Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

Otis...

Aretha's version might be the most well known and might even be the standard, but Otis' version is the original and the BEST.  YMMV.

Today was one of those "throw the windows and door open" kinda days.  It was a "two cigars, three beers on the verandah" kinda day,  which also meant we went to our personal music collection and let Pandora have a rest.  In doin' so we leaned heavily on the nine volume Stax/Volt "Complete Singles" collection.  Ooh, baby, baby... does it get any better than this?  Well, yeah... it could get better, but not by much.

BRAC

Point-counterpoint from the Usual USAF Source.  First:

No Warm and Fuzzy From Senators on More BRAC: Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday raised concerns to the Pentagon leadership over the Obama Administration's proposal for two new BRAC rounds in 2013 and 2015. "Finding further reductions in consolidations in our overseas force posture should be our first priority before another BRAC round," said Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, during the oversight hearing on DOD's Fiscal 2013 budget request. "I have serious questions whether we save any money from a BRAC process," added Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.). Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) said he'd oppose more BRAC since the US military is being reduced "to an unacceptable level." Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said he understood the lawmakers' concerns as a former Congressman whose district had to absorb a base closure. "I recognize how controversial this process is for members and for constituencies. And yet it is the only effective way to achieve needed infrastructure savings," he said. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was one voice expressing favor for consolidation, saying "it's appropriate to consider another round." (Panetta prepared remarks) (Dempsey written statement)

Then... day before yesterday... from the same source:

 A Serious Proposal?: Although the Pentagon is expected to ask Congress to authorize another round of BRAC in Fiscal 2013, it's not likely that the Fiscal 2013 defense budget proposal released on Monday will include funding for it, said Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. There are upfront costs associated with closing facilities or bases, he said, noting that BRAC 2005 cost the Defense Department about $39 billion to execute. "In many cases, there are still environmental assessments you have to do, and the local authorities will insist on you fixing up the property so you can hand it over and it can be redeveloped for other purposes," said Harrison during a budget discussion on Feb. 8. He added, "So, another round of BRAC is still going to cost you money, and as far as I can tell, they have not budgeted for that, so it does make you wonder how serious of a proposal that is." The net savings from BRAC 2005 are estimated at $12.5 billion, in today's dollars, over 20 years, said Harrison.

So, let me get this straight.  The gubmint spent $39 billion dollars to save $12.5 billion dollars in the most recent BRAC round and they want to do it again?  Why am I not surprised?  I think Sen. Levin makes an excellent point: why the hell are we keeping all those troops in Europe?  I get Korea, there's a threat there.  But Europe?  Let those freakin' socialists defend themselves from whatever it is that's threatening them, even if it's themselves.

Home Owners

I stole that line from NHL.com... but it's true: the 2011-2012 Red Wings are the SOLE owners of the NHL's record for most consecutive home wins.

The final score was 3-1 and it was never close... Joey MacDonald had the Stars shut out until the final 30 seconds of the third when Dallas scored on a deflection.  But no matter. We had the win.  From NHL.com:

DETROIT -- The Detroit Red Wings have done something that no other NHL team had done before.

By defeating the Dallas Stars 3-1 on Tuesday night at Joe Louis Arena, they became the first team in League history to win 21 straight games on home ice – and by the looks of things, they might keep winning here for a while.

No longer are they tied with the 1929-30 Boston Bruins and 1975-76 Philadelphia Flyers, who both won 20 straight games in their own barns. That Bruins team, technically speaking, won 22 straight between the end of that season and the start of the next, but the NHL doesn't carry over wins for records purposes – and nobody in Detroit cares much about such technicalities now.

The Wings have outscored opponents 84-31, including 31-9, during the streak. They've gotten two points in all 21 home games they've played since losing 4-1 to Calgary on Nov. 3 -- the streak began two nights later with a 5-0 victory against Anaheim.

There's been a lot of talk among hockey pundits about how this record should come with an asterisk, as the Bruins and the Flyers didn't have the benefit of the shoot-out.  There will always be naysayers, but the simple fact is the Wings have done something no other team has ever done, and set a record that's liable to go unbeaten or unmatched for a long, long time.

Well Done, Wings.  Very well done.

