Taking it Outside

That's it. Little more. Eric pissed me off and newbies pissed me off - but I was primed to be pissed off. Not Eric's fault...

I said goodbye on ObWi a while ago (stormed out actually) - I do so here now. Once this posts I will lock/delete my account and won't be back.

After a while off of ObWi and the Intertubes in general, my BP went from a high of 180/110 to a steady 127/81. I made no other changes in my life, didn't need meds. The Internet was about to kill me.

So, guess what? I'm getting back into the meat world. I have a gorgeous wife whom I adore. I plan to spend time with her instead of yuz guys. I love you all, but I love her a lot more. And it's only on occasion that she gets my BP that high.

In 6 months I'll be the age where my father died. This shit is hereditary, ya' know? I need to change up my life in a major way...

When Andrew was killed I said that's it! I'm going to change my life for the better. I'm going to take advantage of opportunities he never got. But I didn't. I suck.

Now I have no choice. Do or die.

I love you all and I won't attempt to name everyone. But I owe a special thanks to LJ for letting me spill my guts here.

Godspeed to all of you.

 

The ticks are still very bad in the Upper Peninsula. For the weekend trip, I spent most of my time Weed-Eating to deny those little bastards their habitat, Saturday until my defective machine ran out of line, then Sunday after a trip to Pamida, refilling the spools over and over. That, and picking off ticks. Hundreds of ticks crawling all over my body.

On the way back home, after filling up at the Mobil station at Crivitz, my wife suggested to me that I might go into the restroom and check myself for ticks. So I went in, locked the door and stood tiptoe to look backwards in the mirror for ticks on my ass and my thighs. None there, but there were three rummaging around in my underwear, which I picked off and flushed down the toilet, PETA be damned.

In Obama's world, you couldn't do this. You would have to leave the door open in the event that one of the senior crowd gathered around the video poker machine in the corner had an emergency. Or worse, you could only use the bathroom in an environmentally friendly rest area, where you would have to explain to the truck drivers exactly what you are doing. I'm not buying into this.

on Iran.

And has referred to the health-care crisis as a "ticking time-bomb".

I hope that the administration knows what they are doing, but there were at least a handful of possible scenarios for the outcome of the Iranian election. All of the possibilities should have been considered well in advance, and perhaps they have, but it sure doesn't look like that is the case.

Here's a poll, maybe US popular opinion will be the basis for US foreign policy. Read it all, there are differing opinions.

Joe Lieberman's take.

I didn't get it exactly, at first because I don't really look at comment threads at the Mothership that often. I'll agree that suedeonimity is ok, and that "outing" is a bad thing to do.

And publius almost singlehandedly kept ObWi going during some hard times, and I generally think that is a good thing.

On the other hand...

You just can't insert the old chestnut that conservatives, southerners, and Republicans are racists as a recurring theme into opinion pieces if you know that this is no more the case for your political enemies than the side for which you are advocating. If you do this on a regular basis, then you have no legitimate complaint when your political opponents say "Hey, your gal (or guy) is racist, just look what (s)he said, here and here." If it is fair for your side to do it isn't it fair for everybody?

Let's say your relatives, some colleagues, are conservative, and you know that they aren't particularly racist but you espouse the idea that one of their (group's) primary motivations is racism, that is embarassing if it is a false accusation. Then do not make the accusation. It's that simple.

I think that the Supreme Court nomination hearings of Bork, Thomas, Alito and Roberts got pretty damned ugly on a partisan basis, plus other court nominees, Estrada, Pickering, etc. I don't particularly want to see that kind of stuff this time around.

I was hiking on the Appalachian Trail one summer, did a layover in Damascus, Virginia and was going to be late for the Fiddler's Festival at Grayson Highlands, so Mad Dog and I decided to hitch hike. We got picked up by a motley looking bunch who handed us a Mason Jar and said "Drink This", and made sure that we did, several times, with one bottle of warm RC Cola to wash it down. They said "We're the Blevins Boys, remember that."

The ones that you can flirt with, even talk dirty to, and hug, without having any professional issues.

The big boss brought some new interviewees around, earnest young men just out of college. One my twenty-something colleagues, one of the founders of the youth movement, who I suspect is queer, said "OMG another guy!".

 As software engineers we are sick and tired of more guys. Neither he or I have seen the latest Star Trek or are computer gamers.

This has to stop. On the other hand, I can't think of any cute women programmers from the USA. We have a hot one from India, but that's about it. In my previous job the US computer jockettes mostly sucked, but the Polish and Israelis were OK.

Am I right or wrong here?

Have a nice weekend. Good luck Steve.

So... As a basketball score that might seem cool. As a BP measurement, not so much... Stage 2 hypertension. Shit, it almost blew out the gauge.

I don't know what the hell happened. Systolic was only 140 a few months ago.

Man. Quit drinking and smoking? Ugh. (Not you Ugh.)

Anyway - if I disappear off the inter-tubes you can guess what happened... I'm already on a healthy diet and exercise program. My BP is just going nuts...

Wierd how that boot sector computer virus was a protest highlighting the Tiananemen Square events. Things are so much more cynical these days.

For anybody interested.

Some of these same guys are running the Federal government, besides Roland Burris. 

UPDATE:

This is what Pay To Play politics looks like on a nationwide scale.

 

Is the link just an anecdote, or an anachronism?

 My old company stopped research and development because by the bad guys buying us (a true R&D driven company) they had cornered the market. When the government corners the market, research will be driven by what lobbyists pay the most to the party in powers; that is, there will be no practical research, only politically advantageous research. Much like the consensus driven global climate change "science", no new or challenging ideas will be permitted.

I've been trying fitfully to learn Chinese for the past three years. I'm not making any progress, but everytime I chuck the books, something happens that makes me want to give it one more try. There is no connection to these happenings, except that they make me want to be able to at least engage in basic conversation in Chinese. The latest is this which talks about Zhao Ziyang's secret memoirs. It is not like I want to read them, but things like this suggest, at least to me, that if you could just get below the surface, you might find out some really amazing things. This is not to suggest that only chinese culture has unplumbed depths, but it seems that if one could just get a peek under that covering cloth of language, there would be a whole world of things to see.