It's Early, But...

... we've already had our LOL moment for the day, courtesy of G+.  That would be this:

I MIGHT know the girl, if one considers sharing a bed for the best part of 23 years "knowing."  Yeah, in that biblical sense, too.

They Call 'Em "Tramp Stamps"

I wonder why...

―:☺:―

In other news...  I have a sneaking suspicion that today is NOT gonna be a nice day.  Why? 

Our humidity... at 50%... is well and truly above the "but it's a DRY heat!" point, which adds fuel to my not-a-nice-day fire.  I KNOW it's gonna rain today, mainly coz I washed the cars yesterday.  That's good for most of us...especially the ranchers... but not so much fer me.

Tonight's ADWH Soundtrack...

Leon Russell, with a tip o' the hat, a nod, and a wink to Hank...

There was a time...

Well, Yeah

From the Usual Source for such thangs...

More like yer basic moron in the last panel, no "oxy" about it.

―:☺:―

We stayed up quite late watching all the Curiosity stuff on the NASA Channel, right up until the point they went off the air (live) around 0200 hrs MDT.  The first press conference was seriously entertaining teevee... there's nothing better than watching giddy nerds celebrate success.  With one downside: Obama's science and technology adviser guy got top billing at the press conference and like all liberals... even liberal nerds... he HAD to get political, going on about how Obama was committed to space exploration, how Obama tweeted about Curiosity, Obama this, Obama that.  OK, guy... just STFU now, please?  His time at the podium was limited, thankfully, and I'm glad the NASA/JPL guys got him on and off quickly.   As I said, the rest of the press event was seriously good stuff.  I could do with more of this kinda thang and much less politics in my life.

The rest of the night/early morning wasn't as pleasant.  I'm normally and thankfully devoid of any sorts of physical ailments, but last night I had a case of indigestion from the depths of Hell and I can't really figure out why.  By that I mean I didn't eat anything spicy or unusual, so this was a semi-surprising event.  A good handful of Rolaids finally put an end to the issue.  I got to sleep around 0400 hrs but it was touch and go there for a couple o' hours.

Curiosity Has Landed

Shot of my teevee... JPL post-landing celebrations.

I've been watching the Curiosity landing on the surface of Mars for the past hour.  I was MOST impressed as the event unfolded; the atmosphere within the CalTech JPL went from quiet, apprehensive, and tension-filled professionalism to unbridled joy and pandemonium when Curiosity settled down and sent back its first pictures from the surface of Mars.  From the link:

A chorus of cheers and applause echoed through the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Sunday night after the most high-tech interplanetary rover ever built sent a signal to Earth. Minutes earlier, it had been in a harrowing plunge through the thin Mars atmosphere.

{...}

The arrival was an engineering tour de force, debuting never-before-tried acrobatics packed into "seven minutes of terror" as Curiosity sliced through the Martian atmosphere at 13,000 mph.

I hope you caught it, Gentle Reader, coz it was the ultimate "ya hadda be there" sorta moment.  It reminded me of the moon landings back in 1969.  Really... THAT big.  We've landed on Mars... Mars!  (OK, it ain't the first time we've put rovers there but it's the biggest, so far)  And ain't that America?  Hell Yes!

Wimmen I Wanna Hang With

And you know there may be MORE.

Tonight's ADWH Soundtrack...

Steve Winwood...

Oh, I've been sad
And have walked bitter streets alone
And come morning
There's a good wind to blow me home
So time is a river rolling into nowhere
I will live while I can
I will have my ever after

The finer things keep shining through
The way my soul gets lost in you
The finer things I feel in me
The golden dance life could be

Heard on Pandora this evening... I defined a Steve Winwood station a couple o' days ago, seein' as how (a) I love the guy's music (and I think he's one of the most under-rated artists of our generation) and (b) most of what I have o' his work is on vinyl and currently resides in SN2's basement.  I could have sworn I had this particular album on CD but I can't find it.  I strongly suspect "Back in the High Life" might have left with The Second Mrs. Pennington when she decamped all these years ago, but I can't be sure.  I really should have written down all of the CDs she took (like about a third of the classical inventory) but I didn't.  I kinda-sorta had other thangs to think about.  At the time.