Heh - Pedantic Grammarian Edition

Stolen from the Shoebox blog:

Don't laugh.  You have NO ideer how many times I've seen this since I started reading blogs.  And don't get me started on apostrophes.  Just don't.

Linkage (And a Short War Story)

Blog-Bud Jim's 20th anniversary is comin' up... on the 29th of this month (yes, the 29th)... and he's re-running a series of old posts describing how he met his beloved, how he proposed, the wedding, yadda, yadda.  It's all great good stuff and you would be well-served to go read.  I know that a lot o' you Gentle Readers already have Jim in your RSS feeds or other blog-reading apps but I'm also pretty sure some of you haven't been to his place.  So go.  EVERYONE loves a love story and theirs is a great one.

Apropos o' not much... part of today's post was Jim's description of his proposal, about which I said this:

Well, there was - I'm sorry to say - nothing so glorious about my proposal.

Sez you. I'm of the mind that ANY proposal, given the gravity of the situation and the life-altering outcome(s), is glorious. So there's that.

I don't remember how I proposed to The Second Mrs. Pennington. We had a three-year courtship and I think it was mutually decided sometime in our second year that yes, we would marry, but she had to finish school first. College, to be clear. She already had her junior high diploma.

That said... I DO remember giving her the engagement ring. We were spending the summer together in Plentywood, Montana (between her junior and senior year) the year before we married and I had recently inherited my grandmother's engagement ring. The lawyer handling the estate mailed the ring to me (yes, via USPS) and I had to sign for it at the post office on my way home from work one day.

I get home to our walk-up flat, climb the stairs, and toss her the package, sayin' sumthin' lame like "your ring came today." And the earth moved, and NOT in a Good Way. Long story shorter: I was sent downstairs and told to "come back and do it RIGHT." I did, she did, and we enjoyed 20 years o' wedded bliss until it all blew up.

True story.  "Doin' it right" meant me getting on bended knee and formally asking her to marry me, with a suitable presentation of the ring.  I was also required to meet with TSMP's father and ask for her hand in marriage.  That didn't go so well, but it's prolly better that we not discuss the encounter.  Suffice to say her father did consent to give her away, but only after offering to buy her a car and send her to grad school if she'd walk away... right as they were getting ready to walk down the aisle... and that's the TRUTH.

A Blast From My Past

The Usual USAF Source featured this pic today as part of its ongoing Air Frame Series:

Air Frame: Dawn breaks over the flight line at Yokota AB, Japan, Jan. 31, 2012. (Air Force photo by SSgt. Samuel Morse)

Yokota was home station for me from 1975 - 1977 and I have great memories of that period in time, chief among which is the fact Tokyo is where The Second Mrs. Pennington and I met and fell in love/lust.  It can be colder than the proverbial well-digger's ass at Yokota in January and through the majik o' these here inter-tubes I see the low on 01/31 was 21 degrees.  That would have made for a brisk early morning walk from TSMP's apartment to the train station, were I still living in Former Happy Days.

I can almost smell it.

YES!

They did it... Wings 4, Flyers 3.  So you can add the 2012 Wings to the '29-'30 Bruins and the '75-'76 Flyers as record holders for the most consecutive home wins.  The Wings will OWN the record if they beat the Stars this coming Tuesday.  We shall see.

―:☺:―

In other news... I was channel surfin' after the game and hit on Ron White doin' his "You Can't Fix Stupid" routine, of which this is a piece part:

White is MY kinda guy, what with the cigars and scotch while doin' his routine.  Not included in the clip above is his bit about his scotch of choice... sumthin' to the effect that the scotch he drinks is the same stuff that people who shall die penniless drink.  I can relate to THAT, the point bein' that there's no sense in economizin' when you've got one foot in the grave.  Why NOT drink the best, eh?  You go, Ron.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

Liz Story...

