Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack...

... is from Lyle:

He’s pulling out for Reno
He hopes a tire don’t blow
Up near Albuquerque
He’ll fuel and get some coffee
Cline’s Corners truck stop
A waitress with a wet mop
Telling him to don’t walk
He tips his hat and don’t talk

He knows it’s nothing but a good ride
No there’s nothing there he can’t slide
No there’s nothing that he won’t spin
No there’s nothing to it do it again
No it’s nothing but the big show
No there’s nowhere that he won’t go
No he never has to ask why
He knows it’s nothing but a good ride

New Mexico associations aside (we ALWAYS stop at Cline's Corners on our way west)... it's truck drivin' as a metaphor for life.  Works for me.

This tune is from Lyle's "My Baby Don't Tolerate" album and it sure was hard to pick ONE tune from this album to represent today's Happy Hour Soundtrack.  On account o' because there's just SO many.  Like this... which was a close second... mainly coz I live in my own mind, too.

Bye-Bye, Poo Poo!

Ah, those inscrutable Nihonjin!

Ah, Politics...

THIS week's campaign meme was "kids toys."  Like this:

There's a brief explanation here (in case you live under a rock), which focuses on perhaps the ONE group of people who find this shit amusing.  Or, in this case, profitable.

Yet Another Study to Ignore

From the Beeb:

People living alone 'are more depressed'

People of working age who live alone increase their risk of depression by up to 80% compared with people living in families, says a Finnish study.

It says the main factors are poor housing conditions for women and a lack of social support for men, who are both equally affected.

The study tracked the use of anti-depressants in 3,500 Finnish people.

A mental health charity said people who lived alone must be given outlets to talk about their problems.

The study authors highlight the fact that the proportion of one-person households in Western countries has increased during the past three decades, with one in every three people in the US and the UK living alone.

The participants in the study, published in BioMed Central's public health journal, were working-age Finns; 1,695 were men and 1,776 were women, and they had an average age of 44.6 years.

[...]

Researchers found that people living alone bought 80% more anti-depressants during the follow-up period, between 2000 and 2008, than those who did not live alone.

Well, dang.  Do beer and single-malt count as anti-depressants?  That's a rhetorical question, btw... no answer required.  It seems to me I read yet another study a few years back that claimed the Finns were the most depressed group of people in all o' Europe, what with their long winters and lack o' sunlight.  I nodded north-south when I read that study, not so much this one.  Ya think THAT might have sumthin' to do with the number o' depressed single people, at least in Finland?  Mebbe?

I tend to be pretty satisfied these days, but I can only speak for myself.  Beer and single-malt, yanno?

It's Nice That Laura and Dubya Are Stayin' In Touch

I got this in yesterday's mail:

That was part of a solicitation for money to support the George W. Bush Presidential Center, a piece part of his presidential library.  About which: times are tough, George.  Forgive me if'n I don't send along any money but... well, you know.  But thanks for the photo! 

And then there's this, apropos o' everythang:

Hell yes.  I've been missin' ya since around noon of January 20, 2009.  I ain't alone, neither.

Yesterday's GOML Moment

I received this very important communication from Hewlett-Packard yesterday (click to embiggen):

That's for stock options granted to me back in 1997... and note the exercise price: $67.73.  This is what HPQ looked like yesterday:

In point of fact... the options granted back in 1997 were for Electronic Data Systems (EDS) stock and those options were under water almost from Day One.  The stock didn't do any better once EDS was acquired by HP and EDS stock was converted to HP common.  

So... will I exercise the options?  Yeah, right... sure I will!  We're ALL about losing money, aren't we?  So much for corporate "performance incentives," which makes me think we have yet another potential target for my Midnite Firebombing career.  But hey... those options were a gift (even if they were part of my "total compensation" for 1997), it's not like I paid anythang for 'em.  Still and even:  GOML!

This Warms the Cockles...

