First Report On the Long-Term Road Test

We've had The Tart for six months now.  Or nearly, as it were, coz we're a lil bit premature on the six months thang.  But what the Hell, now's as good a time as any for a six-month report.  We'll let The Tart speak for herself when it comes to the vitals:

I haven't reset any of these numbers since I got the car, so the fuel economy and average speed numbers are from Day One.  The fuel economy has been steadily improving now that she's broken in.  Cadillac claims a 22 mpg combined fuel economy for the CTS, so I can't complain.  I think that number's pretty good, actually, given that most of her miles have been on the highway... at highway speeds, which tend to be around 80 mph or so.  (The "or so" is for plausible deniability purposes.)

I don't have any real complaints about the car and I really shouldn't have any complaints.  I do have one nit to pick, however.  The Tart has an automatic headlight control feature and its default is "on."  I don't like driving around with my headlights on so I have to remember to shut the damned things off every time I start the car.  As I said: that's a nit.  The good news is Cadillac has eliminated the daytime running lights that you see on every other GM car... which is why the default position for the headlights is "on," I'm sure.  But you can defeat it.  I hate those damned DRLs.

And that's it.  The Tart has met or exceeded my expectations in each and every area.  She's fast (enough), comfortable, quiet, reasonably frugal, and an overall joy to live with.  She's also downright freakin' beautiful, mebbe even THE most beautiful car I've ever owned.  (Ed: prettier than this?  Me: Yup.)

All of the above combine to be a collective Good Thing, seein' as how The Tart might be the very last car I'll ever buy.  I say that because I'm a "buy and hold" guy when it comes to cars.  I'll be 79 years old if I keep The Tart until her 12th birthday... which is how long The Green Hornet and I were together.  THAT might could be a bridge too far.

RIP Senator Inouye

From the Usual USAF Source:

Senator Inouye and his wife Irene

Sen. Daniel Inouye Dies: Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), World War II Medal of Honor recipient and the second-longest-serving Senator in US history, died from respiratory complications on Monday at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., announced his staff. He was 88. "Tonight, our country has lost a true American hero," said President Obama in a Dec. 17 statement. Born in September 1924, Inouye enlisted in the Army at age 17 shortly after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. During World War II, he served with the 442 Regimental Combat Team that consisted entirely of Americans of Japanese ancestry. Inouye lost his right arm charging a series of machine gun nests on a hill in San Terenzo, Italy, on April 21, 1945. His actions that day earned him the Medal of Honor. Inouye became Hawaii's first Congressman after Hawaii became a state in 1959. In 1962, Hawaiians elected him to the Senate, a position he held since then. "The men and women of the Department of Defense have lost one of their most dedicated advocates, and I have lost a dear friend," said Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in a statement. Panetta credited Inouye for being "one of the most stalwart and effective advocates of the Department of Defense, and a relentless champion of our men and women in uniform and their families." Inouye served in the current Congress as Senate Appropriations Committee chairman, and as head of the committee's defense panel. (Inouye's Senate biography) (See also Clinton statement.)

Senator Inouye was one of the very few politicians with a "D" after their name that I respect.

Not Your Father's Air Force XXIII

But it's a great place to work...

Lucky Thirteen: Airmen voted the Air Force the 13th best place to work in 2012 among the federal government's large agencies, up five spots compared to 2011. The rating is based on the non-partisan, non-profit Partnership for Public Service's annual survey of employee satisfaction and commitment across 362 federal agencies and subcomponents. As was the case last year, the Air Force finished slightly behind the Navy, which ended up in 10th place in 2012 (up from 15th place in 2011.) Unlike last year, the Air Force finished ahead of the Army, which occupies the 14th spot (up from 16th place in 2011). This year's survey of nearly 700,000 civil servants measured factors including: effective leadership, employee skills and mission match, pay, teamwork; and work-life balance. NASA came in first among the large agencies; the Homeland Security Department was last.

That's according to Silly Servants who are NOT "airmen," they're frickin' civilians who work for the Air Force.  Now that we're clear on that... I'm betting the ranking would be a LOT higher if the troops themselves were polled.  It's that ol' "quality o' life" thang... plus the opportunity to get some million dollar views.

Air Frame: SrA. Timothy Oberman (left) and SSgt. Nick Alarcon watch out the back of their C-130H Hercules after dropping humanitarian goods to Pacific islanders on Dec. 11, 2012, as part of the Air Force's annual Operation Christmas Drop flights. Oberman and Alarcon are loadmasters with the 36th Airlift Squadron at Yokota AB, Japan. (Air Force photo by TSgt. Samuel Morse)

Swag From the AOR

SN1 brought me a couple o' goodies when he came to visit this week.  These thingies:

Larger than life size.