I dunno why it is but I almost always associate gray winter days with Liz Story's moody piano pieces.  Today is such a day... gray, overcast, cold... and we are trapped indoors.  So we dug a Liz Story cassette out of the archives and put it on the stereo to provide the soundtrack for today's beer and cigar extravaganza.  The music fits and it fits all TOO well, in a number of ways.  The cassette in question was recorded by The Second Mrs. Pennington at some point in the way-back, what with Ms. Story bein' a shared favorite of ours.  I noted with no small twinge TSMP's precise handwriting that recorded the track names on this cassette, "Wedding Rain" bein' one such.  It rained the night of our nuptials... rain that provided a memorable soundtrack to the first night we spent together as one in the eyes of God and man.

The things she left behind continue to haunt me.

Naming Conventions

Our favorite former Nasal Radiator (now flying The Israeli Lawn Dart in his new civilian contractor gig of adversary fighter pilot), on the subject of the USS Gabrielle Giffords:

I have only this to say about that: The Army should start naming tanks, and the Air Force tankers.

Take some of the load off, please.

Heh.  Nice try, Cap'n.  We occasionally name our aircraft... as a matter o' fact I think every single B-2 and C-17 have names painted on their fuselages.  But the suspect naming of naval vessels... like the USS John P. Murtha and the USS Cesar Chavez... is ALL on the Navy.  Or rather, the current Secretary of the Navy.  And some good people are tryin' to fix THAT.

Aiiieee, Part II

I decided not to run errands yesterday as it was too damned cold to be out and about.  Well, "too damned cold" as applied to an ol geezer who has the R-factor of your average tin garden shed; cold weather and skinny people just don't do well together.  That said, I prolly should have done my shopping yesterday, coz here's the current view outta my front door:

And here's the forecast for the rest of today:

Monday looks good though, no?  We're not out o' any o' the important stuff anyhoo... there's plenty of beer in the fridge and the humidor is fat.  I did have to break out the emergency creamer for today's coffee... that powdered krep that is in NO way a substitute for half and half, which we're out of.  Sigh.  I guess we'll just have to suffer.

―:☺:―

It should be an interesting night at The Joe tonight.  Some words about that from NHL.com:

DETROIT -- The purists have already spoken up.

They say that even if the Detroit Red Wings beat the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday night at Joe Louis Arena for their 20th straight victory on home ice – tying the NHL record shared by the 1929-30 Boston Bruins and 1975-76 Flyers – it should come with an asterisk.

They argue that because neither of those old Bruins and Flyers teams had the advantage of winning games in overtime or shootouts, their home winning streaks are still more impressive and more "legit" than the current run the League-leading Red Wings are riding.

If that logic bothers the Wings, however, it's near-impossible to tell – not because they're so focused on joining the NHL's history book yet again, but because they seem so nonchalant about the whole ordeal.

[...]

Still, what his team is doing on home ice this season really is a big deal in terms of historical perspective.

Even if they lose on Sunday and fall one win short of tying the NHL record, what the Red Wings have accomplished to this point – simply stacking home wins and concentrating on the next one – is nothing short of amazing. Purists are correct that Detroit has had the advantage of winning games in overtime and shootouts, but their opponents have had the same opportunities to end it.

You KNOW I'll be there... front and center... tonight.  Well, front and center of the teevee, anyhoo.  

LGRW!!

―:☺:―

And then there's this... from The Freep:

Red Wings' Tomas Holmstrom receives a Ski-Doo Renegade snowmobile from the team to celebrate his 1000th game in the NHL at the end of practice at Joe Louis Arena on Saturday. / KIMBERLY P. MITCHELL/DFP

Tomas Holmstrom wasn’t sure what was going on at the end of practice today when the doors to the Zamboni entrance opened while the players were still on the ice. 

But suddenly, a loud noise was heard and Henrik Zetterberg rode in on a brand new snowmobile – complete with the number 96 on the side. 

“I couldn’t see what was going on,” Holmstrom said. “Turn around and there’s a snowmobile out there and then I started reading the sign. Nice. It’s mine.”

A sign on the front of the snowmobile let Holmstrom know the gift was for reaching 1,000 career games.

Pretty cool, eh?  Number 96 did all 1,000 of his games with the Wings and did all of 'em the hard way, too.  There ain't another guy in the NHL who's a more formidable presence in front of the net and who takes as much abuse... night after night, game after game... than Homer.  He's one o' my heroes.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

Freddie and the Drillers...