... o' my hard lil heart:

Bloody Hundredth turns 70: The World War II emblem of the 100th Bomb Group—a four-headed eagle—now adorns the 100th Air Refueling Wing's KC-135 flagship at RAF Mildenhall, Britain. On the unit's 70th anniversary, airmen at Mildenhall "share a bond with the men who flew under this emblem in one of the greatest conflicts this world has ever seen," said Col. Christopher Kulas, 100th ARW commander, during the unveiling ceremony on March 14. "This airplane now serves as a visual reminder of that bond," he emphasized. The 100th Bomb Group was known as the "Bloody Hundredth" for its staggering losses in daylight raids over Germany during World War II. Its "square-D" marking, worn by its B-17s, is now painted on the flagship tanker's tail. "It's great to have tail [number] 0100 back in the 'Bloody Hundredth' as we celebrate our heritage year," said Kulas. (Mildenhall report by SSgt. Austin May)

That's from the Usual USAF Source.  I just love it when Big Air Force gets in touch with our history (there are five hi-res photos at the Mildenhall link, as well as expanded narrative).  Speaking of history... the history of the 100 Bomb Group is here, courtesy of the Eighth Air Force Historical Society.  This is the aircraft the Bloody Hundredth flew in the Big One:

Sixty of those B-17s went down in a single raid on Schweinfurt on Black Thursday... and about 650 airmen either lost their lives or wound up as POWs when their aircraft were shot down on that day... hence the nickname "Bloody Hundredth."

Broadening Our Horizons XLIV

We're only broadening ourselves technically speaking, as we have some experience with today's brew o' choice.  But it IS broadening in the sense that La Fin du Monde (another World Class brew according to The Bros) is now available in more user-friendly packaging, which is to say a 12 ounce bottle, instead of the one liter size... which is the way we always bought it.  Note the difference:

The other issue with those one-liter bottles is saving what's left after you're done... assuming you don't drink the entire contents of the bottle, which further assumes you'll be flat on your ass if you do.  With that in mind we'll do one of these and move on to something less prone to put us in the bag at this early hour; I can't handle too many bottles of nine percent ABV beers in a single session.  It sucks to be a lightweight and I mean that from a physical weight perspective.  Only.

In other beer news... It seems as if SN1 and I completely wiped out Portales' supply of Rogue Mocha Porter, at least until Friday.  I bought the last sixer of that brew during my beer run today; SN1 bought two yesterday, and I bought two a couple o' days before.  The beer attendant was semi-amazed; I'm semi-amazed it was that easy to exhaust the city's entire stock.  I use the term "city" loosely, of course.

Well, Damn

It kinda hurts to find out I'm just average... one of the crowd... as far as cars go.

As a stubborn recession made drivers wary of new purchases for several years, the average age of vehicles on the road in the United States stretched to a record 11.1 years in 2011, according to the research firm R. L. Polk, which tracks vehicle sales and registrations. 

Multiply that number of years by the annual miles driven — the E.P.A. uses 15,000 for the cost calculation on fuel economy labels — and it becomes evident that one pearl of conventional wisdom has become outdated. 

In the 1960s and ’70s, when odometers typically registered no more than 99,999 miles before returning to all zeros, the idea of keeping a car for more than 100,000 miles was the automotive equivalent of driving on thin ice. You could try it, but you’d better be prepared to swim. 

But today, as more owners drive their vehicles farther, some are learning that the imagined limits of vehicular endurance may not be real limits at all. Several factors have aligned to make pushing a car farther much more realistic. 

That's from a NYT article called "As Cars Are Kept Longer, 200,000 Is New 100,000."  The Green Hornet might be 11 and a half years old, but her odometer says she's still young.  She only has about 57,000 miles on her clock... so it's entirely possible she'll be the last car I ever own.  That's a comforting thought, innit?

Related, but not... I got this pop-up when I went to the Times' site that said beginning in April non-subscribers will get free access to only ten articles a month instead of 20.  So?  I'm still not gonna subscribe.  You can take away my access entirely, for all I care.

Me Too

I like this Kelley guy... a lot.  Still and even, six years?  That show will be on for six years?  The apocalypse ain't comin'... it's here.

It's That Time o' Year

"Because he's a magician you get to watch every night..."  Well, not EVERY night, but close enough.

Bring it, Bay-bee!