Wherein We Join the 20th Century

Yeah, I know... it's the 21st century.  Bear with me.  I'm a BIG fan of those bag-meals and they're a staple for what passes as cuisine at El Casa Inmóvil de Pennington.  One feature every one of those meals has is this instruction: "Empty contents into a 12 inch non-stick skillet."  Well, we didn't HAVE a 12-inch... or any other size... non-stick skillet in our kitchen inventory, so we made do with a standard ten-inch aluminum skillet of the stick variety, oiled generously with a couple o' tablespoons o' olive oil for non-stick properties.  That was life as we knew it until two weeks ago, when we splurged and dropped 20 Yankee Dollars on a high-zoot Mirro 12-inch non-stick skillet.  Like this:

Buying that skillet might just be the smartest purchase I've made in the last couple o' few years.  I love the thing... it cooks well, and more importantly, clean-up is a BREEZE.  The skillet has yet to see the interior of my dishwasher as I can clean it up in about three minutes and set it on the counter to dry.  I couldn't say the same for the old stick-skillet, as I usually had to let that sucker soak overnight before attempting to scrub it.  I loves me some technology, even if I'm ten years late to the party.  Or longer.

Oh.  What was in the skillet?  This:

Shrimp scampi in garlic sauce with linguine.  Dinner was completed by the addition of a large salad and a vintage Dr. Pepper.  Dinner's done, as is the cleanup, so I think it's time to retire to the verandah and take the evening air.

Live!

I bought some new music last week... Peter Green's "Blues Don't Change" and the Tedeschi-Trucks Band's "Everybody's Talkin'."  I batted .500 in the effort, much to my dismay.  Mr. Green didn't disappoint (as usual) because his latest is a cover of old blues tunes and there ain't a clinker in the bunch.  Susan Tedeschi's latest outing is one I'll prolly give away, assuming my blues-aficionado grandson Sean will take it.  The issue?  This two-disc set is a LIVE album and I violated... or forgot... my dictum about NEVER buying live albums before I hear 'em.  Most of the cuts on "Everybody's Talkin'" are way too long, descending into the depths of 70s rock band extended jams excess.  And I mean EXCESS, as in Allman Bros "At Fillmore East" Mountain Jam excess (that track was one whole side of a two-disc vinyl LP, back in the day).  I find most live albums fall into the "excess" category so I tend to avoid them... except when I forget.  Like last week.

Don't get me wrong: I love Ms. Tedeschi and I'd go see her in a heartbeat.  Bein' at a concert for those long jams is entirely different than bein' in yer living room or even in yer car.  Ambiance, bay-bee, ambiance.  Drugs might have sumthin' to do with that, too.  Or did.  Mebbe.

While we're on about live albums... there are two exceptions to the rule.  The first is the aforementioned "At Fillmore East" which has some incendiary guitar work by legendary Brother Duane, the other is the Stones' "Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out," which gets my vote for the best live album of all time.  That CD lives in my car, which is where ALL the great music I own ends up.  There ain't a bad track on that album and the performances are picture-perfect, both in duration and expertise.  All live albums should be so good.

Oh.  Don't get me started on the Grateful Dead.  Yes, I own a boatload of the bootleg series (Dick's Picks).  Yes, their signature style is the interminable riff-jam.  Yeah, I like it.  Remember what Emerson said: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."

Saturday

In honor of the Olympics... an oldie:

But it's a goodie, innit?  It's slim pickin's at the viral vid sites today.  We went to our third string provider for what you see above and you'll note it's been around for-freakin'-ever (over five million views!).

―:☺:―

Apropos o' not much... our fears didn't materialize yesterday, as it never even got to 90 degrees after the rain.  I went out and had a couple o' beers and a cigar on the verandah after posting my update to the "rain" post and it was very comfortable outdoors... with a few more passing cloudbursts to enjoy, even.  After Dinner Whiskey Hour was most enjoyable, as well, beginning at around 80 degrees at 1830 hrs and dropping into the mid-70s by the time I returned indoors.  That was a nice lil break, but it's back on our heads today—104 is the forecast.

98 Degrees and PISSING Down Rain

Our temps began dropping as the storm moved in; it was 102 about 15 minutes before the storm hit... and it hit HARD.  I love the rain, and The Deity At Hand knows we NEED it, but it's gonna be right miserable once the rain stops.  A couple o' snaps:

Notice the street in the background of the first shot... four minutes into the cloudburst and it's already flooding.  The second shot is just a grab-shot of the wake kicked up by a passing pickup.  The temp dropped ten degrees in as many minutes once it began raining in earnest, but THAT won't last.