Actually not; Occasional Correspondent and Blog/Biker Buddy Lin sent this along.  I watched this three times thinkin' I might see myself on my old Honda CL-350 (circa 1968) or in a moto on my DT-1 based motocrosser.  Alas...

Aiiieee!

Winter's back...

I HAVE to run some errands today, too.  But I'm thinkin' I won't go out until late this afternoon.

Larger Than Life

Alternate title: more cigar art.  Here are a couple o' few cigar bands from the last three or four days worth o' consumption.

The post title refers to the fact the bands are about twice normal size.  I kept the file purposely large so you can see the detail on the more elaborate bands... which is to say the Ave Maria and the Man O' War.  Some bands are pretty plain, while others are pretty danged elaborate.  All of the bands are made of embossed foil-on-paper with the exception of the La Herencia Cubana, which is plain paper.  The band at the very bottom is a footer... Isla del Sol sticks have two bands.  I think they're all beautiful, as well. 

In Today's Mail

Snail mail, that is.  Ain't these pretty?

That would be two boxes of Drew Estate Isla del Sols, one in the Churchill size and one in the robusto size... 40 cigars, all told.  You may notice these sticks arrived just in time, as our inventory was down to about four cigars.


I post these pics only to illustrate the beauty of the packaging, one of the reasons I so dearly love my cigar hobby.  Or addiction, you choose.  But you KNOW I could quit anytime I want, right?  S'true.


All that said, I dearly love this blend from Drew Estate.  Say what you will about infused (flavored) cigars... purists reject them, newbies love 'em, and some folks are ambivalent... but this particular blend simply cannot be beat as an after-dinner cigar, especially when accompanied by a couple o' fingers o' single malt.  It don't get much better than that.


We shall now adjourn to the verandah where we'll attempt an al fresco Happy Hour.  It's cooler today than it was yesterday by ten degrees but there is NO wind and the sun is shining brightly, which makes ALL the difference in the world.  I think we might could pull this off today.

Blogger...

...is shitting the bed.  Again.  I get this gotdamned error when tryin' to access the comment page on certain Blogger blogs... not ALL of 'em: some work and some don't... and it's drivin' me up the freakin' wall.

Is it just me, or are other people havin' this issue as well?

Thievery

Stolen from Dan... mainly for Grandson Sean.





I've never heard a guitar player master harmonics and include them in a piece as extensively as Mr. Dykes does. That was the first thing about the man's style that caught my ear... the second is his amazing finger-pickin'.  Good Stuff, Maynard!


Thanks, Dan!

With Apologies To The Eagles

"I've got a dreadful, queasy feelin'" about November...  Santorum?  Really?  His own state wouldn't reelect him to the Senate.  There's some "electability" for ya.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

We're just in from a very brief stint on the verandah and it's jes a wee bit too chilly to enjoy ourselves out there.  So it's back to The Great Indoors, where we shall continue as we've begun.  We managed about four songs while we were outside, chief among them this:

Let's get it on, baby
This minute, oh yeah
Let's get it on
Please, let's get it on
C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, baby
Stop beatin' 'round the bush
Oh, gonna get it on

Heh.  Ol' Marvin just might have single-handedly created a mini Baby Boom with this tune.  I don't think there was a single solitary bachelor who didn't own this song back in 1973... or young married guys, either, coz seduction doesn't end with the wedding... in most cases.  I certainly had a copy of the song, in any event.  And I think I put it to good use, even though some o' my wimmen friends just laughed when Marvin started in... with words to the effect of "Oh, BUCK.  Not that again..."


You can't please all o' the people all o' the time.

Broadening Our Horizons XLI

We liked that Black Butte Porter from Deschutes Brewery so much we decided to try another one of their brews in addition to restocking the fridge with more of their Porter.  So today it's...

The Alström Bros really like the product from Deschutes.  They rated the Porter "World Class" and give the same rating to the Mirror Pond Pale Ale.  An excerpt from the review:

Taste: Smooth with a medium body, semi crisp malt(a bit bready) of sweetness and grain are the forefront. Then quickly comes a flare of fruit and ester that goes hand and hand with the very flavourful cascade slightly pungent hop bitterness and flavour ... the hop flavour has a sweet citric taste. A fair amount of residual sugars are left in the aftertaste and slowly let way for a drying finish of grain and hop oil.