Two takes on the (now) ubiquitous challenge coin.  The larger actual coin is the unit challenge coin; the other is Buck's personal coin that he awards sparingly.  You'll note Buck's personal coin is in the form of a very useful bottle opener that one can carry on a key chain.  That's where this one is gonna live.

I never once saw a challenge coin in my 22-year Air Force career and I suppose there's a reason for that.  From The Wiki:

Besides using coins for challenging, they are also used as rewards or awards for outstanding service or performance of duty. As such they are used as a tool to build morale. In the context as they are used by the modern U.S. military, the tradition probably began among special forces units during the Vietnam War. The tradition spread through the Airborne community, and by the early 1980s also into the 75th Ranger Regiment. As officers were reassigned as their careers progressed, they carried with them the tradition of awarding a unit coin for acts that were worthy of recognition, but yet lacked enough merit to submit the soldiers act for an official medal. Challenge coins were not very common until the First Persian Gulf War of 1990–1991, and have steadily grown in popularity since.

You may remember I retired in 1985, so there's yer explanation.

I'll add the above to my small but highly treasured coin collection, which also includes these two guys:
 

Just by way of explanation... the USS Mason was the last ship launched by the traditional "down the ways" method at Bath Iron Works, where she was built.  Sam was a member of the pre-commissioning crew and spent two years at Bath while Mason was under construction, which is how I came by that coin.  The other coin is self-explanatory.

The Evolution of a Fanboi

So now it's an iPhone... to go along with the iPad and the MacBook Air.

We're wonderin' just how many of these things we'll hear over the next 24 hours or so:



Sigh.

Saturday

Amazing.

Speaking o' critters... Occasional Correspondent Lin sends along some of her outstanding art work:

Heh.  It WAS awful.

What I Did This Morning (Cheesy Videos XXV)

We're in ABQ as we speak but it was NOT a good trip.  We hit snow just outside o' Santa Rosa, it got pretty slithery west o' Moriarty and downright treacherous in the mountains just east o' ABQ, where it was a 35 mph world for the better part of an hour.  Then we dropped down into ABQ and all was right once more.  For what it's worth... The Tart handles pretty well in snow, her driver not so much.  Gettin' old is a bitch.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

So there we were... sunning ourselves in the most-brilliant early afternoon sun, sipping on our second beer, and occasionally drawing on an Isla del Sol of the Churchill persuasion... when Pandora played the Turtles' "Elenore."  Well, that's all well and good, thinks I, but the Turtles are small beer compared to another "Eleanor" that we know and love.  So we went looking on the Tube O' You for our favorite Eleanor... and found it.



I suppose you had to be there, Gentle Reader.  I WAS there, of course, and the song brings back extraordinary memories that all revolve around this girl.  And that particular time, when we drank wine and listened to Lindesfarne until there was light in the sky.  You know there may be more... and  there was.

Next Week's Weather

From a G+ post by Chris Aultman on #EndOfTheWorld.  There's some funny stuff at that hashtag.

More Ramirez

I got nuthin', other than this.  There are a few more union-related toons at the Usual Source for such thangs but Ramirez' was the best, as usual.

In other news... I'm kinda-sorta surprised at the level o' discomfort I'm experiencing following yesterday's dental procedure, which involved installing the "permanent" caps that will hold my implants when it comes time to finish this job.  Prior to yesterday I had what are known as "healing caps" in my lower jaw; they're gone now and the permanent caps are installed.  And giving me grief, they are.  So much so that we exhausted the rat-holed supply of industrial-strength pain killers left over from our last such experience (i.e., Percocet and Tylenol-3).  We're not doin' a whole helluva lot other than sleeping on the couch and seeing life through a glass, darkly.

This, too, shall pass.

Before and After

I got home from my dental appointment and found my new monitor wedged behind the screen door.  So, I did what any normal geek would do and proceeded to install the thing, never mind the fact that I was just about 30 minutes removed from coming out of IV sedation.  But it all worked out smashingly, as you can see.

Before:

After:

That sucker is BIG.

I shall now retire to the couch for a couple o' few hours.

Confusion

It's easy to understand why the kid's confused.  I see tons (heh) of Santas EVERY day.