Update, ten minutes later.  It was over almost as quickly as it began.  Here's a shot o' the 17th Street Canal and Inter Intra-City Waterway...

Our temp has begun to climb already.  Aiiieee.

Dog Days Upon Us

Didja ever wonder about that term?  Wonder no more (I loves me some Wiki!).  And they are well and truly here.  We stretched ADWH out until 2330 hrs last evening and checked the temp as we came in from the verandah, just for grins and giggles.  It was 89 degrees at that hour.

We did something we almost NEVER do, given it's gonna be another hot one today (forecast: 108), and that would be setting our alarm phone for 0700 hrs this morning, all the better to get out and about before the broiling begins.  And we did... hitting the streets around 0800 hrs to run our errands (we had to get caffeinated first, yanno?), which we completed in about an hour and a half.  It was nice to run around town in The Green Hornet with her top down and Mick serenading the locals with a suitably loud rendition of Loving Cup, which I'm most certain all within earshot appreciated.  Or not, about which I truly don't care coz it was for me, anyhoo.  So we're done, what with having unloaded our groceries in the relatively cool temperatures of 85 degrees and having received our minimum daily requirement of al fresco motoring.  I'd forgotten how good it feels to get up with the rest of the world.

―:☺:―

And then there's this from My Buddy Ed In Florida...

He didn't like my casserole
And he didn't like my cake.
He said my biscuits were too hard.
Not like his mother used to make.

I didn't perk the coffee right.
He didn't like the stew.
I didn't mend his socks 
the way his mother used to do.

I pondered for an answer,
I was looking for a clue.
Then I turned around and smacked the shit out of him . . .
Like his mother used to do.

******************************

I love a good poem, don't you?

Heh.  I loved every little thing both of my wives did, always... and even most of my girlfriends, too.  My Mama didn't raise no dummies.

Tonight's ADWH Soundtrack...

Nina Simone...

It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me.
Yeah, it's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me, ooooooooh...
And I'm feelin' good.

No...it's a new night.  It's also 94 freakin' degrees outside, and the sun went down over 45 minutes ago.  But, Hey... it only feels like 90.  We are feelin' good, in spite o' thangs, and we'll only feel better as the full moon climbs higher into the sky and the night wears on.

So there's that.  We've got our refill and now it's back out to verandah to continue as we've begun.

We're Beginning to Wonder...

... about SiteMeter.  The app was down all day Sunday and appears to be down again today.  Note:

I find it hard to believe I got zero visits or page views between 0600 hrs and 1330.  Impossible, in fact, given that I received several comments during that time.  And then there's this:

Yup.  Disconnect, big-time.  Anyone else havin' problems with SiteMeter?

The Gift That Keeps On Giving...

... for us folks that DIDN'T buy into the IPO, that is.  From TechCrunch:

Today, Facebook hit a new milestone, perhaps one that it won’t be celebrating much: the stock went down past $20 a share. In fact, as this post is being written it’s trading at $19.99.

[...]

When Facebook first listed on May 18, its shares opened at just over $42.

This almost makes me feel bad for those chumps that bought in.  Almost.   

Related (and here, too), from yesterday.  That's only related as far as the general subject of Facebook goes.  But 83 million phonies?  That's a lot.

Meh

Tempest, teapot.  Or, only in America.  There's at least one thing the asshat Democrats who precipitated this ridiculousness didn't count on... and that's the flap would be very good for Chick-fil-A's business.  That and an object lesson along the lines of "do you REALLY want these guys in charge?"  I sure as Hell don't.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

Sly and the Family Stone...

We're just in from the verandah... where we enjoyed a Shiner Ruby Redbird and the remnants of last night's ADWH cigar... and it's HOT.  Like this:

We've already broken the record for this date... the former hottest day bein' 98 degrees back in 2002... but it doesn't FEEL all that hot.  I've been warmer... like this:

The ambient temperature during the day was in the high 90s, as was the humidity. We were working on a blazingly hot white concrete pad, which acted as a hellish solar reflector, intensifying the heat and making working conditions all but unbearable. You literally couldn’t touch the metal pieces of that antenna without wearing gloves, it was that hot. We worked 20 minutes outside, then ten minutes inside the air conditioned shelter, then 20 minutes back outside again, eight hours a day. It took us an entire week to disassemble that damned antenna and pack it up. I must have sweated off ten pounds, and for a light-@$$ed guy like me, that’s a lot.

