Saturday, February 14, 2009
Well Now...
Look at what we found out at the Class VI store this morning...
I take back what I said about the Beer Lady a few posts back. No Dark Kriek, though. But we knew there wouldn't be any of that, didn't we?
I'm semi-proud of myself today. All the errands were run... post office, commissary, Class VI store... and the groceries put away... all before noon, albeit ever so very slightly. Still and even... that just HAS to be some sort of record here at El Casa Móvil De Pennington. Most days we're not even out of bed before noon.
Apropos of nothing... if you received this in your in-box would you not assume your package was coming via UPS?
I take back what I said about the Beer Lady a few posts back. No Dark Kriek, though. But we knew there wouldn't be any of that, didn't we?I'm semi-proud of myself today. All the errands were run... post office, commissary, Class VI store... and the groceries put away... all before noon, albeit ever so very slightly. Still and even... that just HAS to be some sort of record here at El Casa Móvil De Pennington. Most days we're not even out of bed before noon.
Apropos of nothing... if you received this in your in-box would you not assume your package was coming via UPS?
Your Order# is: xxxxxxx
Shipped on : 02/09/09Well, it didn't. I found the "missing" package in my snail-mail box yesterday afternoon... after the UPS Guy had come and gone yet again without delivering my package. Sometimes I really wonder about things. But all's well that ends well. SN3 will receive his birthday present on or before The Big Day... and that's all that really counts, innit?
Shipped via : UPS-Basic
Ship to:
Norman Pennington
(addy)
PORTALES NM 88130-9333
United States
1 790451: (deleted... don't wanna spoil the surprise)
This item shipped via UPS and can be tracked with this link: (deleted)
Friday, February 13, 2009
Funny... Kinda Sorta
Here’s one of the funnier things I’ve come across today (all links, however meaningless, left intact)…
Meaning of Life is in need of a "expert on the subject"
I am an expert on the meaning of life... it is 'Duh', because the answer is in the fu**ing question! the meaning of life is life itself...duh -God
Is that a joke? Can anyone be a expert on the subject of the meaning of life? Other than experts on the religious explanations of the meaning of life? Correct me if I'm wrong. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Andypham3000 (talk • contribs)
I thought that was hilarious too, but this article does need some serious attention, preferably from someone with a background in comparative philosophy or religion. --NickPenguin(contribs) 21:31,
I don't know how I found myself on this page, but that tag just struck me as one of the funniest things I've seen on Wikipedia in years. Antandrus (talk)
Yes, Wikipedia could make an even greater contribution to the world if it could provide a forum for a genuine expert on the meaning of life. Millions might benefit! (On the other hand they might be reverted....)
But to address the actual issue: If we had a tag that said "experts" (instead of "expert"), it may have seemed less humorous. Each section needs an expert on that section's topic(s) - philosophy, comparative religion, psychology, cognitive science, physics, etc. If you take a look at the sorry state of this article a year or so ago and compare it to the remarkably improved quality that we have now, you might conclude that the placement of that tag could possibly have been the single best edit this article has ever had. -DoctorW 21:23,
How about the body a psychotherapeutic literature as being a claim on the idea of being 'expert' in the meaning of life. I'm going to add some contributions made by the prominent Psychotherapist and Psychiatrist Irvin Yalom, about the difference between "the meaning of life?" and "the meaning of my life?". —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rob2000 (talk • contribs)
The original article ain’t all that bad, assuming you’re “in” to this sort of thing. I’m much more of a “42” person, myownself, and I’ve never, ever lain awake at night asking myself “Why am I 
here?” Unless I was someplace I didn’t really want to be… in the purely physical sense. Life may have some sort of larger meaning but it’s not something I concern myself with, seeing as how there are other, more pressing issues in this temporal world. IMHO.