In other news... I'm up at oh-dark-thirty today coz I have a dental appointment a lil over an hour from now.  This is the penultimate step towards getting the latest in my series of Adventures In Modern Dentistry complete and I can't wait until this is over (next month sometime).  I haven't had a sandwich since frickin' early SEPTEMBER... and then there's the speech impediment.

Enough, already.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

That Lil Ol' Band From Tejas...

Could I get some pie a la mode
When I come in off the road
Do she still have her fightin' gear
Just one look is gonna make it clear
If she would enjoy baby
Really enjoy gettin' it on

Oh, HELL yes!  This brings back some really, rilly good memories of homecomings-past. We won't go into any detail here.

In other news... we actually took the first beer o' today's Happy Hour out on the verandah (and the better part o' our cigar), even though it was only 44 degrees outdoors.  There were a couple few mitigating factors that made it possible: first and foremost, brilliant sunshine.  Second, next to no wind.  Third, we were suitably dressed.  Hell, we were almost HOT sitting in that surprisingly warm sun.

Why Americans Failed the November National IQ Test, In One Panel

Crack

I told a lie, as it turns out, way back at Halloween when I said the following:

What does a quarter buy these days, anyhoo? I don't eat candy, never buy it (except in bags for trick-or-treaters, in previous years), so I don't really KNOW.

And then last month I went out and bought ONE bag of these damnable things:

The next day I went out and bought another three bags.  And then three more.  And then... well, you can guess the rest.  I'm hooked.  Addicted.  These things might be worse than crack except for the fact they're legal.  I've been known to eat a whole bag at a single sitting and no less than half a bag on any given day.  I'm absolutely certain there's gonna come a time when I'll introduce myself to a group of fat people with the following statement:

Hi.  My name is Buck and I'm an addict.

I've heard the first step towards a cure is admitting you have a problem.  Well... I definitely have a PROBLEM.

Damn you, Reese, and your infernal PIECES.

Cold WX Gear

From today and a couple o' years ago... first, today:

I AM smiling, dammit.

The title of the pic is "cold weather formal" and that's coz we dressed up for our dental appointment today.  Which is about as dressed up as we get, unless we wear the uniform to some function or another.  That said, this pea coat is my favorite winter wear and it's the Real Deal, which is to say Navy-issue and formerly worn by SN2 before he crossed over to The Dark Side.  I inherited his pea coat mainly coz ossifers don't wear these things.  They have bridge coats, dontcha know.

When it's cold outside and we're not all dressed up we look like what you see below.

Thursday, January 07, 2010

Baby It's COLD Outside!

We're just in from our walk up to the mail kiosk here in Beautiful La Hacienda Trailer Park... and we kinda-sorta enjoyed the oh-so-wintry 20 degree temps (that would be 7 degrees, with the wind chill figgered in).  I say "enjoyed" because the weather gives us an opportunity to play dress up.  Like this:

It's not often I get to break out the Ol Rooshian hat these days, which saw daily winter use back when I lived in Ra-cha-cha.  You should disregard the mixed sartorial messages, Gentle Reader.  I'm sure the combination of  hat, ancient field jacket, and kaffiya creates a serious WTF? moment for the casual observer.  Or perhaps a "what an idiot!" sort of reaction.  One never knows...

But... about the hat.  From an old post:

I bought the hat in a flea market while on one of my business trips to Moscow in the early '90s. I wanted a Russian air force hat for what should be obvious reasons...but, alas, there were none to be found that day. So...I bought the hat you see here, in Russian Navy Blue, which... all credit to our Russian comrades... is actually blue (the leather bits, not the fur)...unlike US Navy "blue," which we all know is black. Those of us with unimpaired color vision, anyway.

And here's a close up of the hat emblem:

I love wearing this thing... it's one of the better artifacts from Former Happy Days.

I've worn that get-up to Wally-World on occasion and get the strangest looks.  Makes me wonder why, it does.

The View Out the Front Door This Morning

Aiiieee!  That WHITE STUFF!  It's FROZEN!  It's also 25 degrees outside, up from 13 when I went to bed at 0300 hrs... with single-digit wind chills.  Our high is supposed to be 41 today.

T'is the season, and all that.

I'm In...

Except for that Facebook thing.  I ain't goin' there, but I'll not watch any games or buy any merchandise unless this lockout ends... toot sweet.

Yeah, Je sais que ce n'est pas la façon dont c'est dit. En Français.

Miscellanea

No outdoor Happy Hour today...

I just stuck my head out the door to see what's what... and I suppose I COULD get all bundled up and sit out in the sun, even if the wind chill looks intimidating.  That sorta defeats the point of Happy Hour, in that I wouldn't be all THAT happy drinkin' beer in my field jacket.  We're soft in our old age.

