest accomplishment is that I finished the 2011 t-shirt design already.  I think it turned out very nice (but what do you expect me to say...

Wow, another post?  Can you tell I am trying to stay awake?  Is anybody out there? * silence * Oh well, I have a tendency to talk to myself quite often anyway.  I'm good company, just ask me. Daylight Savings Time was last night, which meant I only had to work seven hours.  That did not suck.  It still seemed like a long night, though.  Two more shifts to go, then an eight hour class on Thursday.  At least I get paid for it.  It's all good.  Or pretty good.  ...well, maybe it's all okay.  Yeah, it's okay. I'm still waiting for all this damn snow to melt.  The eaves drip and tease me -- sort of like waving a sirloin in front of a hungry coyote.  But there is a lot of that white crap out there.  This will take a while to go away. Meanwhile, the Vernal Equinox (as opposed to the Venereal Equinox) is next Sunday.  Aaaaah, spring is just a week away.  That's reassuring, but I don't see many flowers bloo...