I've felt hotter on any given August day at Boron AFS in the Mojave Desert.  Or marching to and from school in August down at Keesler Airplane Patch in Mrs. Hippy in the wayback.  Or working inside a radome on Guam.  Or even sitting in the back of a C-130 on the ramp at Don Mueang AB in Thailand.  Or we could be in Abu Dhabi (visualize a wink and a nod here), where the forecast high tomorrow is 111 flaming hot degrees.  So we need to keep thangs in perspective, yanno?  Hot fun in the summertime, indeed.

Gear-Head Stuff

With a kinda-sorta local connection, if'n you consider four hours away "local:"

High Plains Drifters, indeed!

Really?

Well, you SHOULD care... coz there's single-malts, gin, bourbon, wine, yadda, yadda, yadda.  It's a wide wonderful world out there.  

From the Shoebox blog.

Summer's Here and the Time Ain't Right...

... for dancin' in the streets.  Unless the dancin' begins sometime around 2100 hrs.  Witness:

No outdoor Happy Hour today.  Hell, no outdoor Happy Hour for the rest o' the frickin' week, from the looks o' thangs.

―:☺:―

In other news... we did the deal with Cafe Press, choosing the middle photo as the one for our tee shirt, to be silk screened on the back (of course), with a small Caddy logo on the left breast.  Well, we THOUGHT we did the deal until this morning, when we found this in our in-box:

Dear Norman E Pennington,

We regret to inform you that we are not able to fulfill your CafePress.com order at this time. Your order has been canceled because items in your order contained content which violated our Content Usage Policy (CUP). You have not been charged for this order. 

The content in question is all that Cadillac stuff, like the crest, et al.  Just as well, as I was having buyer's remorse about paying 44 gotdamned Yankee Dollars for a frickin' tee shirt.  Thanks, Cafe Press.  Srsly.

My Father's Air Force

From the Usual USAF Source...

The last active B-17 Flying Fortress in Europe performs a fly-over above the former Knettishall Airfield, England, July 14, 2012. The fly-over was part of the 388th Bombardment Group memorial re-dedication at Coney Weston, England. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Megan P. Lyon)

Eternally Grateful: A B-17 trailing smoke overflew US airmen in World War II flight uniforms at the former Knettishall Airfield in Coney Weston, England—home of the Army Air Forces' 388th Bombardment Group (Heavy) during the war—to salute the group's members killed in raids over Europe. More than 200 guests attended the July 14 rededication of the monument to the group's war dead. That date was the 70th anniversary of the first 8th Air Forces crews arriving in eastern England, according to a July 23 Air Force release. "It's an incredibly moving experience to see the incredibly warm relationship that still exists between the local British people and the Americans," said Olivia Leydenfrost, daughter of a former 388th BG bombardier. First erected in the 1980s, the monument recently saw the addition of two stones listing the names of the airmen lost in the war. During its time at Knettishall, the 388th BG operated B-17s. (Coney Weston report by SSgt. Megan P. Lyon)

The Ol' Man was part of the Mighty Eighth during The Big One and flew his 20-something missions in B-17s over Der Vaterland.  It's good to see him and his comrades-in-arms remembered and memorialized.

Tonight's ADWH Soundtrack...

Leon Redbone...

I want to be seduced, I want a woman to take me out to dinner for two
I want to see her eyes gettin' moody,
Flirtin' with the thought of what flirtin' can lead to
I want to act real cool, have her think about gettin' little me in bed
Have a chat about Magna Charta, or Puerto Vallarta, or somethin' Gandhi said

I might demur politely, falter slightly, if she starts to fondle my knee,
But I'm relatively certain I'd compromise if I know me

I want to be seduced, I want a woman to talk to me suggestively
I want to hear her say she'll be with me tomorrow morning,
Drinking hot jasmine tea

I want her to make me laugh, make a point of touching me when she talks
Leaving all the jealous guys in the joint to mumble in their beer and gawk

I LOVE the lyrics to this tune.  It's funny, and not funny ha-ha, but I never got the sorta of reaction I WANTED when I played this lil ditty for the then-object-o'-my affections in the wayback.  Unless you consider uproarious laughter "desirable," which I did, on occasion.

Well... the heat o' the day has passed and now it's time to retire to the verandah and think about gettin' seduced. 