Just a Couple o' Thangs

I turned the heat back on this afternoon... it was off for well over a week.  But no more: it was downright chilly in the house when I woke up from Sleep, Part II sometime after noon.  About which: we went to bed at 0130 hrs this morning and laid there until 0300, eyes wide-open and brain runnin' full-tilt boogie with ridiculous thoughts I simply could NOT shut off.  So, we got up, fired off the coffee pot and stayed up until 0830.  I hate it when that happens, but we digress.  We were on about the return o' winter, here on the very eve o' Spring.  Note:

Snow.  It won't stay long, but just the thought of it hurts me.  You'll also note we're considerably below normal... temp-wise... today.  Suffice to say there will be NO al fresco Happy Hour.

―:☺:―

Screw Milquetoast Romney, Sanctimonious Santorum, Newt "Desperate Housewives" Gingrich, and Crazy Dr. Paul... I've found MY candidate:

David Burge ‏ @iowahawkblog
I will legalize pot and light bulbs, and ban AutoTune. #Iowahawk2012

David Burge ‏ @iowahawkblog
I will send the US Postal Service pink slips - via FedEx. #Iowahawk2012

David Burge ‏ @iowahawkblog
When private companies come asking for goverment investment, the only lever I'll pull is the trap door. #Iowahawk2012

 You GO, Dave!

―:☺:―

I thought I had sumthin' else, but I forgot what it was.  Gettin' old sucks.

Update, 1525 hrs:  I stand corrected.  We're not on the eve o' Spring, Spring is Here.  Huzzah!

Vernal Equinox 2012: First Day of Spring Celebrated Across the Northern Hemisphere [PHOTOS]

The first day of spring arrived Tuesday with the 2012 vernal equinox, heralding the end of a winter that, for most of us, wasn't. The United States experienced the warmest winter of the 21^st century so far and the fourth-warmest winter in 117 years of record keeping, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

New Mexico was the only state with temperatures below its long-term 20^th century average this winter. Most others were well above, with typically snow-capped locales like Grand Rapids, Mich., Grand Forks, N.D., and Green Bay, Wis., boasting their second-warmest winters ever.

Note the quote about New Mexico.  It might have been below the 20th century average somewhere in New Mexico, but here on the High Plains it was right warm.  And we LIKE that.

Hey! Look!

Baby lawn ornaments*!

I like the adults better.  But you know: production takes time.

*Not really... it's NatGeo's "Photo of the Month," from this article.

Today's GOML Moment

I'm just in from running my errands, part o' which included goin' to Wally-World where we dropped well over 60 Yankee Dollars... that would be $68.98, exactly... on six new ink cartridges for our printer.  I've owned this printer for about four or five years now and I swear I've spent three times as much on ink cartridges as I did to buy the gotdamned printer itself.  I sure do miss that old HP LaserJet I had for ten or 15 years.  It didn't do color, but it was as reliable as a brick and toner cartridges were cheap.

What makes the situation doubly irritating is I used to be able to print in grayscale... black and white only... when one of the color cartridges went dry.

But no more.

I've spent a couple o' few hours trying to figger out exactly why this is so, all to no avail.  It's possible that I'm mis-remembering, but I swear I used to be able to do that.  And we must print, now that we have finished our taxes.  (No e-File this year; I have a ream of supporting documentation I have to mail.)

Which might could be yet another GOML moment.  I'm still not quite sure how a guy who lives on Social Security, a military pension, and a pittance of a civilian pension (which barely keeps me in beer and cigars) manages to owe the gub'mint money every single year.  Don't tell me to withhold more, coz I already have the Air Force hold back an extra $50.00 per month.  Add to that the fact that I have to send the state of New Mexico a check for a couple o' hunnert Yankee Dollars, and you have a situation that's just two ticks to the left of GET OFF MY LAWN!

Too Close to Home

Yesterday was a total loss, and I mean total.  We woke up... the first time... at 0815, but only to take two Aleves, drink two large glasses o' water, and then it was back to bed... err... couch.  Four hours later we got up, opened the blinds, and saw our patio furniture was halfway to Clovis.  So we went outside and retrieved the stuff and rearranged it in a wind-proof manner.  In so doing we noticed that we had left the porch light on all night and the door unlocked.  This, in addition to spending the night on the couch.