Nope. I think we’re here to live well and be as good to each other as we can possibly be. Other than that? Nothing much beyond “You live. You die. Game over.” My attitude tended to really annoy The Second Mrs. Pennington, seeing as how she used to be into those metaphysical things. She may still be, for all I know.
Trailer Park Sunset
We’ve not had many sunsets lately that live up to New Mexico
We begin at 1732 hrs (above). The next two images are interesting, given they were taken a minute and a half apart and yielded significantly different results… which is ALL a function of the camera settings, as noted (selected meta-data below each image).
Image description Image 032
Datetime 2009:02:1218:39:10
Exposure time 1/200 s
F-number 8
Exposure program Shutter priority
ISO speed ratings 1600
Image description Image 033
Datetime 2009:02:1218:40:57
Exposure time 1/200 s
F-number 3.5
Exposure program Shutter priority
ISO speed ratings 200
And finally… 1746 hrs (above).
I took 65 photos, beginning at 1732 hrs and ending at 1746 hrs. I can be that precise about the time because digital cameras tell you these things, ya know.
And, apropos of not much… can you imagine shooting 65 pictures on film, rather than on a digital camera? That would be over two and a half 24-exposure rolls of film… and I dunno about you, Gentle Reader… but I wasn’t in the habit of blowing that much money on a single sunset, no matter how beautiful. And then there was the wait for the finished product... even with one-hour (heh) processing... not to mention the expense of said processing. All that by way of saying “I (heart) technology”… especially when it comes to photography.
And now the pics… which have been re-sized and cropped... but NOT Photoshopped in any way. As always, click for larger.
We begin at 1732 hrs (above). The next two images are interesting, given they were taken a minute and a half apart and yielded significantly different results… which is ALL a function of the camera settings, as noted (selected meta-data below each image).
Image description Image 032Datetime 2009:02:12
Exposure time 1/200 s
F-number 8
Exposure program Shutter priority
ISO speed ratings 1600
Image description Image 033Datetime 2009:02:12
Exposure time 1/200 s
F-number 3.5
Exposure program Shutter priority
ISO speed ratings 200
And finally… 1746 hrs (above).Thursday, February 12, 2009
Wow.
Juan Williams, speaking about Michelle Obama on Bill O'Reilly's show, January 26th...
The money shot begins around 1:39 into the video... and it's a great one! For those of you who may be bandwidth-challenged... here it is in print:
The money shot begins around 1:39 into the video... and it's a great one! For those of you who may be bandwidth-challenged... here it is in print:
“Michelle Obama, you know, she's got this Stokely Carmichael in a designer dress thing going," said Juan Williams on Fox News. "If she starts talking, as Mary Katharine [Ham, a conservative blogger] is suggesting, her instinct is to start with this blame America, you know, I'm the victim. If that stuff starts coming out, people will go bananas and she'll go from being the new Jackie O to being something of an albatross”Heh. NPR listeners were NOT pleased.
Waiting For Godot UPS...
Well... the day is pretty much blown. Here I sit... waiting for the UPS Lady... who is normally so punctual that I could set my watch by her appearance. But not today. I'm sitting here waiting mainly because one of two items scheduled for delivery today is time-sensitive, in that it must be repackaged and sent on its way elsewhere via the US Postal Service in order to meet a self-imposed (and self-important) deadline. This must also be done tomorrow, at the latest, due to Monday's holiday. But... no UPS, as we speak. I'm disappointed to say the least. One of the things I thought I could count on turns out to be much like everything else in life: there WILL be disappointments. And yet another bitch/moan/complaint... I was gonna make a combo commissary/pharmacy run out to the base this afternoon after UPS arrived, but that won't happen... as the pharmacy will be closed by the time UPS arrives (if/when, I should add) and I get The Green Hornet saddled up and on the road.