More Plane Pr0n Than You Can Shake a Stick At

Courtesy of Comjam, posting at The Lexicans, a most remarkable library of historic military aviation film... including this:

Well, there goes most of THIS week.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack...

... in which we take our cue from comments to our previous post.

Heh.  In that same vein, daughter-in-law Erma was in P-Ville this weekend and she dropped over last evening to tip a few beers and fix the world, in general.  Part o' the fixin' that was required was the inevitable post-mortem concerning our debacle of a trip to ABQ in the recent past.  In so doing it came to pass I was informed that The Second Mrs. Pennington is a wino now, having left behind her prodigious thirst for beer in favor o' the grape.  We're not talkin' out o' school here, but I have it on good authority that Erm and Paula stayed up fixin' the world until 0330 hrs the night after I left.  I always miss the best bits...

―:☺:―

Artsy-fartsy...  We went lookin' for a simple black Cadillac tee-shirt earlier today and were right disappointed in the paucity of selections in that space, what with there bein' sumthin' like elebenty-hundred tee shirts depicting Corvettes, Camaros, and Mustangs, yet only about six o' the Cadillac variety, almost all of which I wouldn't be caught dead wearing.  Now I understand that Cadillac owners don't usually fall into the tee-shirt demographic, bein' more of the "blue blazer" type o' folks.  Still and even, you'd think there would be ONE tasteful design for us déclassé Caddy types.  But... noooo.

So we got to thinkin' "Cafe Press," wherein we'd design our very own tee shirt... in black, of course.  And we took some pics (14, to be exact) for our prospective tee:

I like the last one best as I think the clouds add a lil sumthin'.  Do you have an opinion, Gentle Reader?

The Sunday Re-Run

Blog-Bud IT and I were doin' a lil reminiscing about our experiences with Nipponese alcohol and he happened to mention whiskey.  And it occurred to me I'd posted sumthin' along those lines a while back, so I went lookin' for it.  Sho' nuff...

Interesting

I'd try it.  And that's saying a LOT, since I've long had nothing but contempt for Nikka's products.  But my contempt is based on my experiences with Black Nikka, the most common well whiskey in Japanese bars. That was true during my stints in Nippon in the way-back; things may have changed.  Black Nikka is one of the roughest, nastiest whiskeys I've ever had (except maybe for Mekong) and is comparable to Ten High in quality but not taste (Nikka is scotch-like).    But then again we're talking lowest common denominator rot-gut swill.  Nikka is thinking about importing their good stuff... and I'd try it.  One thing I've found in my whiskey explorations is price and quality ARE directly related... you definitely get what you pay for.

Well, it's been two and a half years since I put that post up and I still haven't seen any examples of the product.  But then again, it's unlikely that I would see any here in P-Ville.  Mebbe I'll look the next time I traipse off to ABQ.

The Usual Saturday Post

I was gonna post the Olympics greeting from London's Lord Mayor, but it's too Brit-centric for us Muricans.  I didn't get a lot of the references which tells me I'm too long removed from Ol' Blighty.

But I DO get all of this:

Heh.  Speaking of the Olympics, I finally turned on my teevee last evening to watch the Opening Ceremonies (which, if you're not keeping track, was the first time I've switched it on since June 9th).  I lasted all of about 20 minutes until the inane NBC commentary made me switch it off and go out to the verandah for more illuminating activities.  The experience was most certainly illuminating... the sky was crystal clear and the light from a Waxing Gibbous moon was astounding in its brightness.

The vid is from the Usual Source, of course.

Seriously In Our Cups

We've been outside on the verandah since 1900 hrs and we're at the point where we're dangerous.  Like this:

So put me on a highway
And show me a sign
And take it to the limit one more time 

Dangerous would mean three iterations o' "two fingers" o' scotch, followed up with three Rusty Nails.  It's taking every fiber in my rational being to avoid getting in The Tart, setting her cruise control at 80, pointing her in a southerly direction, and tuning the XM to a blues station, the upshot bein' I could be in Ciudad Juarez before last call (Heh.  There's never a last call there.) if I left right now.  God bless us everyone for the ... ahem... wisdom that comes with old age, coz I think I'm gonna put it to bed rather than hit the highway.  But there WAS a time...