Yeah, I'd say we had a good time.  My very brief post yesterday mentioned the fact hangovers hurt worse than I remember.  I'd also forgotten about that semi-nauseous, off-center feeling that accompanies every hangover, AND the fact that said feeling remains long after your head quits pounding, which is the very worst part of a hangover.  Aleve mitigates the headache, but there ain't nuthin' you can do to right a listing ship... you just gotta wait until the bilge-pumps finish doin' their thang. 

We're better today, thank ya.  This particular experience was mild-to-moderate as hangovers go and didn't even come CLOSE to crackin' the Top Ten Hangovers of All Time, just to keep thangs in perspective.  We gave thanks to The Deity At Hand.

Hangover

Dang.  They hurt.  I haven't one of these damned things since I don't remember when, but it's been a couple o' years at the very least.  You'd think that one would get smarter as one grows older... but, noooo.

Ouch.  And owie.  Lotsa owies.

In other news... we'll be driving up to Leavenworth at the end of this month for to visit with the SN1 fambly and catch the Wings-Blues game on 4 April in St. Louis.  We were pretty well-oiled by the time SN1 went looking for tickets on the web and we dropped over 500 Yankee Dollars on two tickets for this game... on the glass.  SN1 sez this will check off an item on his Final To-Do List, to wit: See a Wings game "on the glass."  I've got that tee shirt, but I bought mine at The Joe.  Another one won't hurt anything except my wallet.  This otta be a great time, assuming we don't get the shit kicked out of us for wearing Wings jerseys in the enemy camp.

I can't wait.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack...

...which spilled over into the inaugural edition of After Dinner Whiskey Hour, 2012.  That prolly should be "ADWH Lite," because we won't be sitting out on the verandah after dark, doin' that star-gazing thang like we usually do during that time.  But it WAS ADWH by strict definition, coz it was (a) after dinner and (b) we were drinkin' whiskey.  But we digress, coz we're supposed to be on about the music, which was Da Blooz for the most part.  Like this:

You don’t have to explain baby
Don’t you worry about it
Cause I’ll be okay
You see, pain ain’t nuthin new
Well it’s sure not the first time
And it probly won’t be the last

OTOH, it might could be the last (time), given our current outlook and attitude.

Apropos o' Da Blooz... Blog-Bud Ivan put up a tutorial on singin' the blues which every good blues aficionado should read.  It's mostly all true, too. 

STOP PRESS!  THIS JUST IN!  Just got off the phone with SN1, who's rolling into P-Ville as we speak.  Let us now make American Noises, like Woo-HOO! and such!  Hockey Night In Portales!  Beer!  And lots of it!  I can't say this is totally unexpected, as we knew he was comin'.  But we thought he'd be in tomorrow, not tonight.

Best news I've had today.

She's No Sunny...

...but she does say "fuck" a lot.

So there's that, and the microwave thang.  We have a lot in common, actually.  Or mebbe I'm just projecting.

For Strength!

What a fine ideer.

Happy St. Paddy's Day. 

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack...

... is from our music collection coz it's yet another day where we have our windows wide open and we're able to listen to our own stuff... which included Greg Allman's "Laid Back," Paul Simon's first US album (the eponymous album), Etta James ("Her Best"), Joe Cocker's "Sheffield Steel," and Lyle Lovett's third album.  You might say we're musically confused; I say we're eclectic.  

So... what to choose out of all that?  This:

That's Gregg's cover of the Jackson Browne tune and it's the best version, for my money.  Rolling Stone (and others) tend to agree:

The For Everyman liner notes thanked Gregg Allman for the arrangement. Allman decided to record his own version of "These Days" for his debut solo album, Laid Back, released like For Everyman in Fall 1973. Allman's version kept to Browne's revised lyric until the end, when he changed "Don't confront me with my failures / I had not forgotten them," to "Please don't confront me with my failures / I'm aware of them." Rolling Stone praised the treatment, saying Allman "does full justice to the quietly hurting lyrics, double-tracking the vocal over a sad steel guitar," and calling the vocal quality "resigned" and "eternally aching." In 1999, writer Anthony DeCurtis called Allman's version "definitive".

Yeah... "definitive" works for me.  The Laid Back album is my absolute favorite among all of the Allman's works and has been for years and years and years. It's the sorta CD that has a tendency to live in my car, yanno?  Coz that's where all the best music seems to wind up, either temporarily or permanently.