Neighborly Neighbor Update

It appears that he is fine... but that his Saab has gone to that Great Car Park In The Sky.

For those who don't know, he was in a collision yesterday. The car in front of him was slowing down to turn, he slowed down, but the car behind him ... didn't. The driver of the car behind admitted to not paying attention, and there was no doubt as to the fault in the accident.

Neighbor went to the hospital and was checked out fully, and sent home. He's pretty much okay, just some soreness (as is normal after any accident), especially in his right leg, which was tensed on the brake pedal and therefore absorbed a good deal of the shock. His insurance is providing a rental car.

So, except for the loss of the Saab (which was a very nice car, btw)... all is good.

Thanks to everyone for your expressed concern!!

Thursday Pythonica... With Bonus Infernal Bagpipes!

Please to be noting the name of the first victim.

(also, I'm saving parts II and III for later)

Pheaux Phyre Phorum: The My Neighbor Was In A Car Wreck, So I've Been Busy Edition

Discuss.



HALOSCAN BLEW UP. NITE EVERYBODY!!!!!

Breaking News: Republican Operatives Are Made of Fail

The RNC attempted to set up a FaceBook parody site, called BarackBook, with predictable results. From the NYTimes article:

Republicans were forced to strip the comment wall and discussion board from the page attached to its new Facebook parody, BarackBook.com, which just went online early this morning, because of comment posts that were racist and anti-Muslim … and some that were anti-Republican too.

What. A. Shock. Racist and anti-Muslim comments on a Republican website!?!? Next thing you know, we'll find out that water is wet and fire is hot!!!

Typical comments on the NYT article - from both sides of the aisle - but then I saw this one:

July 29th,
2008
8:31 pm

As a non-US citizen I see this stuff and question the right of America to claim moral leadership in the world. My American friends ask “why are foreigners so interested in Obama and the election… they don’t get to vote and it’s none of their business!” The answer is simple, the greed and consumption of America is a global problem. It is American greed that has caused many global recessions whether its S&L, junk bonds, dot-com, or the recent sub-prime event. It is obvious that unregulated greed hurts not only Americans, but people in other countries. Jefferson was always decrying the greed of the “stockjobbers” in NY. Think America! It’s not all about you - your actions and Presidential choices have global consequences beyond your parochial national view. Choose well.

— Posted by Citizen of the World

Spot. Fuckin'. On.

(h/t to Petulant, via Shakesville)

Revenge of the Nerds, Part ie

(h/t to BlueGal)

Image of the Day

(Thanks Jen, for forwarding it)

Creative Writing - the Request Post, Part IX

Yo!

It's Monday, so you must - must, I say* - leave me a snippet to weave into a story that I shall write on Sunday. Previous installments are linked in the sidebar. Give me something like...

The virus had appeared out of nowhere, and so they found themselves cut off.

*participation is totally voluntary, offer void in Puerto Rico and The Cayman Islands, not affiliated with the McCain2008 campaign.

The Wayback Machine

It's not often that I can remember what I was doing at an exact moment in time in the past, but some moments? Yep.

F'r instance, a year ago tonight, I was doing this.

Hard to believe that just one year ago, Jen was "only" a name and a gravatar. I'm glad that's not the case any more. Very glad.