Notes: A great pale a to be had here, any hop head would be pleased and if you love cascade hops this is your ale! This makes for a great lunch time brew.

This beer is pretty hoppy.  I'm not THAT into hops so it ain't really my cuppa.  It is pleasant and it won't last long in our fridge, that's fer shure.  But neither will it be at the top o' my list for future purchase, either.

Today's cigar is a Man O' War Ruination.  The beer and the cigar are damned near a perfect fit.

Two Shades o' Normal

I like the way Mr. Kelley thinks.  From The Usual Source, of course.

―:☺:―

In other news... We're 180 out from where we were yesterday.  I'm amazed at how unstable and erratic my sleeping habits are, i.e., yesterday we went to bed around 0430 hrs in the morning and slept until well after noon.  Today we're up at 0430, which is when we went to bed 24 hours ago.  Well, we actually retired at 2200 hrs last evening and woke up at 0300 this morning (it's 0430 and two cups later as I type).  It's the strangest thang... my eyes popped open at 0300 and I simply could NOT get back to sleep.  So we gave it up and got up at 0330.

Is this normal?  I think not.  But... it is what it is and normal is highly overrated.

An Ad You May Have Missed

I just wish Reason had paid more attention to the Obama footage they included here... he's getting out of a FORD MUSTANG and Ford didn't get a bailout.  I get their point, yet still.

I supported the bailouts, what with being a former Motown resident who still has peeps workin' in the industry.  Today I'm thinkin' I might have been wrong in my support.

―:☺:―

In other news... we've just now poured our first cup and haven't even made our way through the inbox yet.  So there's NO other news, other than it's gonna be one of "those" days.

"I Can't Sing, I Ain't Pretty, and My Legs Are Thin"

So sez Peter Green...

I'm in the same boat.  And you can add the weather's turned cold, my muse has decamped to parts unknown, and I got nuthin'.

Yeah, it's cold.  But it ain't THIS cold:

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Damn Part II, or Worse Than I Thought

I didn't go out yesterday.  There was no need as I was stocked up on all the important stuff and it was just too damned cold out, anyhoo.  But I did order a pizza last evening.   As I was taking delivery I happened to look down, upon which time I scared the livin' Hell out of the pizza guy with my very emphatic and menacing "FUCK!" exclamation.  He stepped back a bit, still clutching the pizza box and looked at me with a wide-eyed "fight or flight" expression, the best I've seen lately.  "It's not YOU," sez I... "it's THAT!"  And this is what I saw:

It looks for all the world like I have a busted water line and it looks pretty bad, don't it?  So, whereas I THOUGHT our freeze-up yesterday morning was my fault for not leaving the tap running, it wasn't.  It was something one whole helluva lot worse.

Andy the RV Doctor will be dropping by for a house call tomorrow, once it warms up and we can see exactly where and how bad the break is.  

Sigh.  It's always SUMTHIN'.

We're coming up on the one-year anniversary of the event (above) that prompted me to move into our current digs and are slightly past the one-year anniversary of my four day sojourn to the HIE to escape four days of sub-zero cold.  So life ain't really all THAT bad.

The Wages o' Sin Might Could Be Death...

... but the wages o' procrastination (and stoopidity!) are only slightly less.  Fifty-plus Yankee Dollars, to be specific, which is near enough to death for a poor ol' geezer livin' on Social Security and such.  We wound up taking Lou's advice on this post about dedicating a pot to the express purpose o' humidification, albeit inadvertently.  Shorter: we ruined our eight-quart stock pot by not cleaning it on a daily basis.  It wasn't because of clove residue in the pot (we managed to find whole cloves, which cut that brand o' residue down to a manageable level), it was due to the incredibly hard water which is our fate because we live in P-Ville.  I spent 45 minutes and two... count 'em: TWO... Brillo pads attempting to remove a week's worth of calcium and other stuff from the pot, all to no avail.  It would take some industrial-strength bead-blasting at the very least to remove all the krep that accumulated in that pot after a week's worth of simmerin' hard water.