Enter the moan: the pharmacy is closed tomorrow. I don't know how this came to happen, exactly, but the USAF has taken to creating four day weekends out of EVERY single holiday that comes down the pike. It's not like I begrudge our air-people time off... far from it. But aren't three-day weekends enough? The cranky ol' man in me thinks that USED to be the case, back in the proverbial day. But times change, I guess. And I can pick up my prescription next Tuesday; it isn't like this is a life-threatening situation... it isn't. I always phone in refills well before the current supply of meds is exhausted. It's just inconvenient... and I'm pampered enough to resent inconvenience.
At least the commissary will be open tomorrow. I think.
(Image obtained here... along with an explanation if you're not familiar with Godot.)
Mr. Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln, America’s most beloved president, was born 200 years ago today. As might be expected, there are literally thousands of commemorations, ceremonies, parades, and such planned all across the country today and throughout the upcoming holiday weekend… not to mention the numerous web sites devoted to honoring our 16th president. But since we did mention web sites… the best of the bunch, for my money, is C-SPAN’s “Lincoln 200 Years.” I’ve been watching C-SPAN’s build-up towards the
A new penny celebrating the bicentennial of
Happy Birthday, Mr. President. The nation honors you, salutes you, and most importantly, remembers you with a fondness and love that is unique in the entire world.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Stimulating
It looks like SN1 is doing his bit to stimulate the economy, what with sending several thousand Yankee Dollars to those wonderful folks in Milwaukee who assemble Hardly-Ablesons. This photo is all I have to go on at the moment... sent via Sprint Picture Mail not five minutes ago. That would be Grandson Sean in the picture. I'm wondering why he has his fingers in his ears... I'm promised that all will be revealed this weekend via voice call.I'm also wondering if SN1 kept the Kowalski (the red mo'sickle at the link) or traded it off to acquire the Monster Bike. You'd be correct if you think I look upon Milwaukee Vibrators with something of a jaundiced eye, Gentle Reader. "Taste is all in the mouth"... as it's said. But a Big-Ass cruiser is probably fitting for a 40-something guy, right? (insert smiley-face thingie here)
I Wish I Was a Bear...
…so I could hibernate and miss all this sort of krep:
Obama's turn as Vogue cover girl establishes her as modern-day style icon
[…]
Michelle Obama will soon grace the cover of
Not surprisingly, in a celebrity-obsessed nation that has long adored its cover girls, it's Obama's role as a fashionista rather than her work ethic that's fuelling the most excitement.
The 45-year-old Obama is only the second first lady to appear on the cover of Vogue. Surprisingly, it wasn't Kennedy who beat her to the punch - it was Hillary Clinton in 1998, donning a black Oscar de Renta evening gown. Both first ladies posed for famed photographer Annie Leibovitz.
I'd LOVE to be able to say something like “Wake me when it’s over.” But I remain awake and crap like the above is simply unavoidable as it's seemingly EVERYWHERE.
And about that cover… “The First Lady the World's Been Waiting For?” Really? You mean the world wasn’t satisfied with previous First Ladies? Or just that part of the world that happens to view itself like this? (on the right, obviously) I, for one, thought the previous First Lady was stylish, graceful, and more importantly... eminently sensible and composed. The current First Lady has BIG shoes to fill, IMHO, Vogue cover or no.
Can we just frickin’ STOP THE MADNESS? It’s already beyond old… it’s pathetic.
Follow-Up
Remember this past Monday when I was on about the previous evening's rain? This is what I said, in part:
I don’t have a rain gauge here on the premises of El Casa Móvil De Pennington, but my educated guess is we got about a half-inch of rain, perhaps more.
Well... fast-forward to Monday's Clovis News-Journal (which I just got around to reading today):
Showers accompanying the brief storm, which hit around
[...]
The last time there was a comparable rain in
And the wind helped mark it as a severe storm, with gusts upward of 60 mph. One gust was measured at 63 mph.
Looks like my “educated guess” was right on the money… would that I could be so accurate in other areas of life. That said… we’re still in a drought condition, what with no measurable snow this year (so far) and precious little precipitation of any other sort. And there’s nothing in the ten-day forecast to suggest change is on the way.