―:☺:―

Merry Christmas to me: 

I won't pop for a tablet, but I WILL upgrade my monitor (details here, if'n you're in the market).  It should arrive in about a week and I'm expecting great things from this.  I might even start watching movies on my desktop now.

Bridges

The Military Channel (TMC) is running "The Bridges at Toko-Ri" as their featured movie on their despicably named "An Officer and a Movie" show this weekend.  I watched it last evening, given "Bridges" is my favorite-ever war movie, with predictable results... which is to say it got really misty in my living room on more than one occasion last evening.  "Bridges" is the movie where that famous quote... "Where do we get such men?"... is uttered in the movie's final scene by the admiral in command of the carrier battle group while sitting on the bridge of his aircraft carrier, watching Panthers take off.

We shall now reveal just how old we really are and tell ya I first saw this movie as a first-run flick... in the base theatre at Orly Field in Paris.  I prolly saw it in 1956, given the military didn't get first-run movies until they were pretty old, back in the day.  I saw the movie with my Mom and Dad and can still remember how my Mom cried at the end.  I uphold that particular tradition every time I see the film... in more than a few places.

Some other minor notes and nits worth picking...  

The Panther is my favorite Navy fighter of all time; I just love the lines of that aircraft.  I had at least two models of that plane when I was a kid.

Last night's guest on "An Ossifer and a Flick" was author Stephen Coonts, who was listed as LT, US Navy (Retired).  You'd THINK the fucking MILITARY channel would get stuff right in this space, in that Coonts is a former naval aviator who was honorably discharged after his service.  The man is NOT "retired."  I hate it when that happens.

TMC runs these lil questions during commercial breaks and the strikingly odd thing about both of last night's questions was the fact they were Air Force-related, not Navy.  During the showing of a Navy flick.  Go figger.

The helicopter pilot in "Bridges" is a Chief Petty Officer, played by Mickey Rooney.  You'd THINK TMC would remark on enlisted aviators... their history, why there aren't any left, yadda, yadda.  There was ample opportunity last evening when the host asked Coonts his opinion of Navy helicopter pilots.  The response from Coonts?  "They're all brave professionals," and so on.  BIG minus points for that oversight.

TMC runs their "Ossifer and a Flick" show several times during the course of the weekend, so if ya missed it last night you have at least three other chances today.  The flick is well worth your time if you've never seen it and worth seein' again, even if you have.  My nit-picking on TMC aside, of course.

Revenge o' the Nerds/Geeks

I was gonna post this yesterday but Blogger was throwin' a hissy fit and wouldn't recognize jpgs when ya tried to upload them.  That's still true in the case o' this image, so we just blatantly copied and pasted from the source.

Yup, that's ME!  Hell, everythang still works... and pretty well, too.

From the Shoebox blog, of course.

Saturday

A lil bit o' overkill on the euphemisms but funny, none the less.  My mustache is more or less permanent... there HAVE been the odd times when I've shaved it off but I always put it back after a week or two, at the most.  Here's one of the very few known pics o' me without lip foliage:

Taken in Moscow, in 1993.  There are a few more pics at the link.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

Joni...

After the rush when you come back down
You're always disappointed
Nothing seems to keep you high
Drive your bargains
Push your papers
Win your medals
Fuck your strangers
Don't it leave you on the empty side

[...]

You criticize and you flatter
You imitate the best
And the rest you memorize 
You know the times you impress me most
Are the times when you don't try
When you don't even try

I've heard those same words... in various forms and permutations... from the women who meant the most to me in Former Happy Days.  I suppose these words do nothing other than tell us to just be ourselves, and that's the BEST way to be.  I sure do love me some Joni.

Seventy-One Years Ago

My Pearl Harbor Day post, parts of which I've published every year since 2006.

Pearl Harbor Day

Sixty-eight years ago today... "a date which will live in infamy"... the nation was shocked out of its complacency and determination to stay out of the conflict engulfing the rest of the civilized world by the horrific Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.  Here's an excerpt from President Roosevelt's speech to congress on the following day:

The men who fought back at Pearl Harbor formed the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association about ten years after the war and they used to hold a reunion in Hawaii every five years... until 2006, when they held their last reunion there.  I published this post to mark that occasion (note that the link to the news article is dead now):

Pearl Harbor Day

The USS Arizona - Then and Now (U.S. Navy photographs)

It’s said — quite often and by many, many people — that 9/11/2001 “changed everything.” And it is indeed true for the current generations of Americans. But I’ll submit that 12/07/1941 “changed everything” to a degree it is impossible for us who were not alive and going about our business on that Sunday in December, 1941 to realize. Those of us whose parents were members of The Greatest Generation understand my point. A smaller subset, those of us whose parents fought in World War II, understand the point a little bit better, perhaps. We have the benefit of hearing the first-person narratives of that day in December 1941, and stories from the long, long days that followed…from the dark and despair of the war’s first year to the signing of the Japanese surrender on the decks of the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay not quite four years later. And a lot in between.