The upshot was the Brown Truck O' Happiness put the pot on the right in my hot lil hands today.  Like this:

I notice Farberware changed the design of their eight quart stock pot in the 30+ years or so since I last purchased cookware, what with the new pot bein' slightly taller and narrower in circumference.   One assumes it will still perform the required functions, one of which will NOT be simmering cloves on the stove.

We have a dedicated asset for that chore now.

More Miscellanea

It's that time again... where we're gonna be watching Red Eye exclusively on the DVR so we can fast-forward through those gotdamned hoodie-footie and Vermont teddy bear commercials.  I me some technology, which also tends to keep my blood pressure at a reasonably healthy level.

―:☺:―

Speaking of V-Day...  I got this in the mail today:

The former objects of my affection would have had my head if I bought them sumthin' like a mixer for V-Day.  Unless she specifically asked for one, of course.  There IS that particular exception.  I got curious while looking at the above and wondered what the goin' rate for perfume is these days, so I went, looked, and got confused.  Note:

I understand the difference between cologne and perfume, but both items 1 and 5 above are billed as "Eau de Parfum spray."  Yet the 3.4 ounce bottle is MUCH cheaper than the 1.7 ounce version.  Bad ad copy, perhaps?  Apropos o' not much... Taylor Swift is pretty proud of her smell, ain't she?

―:☺:―

There's nothing new or interesting from the Usual USAF Source this morning, but there IS some news on the USAF home front.  It can now be revealed that SN1 is off for his third tour to the desert (not counting TDYs and Desert Storm) this coming summer, where he'll take command of an aircraft maintenance squadron at Al Dhafra AB in the UAE.  His new assignment makes me pretty happy as a father, seein' as how he won't be subject to mortar or rocket attacks, unlike the places he served in his previous two tours in the AOR.  I should say there's significantly less chance of nastiness, because we remember stuff like the Khobar Towers bombing.  Rumor also has it there's beer to be had in the UAE, too.  That's a Good Thing.

―:☺:―

In other USAF news... I have it on pretty good authority that at least one Air Force general officer has delayed retirement by a couple o' months because they don't want Barack Obama to sign their retirement certificate.  The general officer in question has reportedly contacted the office of President Dubya in Texas, requesting him to sign the retirement certificate rather than the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.  A decision should be forthcoming in a month or so, which is the reason for the general's delayed retirement date.  Two thangs here:  (a) I didn't know presidents signed retirement certificates; maybe that's an O vs. E thang or mebbe it's a relatively new development (Reagan would've signed mine, but his sig is conspicuously absent on my certificate) and (b) it's interesting that ANY president can sign.  I learn sumthin' about Not Your Father's Air Force every danged day.  Oh... there's a third thang, too.  GOOD on that general in question!  

An Announcement From The Popular Men's Liberation Front

Call and response from a previous post...

Moogie P said...

Who are you, and what have you done with Sensitive 70s-Kind-of-Guy Buck!

2/04/2012 3:40 PM

Buck said...

We're holding him in an undisclosed location. He's safe... for the moment... but you should send us a case of Abita seasonal product and three dozen fresh and shucked oysters via Next Day Air if you ever want to see him again. You know how to get ahold of us.

We're NOT bluffing.  Do what you think is right.

      -- The PMLF, posting from Buck's account.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

We're continuing on in that Al Green groove...

Today I saw somebody
Who looked just like you
She walked like you do
I thought it was you
As she turned the corner
I called out your name
I felt so ashamed
When it wasn't you
Wasn't you

This actually happened to me.  It happened in the Ramstein AB Exchange and the girl I thought I saw was this woman, my partner in a semi-crime.  Or a lapse in good judgment.  Whatevah.  The woman who was my case o' mistaken identity looked at me with a mixture of confusion, fear, and god-only-knows what else when I touched her sleeve and whispered "Claudine?"  At which point in time I realized I had f*cked up, Big-Time.  I backed away... beet-red of face and stammering apologies... feelin' like the total dork that I WAS.  God only knows (again) what would have happened if it HAD been Claudine.  There was a point in time when I was totally in love with that woman but that was before I met The Second Mrs. Pennington, who I was married to when the Ramstein BX event occurred.  Thangs just might have gotten completely out o' control, given the fact I was TDY to Ramstein at the time and at loose ends for the next week.