―:☺:―
Speaking of “change” and P-Ville… there’s this:
The City of
According to Portales City Manager Debi Lee, the city will request approximately $15 million for six projects — the biggest of which is a new waste water plant, with an estimated cost of about $7.5 million.
Among other projects, the city is requesting money for water well system work, streets, railroad crossing improvements, enhancements to the city pool and a gymnasium.
I’ll buy the waste-water plant, water well system work, and the streets improvements. All of those projects will stimulate the local economy and would be good for the area… in that there would be lasting benefits. But the pool and the gym? Not so much. And therein lies the problem. It seems like we ALL have our hands out, and P-Ville ain’t immune from the pork-plague. Kinda strange for a bright-red burg like Portales... and Roosevelt County, generally speaking.
Just sayin’.
Photo Linkage
I was chasing up a hit in SiteMeter a few minutes ago and stumbled upon some pretty nice photography taken around Portales during June of 2007. The folks at StormBruiser are in to chasing tornadoes... which, to my way of thinking, is a lot like poking around in bear dens. It might be exciting but rational people just don't DO that sort of thing. An excerpt from the link:
This shot isn't nearly as good as the pics at the link... but dramatic, none the less. As taken... no P-shopping here....those are the colors as viewed in "real life."
Rain and small hail descended upon us soon after these photos were taken. The cell was unable to develop strong, sustained, and tight rotation at low levels apparently, though it seemed like it wanted to get serious about tornado-making for a few minutes on the approach to Portales. We departed Portales and attempted to get southeast of the updraft base again, but heavy precipitation slowed us down some. Brian’s minivan came up lame with a flat tire, so we waited out the core and were treated to a brilliant mammatus and rainbow display on the west side of the storm before sunset.The photos are just pretty danged cool... and illustrate one of the better things about living in these parts: brilliant vistas. We DID have some interesting weather in June of 2007. Here's a shot out my back door, four days after the shots at StormBruiser were taken.
This shot isn't nearly as good as the pics at the link... but dramatic, none the less. As taken... no P-shopping here....those are the colors as viewed in "real life."
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
(Sigh)
This is why I sometimes wish I lived in Colorado... and one of the better things I've ever read about Valentines Day (apropos of nothing):
Update, 2210 hrs: Pursuant to the conversation going on in comments to this post... the contents of my fridge, about 20 minutes ago. There's one less 1554 in the fridge, as we speak.
Dark Kriek
But then again... Colorado has all that danged snow. Never mind. Priorities, yanno.
For many years we’ve celebrated Valentine’s Day at New Belgium Brewing by creating a special small batch beer for our family and friends. These beers tend to be a little funky, fruitful and straight from the heart. This year we decided to share the love.
New Belgium Brewing’s Dark Kriek is a limited edition Belgian kriek or cherry beer. Much darker than a traditional kriek with a dash of sour cherry up front, our Dark Kriek is actually a blend of two beers. We start with a light, dry, tannic beer aged two years in oak barrels and combine this with a heavier, dark ale and cherries to create one smooth cherry blast of love.
8% ABV
(ed note: "share the love" is rather limited... from a New Belgium Tweet: "lowdown on location for Dark Kriek (cases by state) CO 500, CA 500, WA 150, OR 150, IL 25 - and 25 cases to our Liquid Center")
Update, 2210 hrs: Pursuant to the conversation going on in comments to this post... the contents of my fridge, about 20 minutes ago. There's one less 1554 in the fridge, as we speak.
Apropos of Nothing...
I was doing some poking around in the archives, looking for something specific (which I found) and came across this... which I think is deserving of a re-run:
Re-runs are about all I have the motivation and/or energy for at the moment. I'm semi-preoccupied with watching the Dow Jones Industrials in free-fall mode (down 362, as I type... not as bad as -380, earlier) and wondering if my 401(k) will evaporate like a puddle after a New Mexico summer rain. The prospect of spending my dotage in penury isn't exactly appealing... yanno?