Sunday Fiction - Part VIII

Previous chapters in the sidebar ---->

It was anything but a quiet week in the city in the mountains, what with the 30th Annual Bele Chere Festival going on, so I had taken myself out of town, and up into the hills in search of a quiet campsite where I could pitch my tent and just relax. I had sent the package to Arianne's sister, hoping that - even if she wouldn't talk to me, and tell me where Arianne was - she would still forward it. But I had no way of knowing. And no way of knowing what Arianne's reaction would be. So I hoped that spending a few days away from everything, and communing with Nature, would help me get my mind settled so I could get back to working on some cases and making some money. I got a friend to drop me off at my favorite trailhead, agreed on a time to meet him to take me back to town, shouldered my pack and headed into the woods. I had a spot in mind along the creek where an old rail line had once been laid for logging, so it was flat and well above the water - in case of a sudden storm - and I knew it would take me about two hours of hiking to get there. As I moved along the trail, I could feel the concerns of my life slipping away. The sounds and scents of Nature gently pushed away thoughts of bills, and rent ... and Arianne. About 3/4 of a mile in, the trail began to parallel Lynne's Creek, and the sound of the water rushing over the rocks as it headed down the mountain caused the last vestiges of concern to drop away. "I should do this more often," I said to myself as I followed upstream, toward the first of three waterfalls I knew lay between here and my destination. As I got closer to the waterfall, I could hear the crash of the water as it cascaded down the face of the falls. But there was another, clashing sound that was beginning to tug at me. I slowed my stride as I tried to figure out this dissonance, but was totally unprepared for the realization that was about to come. As I made my way around the last bend of the trail below the falls, I realized that I was hearing music... a marching band. What The Poop?, I thought as I walked into the small glade around the pool at the bottom of the falls. There, spread out all around the pool, was the Saint Francis School for Girls Marching Band, playing John Philip Sousa music and having a picnic. The music ground to a halt as the girls noticed that I had entered the glade. I stood there with a dumbstruck look on my face, wondering how - and why - an entire marching band had come all the way out here into the forest to have lunch and rehearse. It certainly wasn't because they weren't good. They sounded quite good, not to mention looking very fetching in their blue and white uniforms. It was then that I noticed that not all the girls had been busy playing music. There were several of them in the pool, staring at me with only their heads above the water, and I noticed piles of clothes on the bank nearby. I looked around nervously, trying to figure the quickest way through the group and on up the trail, as one of the girls in the water moved towards me. "Hey, mister, would you care to join us? We've got lots of food, and the water is fine!" she said as she reached the bank and pulled herself out of the water. Her shoulders were scorched, and no one seemed to care. I turned away quickly and busied myself looking at the trees up on the hillside as the girl laughed and put on her uniform. More laughter rippled through the group as they noticed that my face was red. I heard a sigh behind me, as the girl said "Sometimes the only way to get these things started is to grease them up a bit. My name is Mary Catherine, and I'm the drum major. Won't you please join us? Dean Michaels would never forgive us if we weren't hospitable." As several of the girls around me offered food, Mary Catherine jumped up on a rock and motioned for the band to begin playing again - a jaunty tune that sounded somewhat familiar. I accepted some fruit and cheeses as I listened and enjoyed. Although the cheese was moldy, the glockenspiel stayed in tune, and I began to really enjoy myself. One of the girls helped me off with my pack, and I sat down to eat. The band members were taking turns swimming, never enough at one time to detract from the music, although there were moments of discord in the brass section. The trumpets and trombones were doing all right, but the Sousaphone, again, was uncooperative. Despite this minor fracas, I was feeling extremely giddy, and even began to dance around a bit. I continued eating the moldy cheese until suddenly a moose came crashing out of the woods, while the band was playing a rousing version of Amazing Grace. By this point I was acting as a music stand for Mary Catherine, and as the gangly animal careened through the panicked band - bellowing the whole time - its antlers snagged on a picnic basket and hurled the contents through the air. The condiments in the basket spewed everywhere, including on the me and the sheet music I was holding. Amazing Grace was doused in ketchup, but the moose was loud and clear. It was then that I slipped on some mayonnaise and hit my head on a rock. When I came to, the paramedics were loading me onto a stretcher. I had laid in the woods for two days, unconscious, before my friend found me, and the head wound had become infected. The antibiotics cost half again as much as the doctor's appointment. So much for socialized medicine. And there was no sign of a Girl's School Marching Band anywhere.

This is merely a test post.


Trying to figure out how to use Google Docs to publish a post... but it doesn't seem to bring the title with it when it publishes.....

Friday Saturday Cat Blogging

Puff says, "Ooh! Pick me! Pick meeee!!!!"

Yes, she's asleep... and, since she does this often, I assume she's comfy. Kittehs, ya know.

This post brought to you by the letter K and this post at Shakesville.

I Got A Coupon In The Mail

For one FREE GALLON* of gasoline!!!




*Okay, it's actually 1.296 gallons worth - the price actually dropped this week. It's that immediate result of Dumbya voiding the Executive Order banning offshore drilling. Imagine, if we clearcut ANWR and plant wells every 10', the gas companies might pay us to take their product!!!

Just What It Says It Is

What?!?

I was told that a Bold Bob sounded good!!

Thursday Python Randomity

There was light at the end of the tunnel... then this!

24 July Is a Good Day

I'm feelin' it, are you?

Beethoven's Ode to Joy, as interpreted by....




(h/t to Brian)

Pheaux Phyre Phorum: TheEdition Edition

Hey all!

I'm prolly not gonna be around much this evening, but y'all go right ahead and hang out!

Straight Talk Express

Corrected McCain ad:



The original McCain campaign ad is here.

(h/t Crooks & Liars)

Awesomely Awesome!!!

(h/t to Manila Ryce)

On Being Connected...

To Teh InterWebs Tubes, that is.

Those of you who are in contact with me offblog on any kind of a regular basis know that my connection fails quite often, and has been doing so for months. Most of you also know that I am on my neighbor's wifi net. I've mentioned this problem to the neighbors several times, and they have noticed it, but not nearly so often, as they use the internet pretty much only to check email and download a recipe now and then.

Over the last couple of weeks the problem had gotten worse. Before, it mainly happened only when it was raining, but it got to the point where it was happening all the time. But the latest "escalation" meant that the neighbors could no longer receive calls on their phones.

So, Neighbor Prime (the owner of the house) called BellSouth AT&T last Tuesday to come fix. "We'll have someone there Friday," he was told. On Friday, I was asked to keep an eye out, and let the repair dude into the house. "No prob," I said... and waited... and waited.

Anyway, no show on Friday, but they came yesterday evening and found the problem!!! One of the phone jacks was highly corroded, and was causing a short.

Ahhh, Teh InterWebs Tubes are channeling information fast as bunnies now! I'm so happy! So, who wants to chat?

Creative Writing - the Request Post, Part VIII

It's Monday, pholks, and that means it's time to gimme some snippets to weave into a story come Sunday!

Something like:

Although the cheese was moldy, the glockenspiel stayed in tune.