Friday, January 16, 2009

This, That, and the Other

One of the more interesting things about g-mail is the lil snippets you get at the top of your in-box… things like a “quote of the day,” abbreviated news headlines, links to magazine articles, and not a lil bit of weirdness. Today’s quote-of-the-day led me to “Brainy Quote,” a site I sometimes frequent when I’m looking for a quote from someone. There’s quite an interesting collection of stuff from one Robert Orben, not a few of which made me smile. Examples:
To err is human - and to blame it on a computer is even more so. (Facebook, anyone?)
Every speaker has a mouth; An arrangement rather neat. Sometimes it's filled with wisdom. Sometimes it's filled with feet.
And so on. Folksy humorous stuff. Right up my alley.
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Lotsa folks read blogs through an RSS feed; I don’t. I like to visit my Daily Reads personally, which may or may not be due to my not-so-well-suppressed Luddite tendencies. That said, I DO use Google Reader to keep up with Kukla’s Korner, my favorite hockey blog. KK is a collective blog and the folks there write a LOT about hockey, oftentimes about teams I couldn’t care less about (like the Coyotes. and nearly EVERY team in the Eastern Conference). So it makes sense to use a reader in this case… I can skip the stuff that’s essentially meaningless and read what really matters, i.e., things about the Beloved Wings.
All the foregoing is a long-winded introduction to a minor shock I received before I was fully caffeinated this morning. I was absent-mindedly scrolling down through the KK feed while the coffee was brewing when I came across an item that surprised the living HELL out of me: a link to a post written by a Certain Someone I used to know. THIS was a serious “WTF?” moment! KK is linking to this Certain Someone? KK… the hockey blog? Linking to someone who doesn’t give two hoots in Hell about hockey and never did? I didn’t believe my eyes.
And well I shouldn’t have. This Certain Someone created a blog about two years ago (or so) but never posted anything. I put the blog link in my RSS feed… just in case. Certain Someone began writing recently and I just noticed that today. The fact Certain Someone’s blog is in my RSS reader didn’t occur to me until I was well into KK’s second page, thinking… “where the Hell is that post?” Then I remembered I’d added Certain Someone’s link to my RSS reader. And felt really stupid. Doh!
Today’s lesson: NEVER try to do anything… no matter how mundane it may be… until your caffeine levels are stabilized and restored to normal.
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Today’s public link to stuff I’m putting up at Facebook: Mo'Sickles Past and Present. A collection of 23 photos of motorcycles I’ve known and loved over the years… just as the title would indicate, strangely enough. Literal ‘R’ Us. If you think I’m using Facebook like other people use Flickr… you’re right. Facebook doesn’t give you the option to view photos in other than the one size you’re given, and that’s a drawback. Sorta like what Ol’ Henry said about the Model T: “You can have any color you want, as long as it’s black.” I know: get a Flickr account. But remember: Luddite tendencies.
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Have you noticed? I’ve been off politics of late. I’m just sick to death of it, generally speaking. My Tribe isn’t doing anything significant these days and really doesn’t have much of an opportunity to do anything significant anyway, what with Dubya on his way out the door and the GOP being in the minority in Congress. That said… I enjoyed Dubya’s Farewell Speech last evening.
There is legitimate debate about many of these decisions. But there can be little debate about the results. America has gone more than seven years without another terrorist attack on our soil. This is a tribute to those who toil night and day to keep us safe -- law enforcement officers, intelligence analysts, homeland security and diplomatic personnel, and the men and women of the United States Armed Forces.
Our nation is blessed to have citizens who volunteer to defend us in this time of danger. I have cherished meeting these selfless patriots and their families. And America owes you a debt of gratitude. And to all our men and women in uniform listening tonight: There has been no higher honor than serving as your Commander-in-Chief.
[…]
Like all who have held this office before me, I have experienced setbacks. There are things I would do differently if given the chance. Yet I've always acted with the best interests of our country in mind. I have followed my conscience and done what I thought was right. You may not agree with some of the tough decisions I have made. But I hope you can agree that I was willing to make the tough decisions.
Agreed, Mr. President. I hope your successor has but half the conscientiousness and dedication to principles you’ve displayed during your time in office. It takes a BIG man to disregard the folks who “go with the flow” and do the right thing, in spite of what other people might think. And that’s the main reason I worry about your successor. It remains an open question: “Will he do the right thing?” I don't get warm and fuzzy feelings when I mull that question over in my mind...
I'll miss ya, Mr. President. Godspeed.