They are leaving us. The Pearl Harbor Survivors Association is holding their last meeting (dead link) today.

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii - With their number quickly dwindling, survivors of Pearl Harbor will gather Thursday one last time to honor those killed by the Japanese 65 years ago, and to mark a day that lives in infamy.

This will be their last visit to this watery grave to share stories, exchange smiles, find peace and salute their fallen friends. This, they say, will be their final farewell.

"This will be one to remember," said Mal Middlesworth, president of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. "It's going to be something that we'll cherish forever."

The survivors have met here every five years for four decades, but they're now in their 80s or 90s and are not counting on a 70th reunion. They have made every effort to report for one final roll call.

Their last meeting. I know All Things Must Pass, but it saddens me so. We owe them so much, and our thank-yous seem inadequate compared to the sacrifices they made.

But: We shall continue, we shall honor their sacrifices, we will remember, and we shall rededicate ourselves to the task that faces this generation…the one that began on 9/11/2001. The Greatest Generation expects it from us.

The 2006 news article may not be available any longer, but the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association is still alive and kicking.  They are few now, but thank God some of those heroes are still around.  It won't be too much longer until they're all gone and as I said above: "It saddens me so."

I Don't Like the Looks o' THIS

SNOW?  Sigh.  It looks like I'll have to turn the heat back on Sunday (it's been off for well over a week now).  All things must pass, nothing is forever, yadda, yadda.  It sure was nice while it lasted.

There IS good news, though.  I won't have to deal with this shit this year, or ever again:

Silver linings.

Just Down the Road a Piece...

Air Frame: C-130J Super Hercules aircraft taking off from Dyess AFB, Tex., during a training exercise on Nov. 30, 2012, pass by the base's B-1B Lancer bombers. Dyess' 317th Airlift Group is slated to receive 28 new-build C-130Js; already 23 of those are in place, according to base officials. (Air Force photo by SSgt. Richard P. Ebensberger) (Click on image above to reach larger version.)

 

Four hours away, actually.  If ya look REAL close ya might be able to see me waving from the Llano Estacado in the distance.

Points Taken and Not

I'd agree with Obama if he really said something like this:

This dates me severely, but I can CLEARLY remember my parents sayin' "that and a nickel will get ya a cup o' coffee just about anywhere."  Heh.  My house is made o' glass so I shouldn't throw stones... coz I'm the guy who dropped ten bucks a day in the Starbucks store on the ground floor of my office building in SFO.  I didn't buy frou-frou drinks, though.

All that said, I don't agree with this woman:

Fox 2 News Headlines

Coleman Young bringin' home the bacon?  Detroit's issues BEGAN with Coleman Young.

It Ain't Quite Like This, Yet

But soon enough.  Jamaica might look good come February... even in this part o' the world.

My Buddy Ed In Florida sends.

Me Too!

I'm still reading the overnight mail, in case ya wondered.  I'm not optimistic about the lockout ending, though.

No Wonder, eh?

From the Shoebox blog.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

Dylan and The Band....



This is a take from the concert tour that produced the "Before the Flood" album... one of my all-time favorite albums.  Dang... I sure do miss my vinyl.

Heights

People jumping out of what appears to be a perfectly good airplane:

Air Frame: Members of the Army's 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne) jump from a C-17 Globemaster III during parachute assault training at JB Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Nov. 13, 2012. (Air Force photo by Justin Connaher) (Click on image above to reach larger version.)

Aiiieee.  Just looking at the picture makes my knees watery.

―:☺:―

And then there's this:

I don't worry about THAT fiscal cliff any longer.  But there was a time... 