Merchandise YOU Can Use. Maybe.
An occasional correspondent sends this along, and I thought you might find some of these products useful…
Like this:Just the thing if you find yourself in a hot ‘n’ heavy political discussion with a ‘bat. Or maybe your mother-in-law. Pull this out, offer ‘em a piece…and things should be all over but the shouting, eh? Well, discounting the possibility of a beating about your head and shoulders, if the discussion you're attempting to end is really with your M-I-L.―:☺:―This lil item on your immediate left, on the other hand, is something I have little or no use for these days. Assuming, of course, the product is meant to be a shared experience, as the packaging would seem to indicate.
You, Gentle Reader, are probably in a much different boat (and arguably a much better boat) than I.
―:☺:―I might could change my…ummm… situation, were I to buy a ton of this stuff on the right.
Ya think?Nah. Probably not. I probably would just get the sh!t slapped out of me, were I to offer a piece of "Get Lucky" gum to some unsuspecting sweetyoungolder thang.―:☺:―And finally, I have absolutely NO use for the product on the left, nor do I know anyone (nowadays) that would. You have to squint to read it, but the gum comes in "Fresh Fruit Flavor." Heh.
I used to know folks that would buy a ton of this stuff, not that there's anything inherently wrong with that. But I left SFO five years ago… ya know?All this merchandise and much, much more...available here.Really.Update: ...later that same evening. Dunno how I missed this, but I did. And I just had to rectify the oversight, of course. I might get one or two of these non-permanent tattoos. They're right up my alley.Gnarly. Yes.
Re-runs are about all I have the motivation and/or energy for at the moment. I'm semi-preoccupied with watching the Dow Jones Industrials in free-fall mode (down 362, as I type... not as bad as -380, earlier) and wondering if my 401(k) will evaporate like a puddle after a New Mexico summer rain. The prospect of spending my dotage in penury isn't exactly appealing... yanno?
Further on Valentines Day
Commentary by Nancy Gibbs, as heard last evening on "The News Hour with Jim Lehrer." This is a 4:30 mp3 file converted to wmv format.
What she said.
What she said.
Monday, February 09, 2009
It Ain't Just Me
I've been on about Obama's negative language concerning the economy for a while now, and we're beginning to see pieces on this subject in the dead-tree media and elsewhere. Case in point:
From crisis to catastrophe. Off a cliff. Dark, darker, darkest. Mortal danger of absolute collapse. Armageddon.
President Obama and top Democrats on Capitol Hill are deploying these and other stark predictions of doom and gloom to push through their economic-stimulus package. In terms not heard in Washington since the late 1970s under President Jimmy Carter's watch, the new president has sought to terrify Americans into supporting the $800 billion-plus bailout bill.
[...]
"Mr. Hope has to be careful not to become Dr. Doom," said Frank Luntz, a political consultant and author of the book "Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear."
"The danger for him is using the Jimmy Carter malaise rhetoric, particularly for Mr. Obama, who was elected because people thought he was the solution. There's only so much negativity they will tolerate from him before they will feel betrayed," Mr. Luntz said.
Brad Blakeman, a senior aide to Mr. Bush from 2001 to 2004, said the new president's language is immature.
"It's not presidential. An American leader needs to be hopeful and optimistic - and truthful. Everything he says is parsed; everything he says is searched for deep meaning. When he goes to 'DefCon 5' on the economy and says that we're on the brink of catastrophe, it's absolutely insane."
Well, yeah. Even if the last guy quoted is a lil bit unclear on the DEFCON concept. Which is quite another story, to wit... civilians using military metaphors that they don't quite get. Inexcusable, from my point of view, but we digress.