BTW... it wasn't unreasonable of me to think Claudine might have been in Ramstein, as it was only a couple o' years previous when she and her husband PCS'ed there.  Yeah, her husband... our 18-month affair was slightly before I got religion in the form of the usual, customary, and reasonable moral standards.

I hadn't thought about that incident in years, but it all came back to me in a flash.  Such is the power and glory (?) o' music, eh?

In other news... We cut our al fresco Happy Hour short, given the fact it's clouded over and rather cool outside.  But we're continuing as we've begun... inside.

A Few Flying Thangs That Aren't Aircraft (As We Know Them)

One wonders if NYC's traffic mishap rate went up during the filming.  Speakin' o' thangs that fly, this is pretty cool:

Even if they sound like mosquitoes from hell.

Both vids from the Guardian's weekly viral videos list, where you can also find a couple o' Sooper-Dooper Bowl ad previews.  Looks like a weak year for Madison Avenue if the previews are any indication.  YMMV, and prolly does.

And now it's time for a cigar and a couple o' beers out on the verandah.  The WX continues to be MOST un-winter-like, and you'll hear nary a complaint about that here.

The Historical Herky Bird

From the Usual USAF Source:

C-130 Deliveries Hit 2,400: Lockheed Martin announced the delivery of the 2400th C-130 Hercules that it has manufactured on its production line in Marietta, Ga. The company said Marietta's Hercules assembly activities represent "the longest continuously operating military aircraft production line in history." The 2,400th C-130 is an Air Force MC-130J special-mission aircraft destined for beddown at Cannon AFB, N.M. This aircraft's delivery follows a record year for C-130J production in 2011, with 33 C-130Js supplied, a new high for the C-130J model, according to the company. These 33 C-130Js were in six different configurations for six operators: Air Mobility Command, Air Force Special Operations Command, the Marine Corps, Canada, India, and Qatar. According to the Air Force, the company delivered the first C-130s in December 1956.  (Image from Wikipedia.  "C-130s from the: US, Canada, Australia and Israel [foreground to background]")

Further... from The Wiki:

Over 40 models and variants of the Hercules serve with more than 60 nations. 

During its years of service, the Hercules family has participated in countless military, civilian and humanitarian aid operations. The family has the longest continuous production run of any military aircraft in history. In 2007, the C-130 became the fifth aircraft—after the English Electric Canberra, Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, Tupolev Tu-95, and Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker—to mark 50 years of continuous use with its original primary customer, in this case, the United States Air Force. The C-130 is also the only military aircraft to remain in continuous production for 50 years with its original customer, as the updated C-130J Super Hercules.

I think that's amazing, considering the way technology has changed every facet of life since 1956.  Like the BUFF and the KC-135, a few of the Herky Birds are older than many of the pilots that fly them.  Unlike the BUFF and the -135, there are many NEW -130s on the ramps of Air Force bases.  That's amazing too, but not in a good way.

Just TOO Freakin' Cool

By way o' explanation:

On December 21st 2011, Les Amigos and The Toronto Generals were ready to play their weekly hockey game when Budweiser transformed a regularly scheduled match into an epic high-energy spectacle complete with screaming fans, play-by-play announcers, and even a Budweiser-branded Zamboni!
 
The catch? This epic moment was captured on film and will be featured as Budweiser’s Canadian Super Bowl XLVI commercial.

Hell, I might even buy a Bud at the bar this week just to express my gratitude for a job well done.  Well, mebbe a Michelob.  Same difference, right?

h/t to the Usual Hockey Source.

The BEST Plane Pr0n You'll Ever See

I just spent 48 minutes of my day watching this:

The post title is not an exaggeration by any means; watch it in full-screen 720p.  This vid has it ALL: excellent cinematography, brilliant air-to-air shots, a compelling story line, and the most-balanced, all encompassing depiction of what the military is all about: team work.  Everyone's here: pilots, battle staff, fighters, heavies, trash haulers, refuelers, BB-stackers, wrench turners, fire fighters, SAR guys... the whole crew.

Simply brilliant.  This video almost makes me wish I'd have been in the airplane bid'niz.  Almost.

h/t to Lex's commenter DAve.