A Seasonal Re-run

My blogging friends are beginning to put their holiday posts up, soooo... there's this, from December of 2005:

Christmas Cards

Do you send out stacks of Christmas cards? If you do, you're definitely in the mainstream of American life. I was going to put up a post about a dying tradition, but my premise was torpedoed after about five minutes of googling. Consider:

In 1987, the average American household received 29 pieces of Christmas mail, said U.S. Postal Service spokesman Gerry McKiernan. By 1994, the number dropped to 23. In 2002 it bounced back to 27, but a year later fell to fewer than 20 cards per household. In 2004 it rose to 21.6 cards. And this year? It is expected to remain stable at about 21.5 cards, he said. (WaPo)

My parents had a huge Christmas card list, and they received like numbers in return. Our house was literally festooned with cards...on the mantle (if the current house had one) and on every table or any other reasonably clear flat surface. Mom dreaded writing the things because it literally took her hours, nay, days, to work through the list. But she did it faithfully...year in, year out... including a mimeographed "family year-end summary" for those folks she only communicated with at Christmas. I used to think the only reason one sent cards at Christmas was to catch up with those folks you never talked to but were still on "the list." That may be true for a lot of people.

I haven't sent a card in years. I quit doing that sometime back in the '90s, probably around the time of my divorce. Nor do I receive cards, with the exception of the one from my broker, who is faithful to the tradition. (2012 update: I DO receive one or two cards a year these days, most notably from Blog-Bud Lou... who sends out her small paintings as cards to select people.)  I sorta miss them. Like my parents, I arranged the cards on the mantle and around the Christmas tree. Definitely made the home very Christmasy.

Hallmark has an interesting history of Christmas cards on their web site. Good period illustrations, by decade, going back to the 20s.  (2012: That's a dead link, but the WSJ has something similar.)

And then there's this. Thanks, Microsoft. We really need more instruction in political correctness. God save us, one and all.  (2012: Yet another dead link.  I have NO ideer what that was all about.)

You're not going to get a card from me, but I can still say...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

You'd prolly get something like this from me, if I were to send out Christmas cards:

That's MY kinda card.

I Dunno Why...

... but I always think o' The First Mrs. Pennington when I see this ad:



Dang.  That's pretty cold o' me... but it's true.  It's prolly the way the witch waggles her fingers at the guy in the blue shirt.

I'm Wonderin' Just How Long This Will Last

Here we are in December (already!?!)... and this is what we look like outdoors:

I'm not looking this gift horse in the mouth.  Au contraire, I'm really, rilly lovin' it.  But one DOES wonder... how long can this go on?  Well, at least for the rest of this week from the looks o' thangs.  Thank ya, Sheik al-Gore.

It's NOT Funny...

... but it's true.

Miscellanea

We went out to Cannon Airplane Patch earlier today for to make a commissary run, restock the whiskey supply, and get our bi-monthly shearing.   But our inattention to the calendar allowed us to only complete two of the three assigned tasks, in that we re-stocked the whiskey supply and the food larder but we did NOT get sheared, as every single chair in the barber shop waiting area was occupied and we didn't feel like spending an hour... or more... waiting to get sheared.  So we'll do our best imitation of one of the Deities At Hand for another few days.  Our hair is approaching the religious as we speak and we've put on a winter beard, on top of that.  So we're lookin' pretty much like said deity, but that won't last all THAT long.

We're just in from Happy Hour and we're watching the second half of the SEC championship game with more than a little interest.  Those Dawgs just scored and we're rootin' for them.  But as I've said before: it doesn't make no nevermind WHO wins this game; ND shall prevail in the only game that really matters.

In other news... a friendly uniformed emissary of the FedEx company visited us this afternoon and left us with a big-ass box containing these lil beauties:

Ah.  A month's supply... and we exaggerate only a lil bit... of salsa and chile sauce from The Source, including one jar of that eagerly-awaited Scorpion Salsa, which we shall try tonight.  We're salivating, even as we speak.

Yow!

Update, 1900 hrs:  Dinner is done and I consumed about ten percent of that bottle o' Scorpion Salsa.  The verdict?  That stuff is THE hottest commercially produced salsa I've ever tasted, and the equal of the hottest home-made stuff I've ever had.  There are hotter "hot sauces" available (Dave's Insanity Sauce come to mind), but that stuff ain't salsa.  OTOH, Scorpion ain't very far from Dave's Insanity where heat is concerned, but it IS better tasting.  By far.

Saturday

Everything that's wrong with Christmas, in four minutes and 20 seconds:



I don't think it's a coincidence that the vid is 4:20 long.  Just sayin'.

A pox on Adidas... yet another candidate added to The Midnite Firebomber's^TM list.

The runner-up, in the "Still Not Dead" category:



And here I thought this twit's 15 minutes was up.