10 comments:

  1. Concur on the politics. The oppositon has hijacked rational discussion and made political discourse into nasty playground taunting.

    I'm keeping politics off of barco blog because I would rather chat about fun things like boats, bikes, planes and running away from responsibility.

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  2. I need to proofread. I mispeld opposition.

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  3. Well said on W, I'll shall miss him also.

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  4. Just thinking about Bush leaving office makes me slightly nauseous. Especially when I consider what will be taking office in just a few very short days.

    Bush has been a man of honor and principle - 2 things I hold very dear in my own tiny life.

    As we've all said many times - history will be kinder to him. It's cold comfort, but I'll take it.

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  5. I made one of those silly "before fully caffeinated" mistakes yesterday. When my friend said she commented on my blog, but wanted to delete it, and could not figure out how to do it...well I went brain dead. When you mentioned the trashcan icon, I felt rather silly.

    I'm not excited about politics, but I'm not a naysayer either. I'm kind of "wait and see" sort of person.

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  6. Buck I nearly got into a row with a co-worker this morning who mentioned Bush's exit speech and how glad she was he was leaving.
    She said the economic mess we are in the midst of was all his fault. I wanted to blast her a new one, but I behaved and said that I didn't discuss politics at work. Jeez Buck, she's fairly well educated. Why don't people research things before they go shooting off their mouths?! Sorry for the rant.... what I really wanted to say is what you already know... Mr. Bush is a great man, and we should all be grateful that he had big enough cahuna's to take on the likes of Al-Qaeda.

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  7. DC sez: The oppositon has hijacked rational discussion and made political discourse into nasty playground taunting.

    I still have a couple of friends in the opposite camp with whom I can discuss politics. But you're right: it's a rare, rare sort of thing.

    Tim: Thank ya, Sir!

    Kris: You're right on all counts!

    Lou sez: I'm not excited about politics, but I'm not a naysayer either. I'm kind of "wait and see" sort of person.

    I read something recently (from a SERIOUS right-wing type) that said... "I want Obama to be successful. I want him to be WILDLY successful. I want him to be SO successful that I'll change my vote in 2012!"... or words to that effect. I kinda-sorta agree and am mulling putting up a post along those lines.

    As for "before fully caffeinated" moments? Ya don't really wanna know how many of those I've REALLY had... ;-)

    Alison: Discretion is MOST definitely the better part of valor when you're at work. But I hear ya: BDS. It's what's for dinner. And lunch. And breakfast. 7x24. ;-)

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  8. W's the rarest of items -- a humble man in Washington D.C. He's probably the only person in government today that hasn't confused himself with God Almighty.

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  9. I see the same sorts of things in Dubya, Bob. His critics... and BDS, most especially... both astound and confuse me. "Confuse" because sometimes I think we're looking at two entirely different people.

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  10. Paula sez: ...it might have been someone very different that you were referring to.

    It was.

    Just kidding... of course it was you. I didn't link or name you because I didn't know if you wanted folks from EIP coming by your place.

    Do you discount the fact that I was a fan of Gordie Howe before helmets were a requirement? Not to worry; I haven't followed hockey for over a decade.

    Could have fooled me! But my knowledge of your past kinda goes all murky pre-1975. Just sayin'.

    And I think you haven't followed hockey for somewhat longer than a decade, ya know. I'm just going on the fact that you'd never watch Wings games with me from 1985 on... even when they won the Cup in '97. That said, I understand completely why you wouldn't wanna be an Avs fan... ;-)

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Just be polite... that's all I ask.