In Today's Mail

I have the best Occasional Correspondents.  First, this lil vid:

The video was accompanied by an admonishment not to mess with old people because "they're already angry because they're old."  NOT true.  Most of us Old Farts are very happy, even if it's only happy that we've made it this far.

And then there's this, which is semi-misogynistic, lewd, crude, but not tattooed:

Gentlemen Quiz

1. In the company of feminists, intercourse should be referred to as:
a) Lovemaking
b) Screwing
c) The pigskin bus pulling into tuna town

2. You should make love to a woman for the first time only after you've both shared:
a) Your views about what you expect from a sexual relationship
b) Your blood-test results
c) Five tequila slammers

3. You time your orgasm so that:
a) Your partner climaxes first
b) You both climax simultaneously
c) You don't miss SportsCenter

4. Passionate, spontaneous sex on the kitchen floor is:
a) Healthy, creative love-play
b) Not the sort of thing your wife/girlfriend would ever agree to
c) Not the sort of thing your wife/girlfriend need ever find out about

5. Spending the whole night cuddling a woman you've just had sex with is:
a) The best part of the experience
b) The second best part of the experience
c) $100 extra

6. Your girlfriend says she's gained five pounds in weight in the last month. You tell her that it is:
a) No concern of yours
b) Not a problem - she can join your gym
c) A conservative estimate

7. You think today's sensitive, caring man is:
a) A myth
b) An oxymoron
c) A moron

8. Foreplay is to sex as:
a) Appetizer is to entree
b) Priming is to painting
c) A queue is to an amusement park ride

9. Which of the following are you most likely to find yourself saying at the end of a relationship?
a) "I hope we can still be friends."
b) "I'm not in right now. Please leave a message after the tone...."
c) "Welcome to Dumpsville. Population: You."

10. A woman who is uncomfortable watching you masturbate:
a) Probably needs a little more time before she can cope with that sort of intimacy
b) Is uptight and a waste of time
c) Shouldn't have sat next to you on the bus in the first place

If you answered 'A' more than 7 times, check your pants to make sure you really are a man.

If you answered 'B' more than 7 times, check into therapy, you're still a little confused.

If you answered 'C' more than 7 times, call me up. Let's go drinking.

Well... I answered 'c' eight times.  What time do we leave?

One of the BEST Things About Bein' All Grown Up...

... is that sometimes "dinner" looks like this:

The second course is more o' the same.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

We're taking a moment outta our busy day o' soakin' up sun and beer out on the verandah to post a couple o' selections from today's soundtrack...

It's an R&B kinda day, kicked off and prompted by the post immediately below this one.  When I say "R&B" I mean traditional R&B... not the perverse 21st century interpretation o' the term, which makes my lip curl and my eyes roll.  No, we're talkin' Al, the Temps, Aretha, Etta (RIP), and yeah... Lenny, too.   Which is otherwise described as Sweet Soul Music...

There were at least two ways we could have gone today... select one the R&B themed stations we've defined on Pandora, or pull CDs from our collection and crank up the stereo.  We took the path of least resistance and decided to let Pandora choose our music for us.  There are a couple o' bennies associated with that choice... not only is the path of least resistance so very easy, it also includes music that isn't in our personal collection for one reason or another (but mostly due to financial considerations -- I've not yet hit the point where I can buy EVERYTHANG I like).  Which isn't to say our personal collection is limited... coz it ain't... it's only that I'm so very lazy today.  We're not in a decision making mood, beyond that required to choose a specific musical genre.  Mission Accomplished, on all levels.

Our beer o' choice today is more o' that Black Butte Porter and our cigar o' choice is a Drew Estate Red Eye.  It's how we begin, but not necessarily how we'll end.

PS:  Go on... do a google search for "drew estate tabak especial red eye" and note that EIP is the SOLE image result for that term.  

Ah, fame.  Such as it is.

MUCH Sadness

When I first saw this a day or two ago:

Oh, NO.  NOT Reverend Al!  Is NOTHING sacred?  The song that makes me think of love lost and love found and love eternal is now flogging fuckin' potato chips?  I may have lived one week too long.