One of the reasons Jimmuh went down to defeat at the hands of The Gipper was his pessimistic rhetoric... who among us old enough to remember can forget "malaise?"... which was the icing on the cake of his dismal performance. The One had better be careful in this space. But that's just speaking about The One. My biggest concern is for the economy... and the nation as a whole. I don't think it's mere coincidence the market seems to tank on the days Obama utters his latest doom-and-gloom predictions.
Wise-up, Mr. President.
Heh
Via Blog-Bud Morgan... an old joke, well told. Be advised: there are F-Bombs. But don't let THAT stop you from watching. Unless you're at work, of course.
I love it when women my age talk dirty. In a manner of speaking, of course. More here.
I love it when women my age talk dirty. In a manner of speaking, of course. More here.
News You Probably Can't Use
I have no idea why I did it, but I was looking at the Portales page on Wikipedia this evening and noticed (a) the page has been extensively edited since the last time I visited and (b) my Fair City is growing… much more so than I thought. From The Wiki:
Portales is a city in and the county seat of Roosevelt County[1], New Mexico, United States. The population of Portales and its near suburbs, contained in Zip Code 88130, was nearly 17,000 people in 2007, not including a majority of the city's college students.
That’s something like a 42% increase over what we announce to folks driving through our beautiful burg.
But this is what really caught my eye:
According to a study conducted by Bizjournals.com, of 577 micropolitan areas, Portales ranked 15th (ed: my link added) in the nation and ninth in the western
The study identified 12 categories including population growth, per capita income, small business growth, professional jobs, commuting, cost of living, and advanced degrees. Cities were given points for positive results and negative scores if they were below the national averages. These scores were then totaled to determine its overall rank on the list of micropolitan areas.
Portales, the smallest city in the top 25, received a quality of life score of 8.96, the 15th highest score in the nation. According Scott Thomas, the author of the study, the income per capita, short commuting times, low taxes, and substantial percentage of adults with a graduate degree contributed to the ranking.
[…]
Unemployment in
Well, now! One learns something every single day… I now know I live in a “micropolitan area,” whereas I previously thought I lived in the proverbial “one-horse town.” T’ain’t so! SN1 has long called
All joking aside, the last paragraph quoted above is largely responsible for my perception that the current “economic crisis”… as beat into my head by the Talking Heads on my teevee … ain’t everything it’s cracked up to be. I’m not saying the current recession isn’t serious — far from it. It’s just that we here on The High Plains of
―:☺:―
More local news… We got our first precipitation of 2009 this past evening in the form of massive thunderstorms that rolled through P-Ville and the surrounding area for about an hour and a half last night. “Driving rain” would be an understatement of massive proportions, Gentle Reader, and there was considerable hail, too. At one point I looked out the window and the ground was completely covered in hail… looking for all the world like a moderate snow fall. And have I ever told you about the racket hail makes on the roof of an RV? I have? OK… never mind.
I don’t have a rain gauge here on the premises of El Casa Móvil De Pennington, but my educated guess is we got about a half-inch of rain, perhaps more.
We needed it.
―:☺:―
In news of another sort… for the first time in recent memory I own the Grammy-winning “Best Album of the Year.”
Oh, and there were some trophies handed out. A leading total of five of those went to the unlikely tandem of classic rock demi-god Robert Plant and country angel Alison Krauss, who paired for "Raising Sand," a mystic-minded journey through American roots music. "Raising Sand" won for album of the year and the evocative track "Please Read the Letter" claimed the prestigious record of the year honor.
No… I didn’t watch the Grammies. Are you kidding me? I’d rather listen to hail beat down on my roof. And so I did. But reading that Plant/Krauss won big was a bit of good news. Taste is still alive in shit anything... as near as I can tell.
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Hockey Day in Portales...
Hockey and my morning coffee. I'll take it!GO WINGS!
Update: All's well that ends well: Dee-troit 3, Pittsburgh 0. Conklin gets the shut-out. My Sunday is pretty danged good, so far.
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