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack... Chirps

Today we changed up after two days of Matchbox Twenty... two days of self-abuse, which we did mainly to see if we could.  Stand the pain, as it were, coz most of the tunes on that Pandora station are from our personal Apocalypse Now period.  So, we withstood it... Hell, we actually enjoyed it.  Kinda-sorta.  But today we're off to kinder and gentler music, which is to say the Joan Osborne station, which never fails to make me smile... mainly coz we loves us our chirps.  First of all, this:

I find it magical (hey)
I feel like I'm loving you in 1963 (hey)
Flowers in my hair (hey)
Little bitty hearts upon my cheek
Baby, you'll be on my mind
'till I kiss you next time

My first thought:  Hell, YES!  Love me like it's 1963... when I was 18 and at my sexual peak, according to experts who claim to know about these things.  My second thought was 180-out... as in Hell, NO!  1963 was the year I graduated from high school, had my heart broken by the lovely but clue-free Roxanne, ran away and went through basic training, and was otherwise similarly indisposed and going through massive changes.  If I wanna go back and be loved in a certain year I'll take 1976, thankyaverymuch.  THAT was a year of good lovin', but we shan't digress.  And then there's this...

Lay your body down, come and let me bring your body down
Listen to my voice, the only sound
As I lullaby you, lullaby you down

Dang, I love this woman's voice (she's a hottie, too).  Yeah, I'd let her lullaby me right down.

And then there's THIS...

Wherein we're renewing an old acquaintance.  We drank more than a few of these when the Lights Went Down In The Sit-tay (ed:  You DIDN'T.  me: Yeah, I did and it hurt me, too.  Sorry.), once upon a time in the near-way-back.  And now it's back outdoors to continue as we've begun.

Who Do You Trust?

No, not that ol' game show (if you're of a certain age)... statistics.  Blog stats, to be specific.  Consider:

That's what Blogger sez happened here at EIP over the past month.  Here's what SiteMeter sez:

There are some serious disconnects here.  Note that Blogger sez I received over 600 page views on 7/24 and SM sez I got 473.  I've never received 600 or more page views in a single day according to SM, ever.  (There are more daily disconnects, too... just look at the delta between the two systems for today and yesterday.)  What's even more curious is Blogger Stats claims I got 13,543 page views last month, as opposed to SM's count of 11,079.  And then... total lifetime page views according to Blogger: 287,201.  What does SM say about my lifetime page views?  433,038.  That's one helluva difference and is counter-intuitive, based on Blogger Stats' monthly and daily counts over the past few months.

I'm SO confused.  Not that it really matters, but we do tend to look at this stuff from time to time... just for grins and giggles.

So Then There's This...

That's a screen shot of this article at NBCNews.com and I chose to post the screenshot because of the poll at the lower right.  Granted, this is a VERY small sample and the poll is unscientific at the very best.  But: suspicions confirmed, eh?

I have other issues with this study, as well.  While I feel the findings are more than accurate for hip-hop and its various permutations (i.e., too frickin' loud and sounding the same to the point of serious monotony) I feel that comparing Led Zep or The Stones to anyone from Motown or the Beach Boys, even, is a bridge way too far.  By that I mean the study allegedly examined pop tunes all the way back to 1962, so you'd have to include artists like Sinatra, Herb Alpert, and Tony Bennett in that mix, too. They sound the same as Snoop Dog?  Yeah, right.

YMMV, of course.

h/t: Shoebox blog.

Heh

I LOVE the donkey's expression.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack... Owning the Gray

The Grateful Dead...

The shoe on the hand that fits, there's really nothin' much to it
Whistle through your teeth and spit, 'cause it's all right
Oh well a touch of grey, kinda suits you anyway,
That is all I had to say, if it's all right
I will get by, I will get by, I will get by, I will survive. 

Heh.  I bought this album and really liked the song when the album first came out these 25 years ago.  That was about the time when those first touches of gray began to appear and they most certainly "kinda suits me, anyway."  That was then... this is now, when we're ALL gray.

So... fast forward to yesterday when we made our second visit to the lovely Renee, exactly two months to the day since our first visit.  I still love the girl dearly, mainly coz she sez all the right things, at exactly the right time.  Case in point:

She:  I can't get over how beautiful your hair is... it's so thick and so healthy!
Me:  Yeah, in places.

The "in places" bit is in reference to my widow's peak, which is getting quite thin, of late.  (Interesting term, that.)  But we digress, and we shall digress further.  My quarterly visits to the barber shop will likely devolve into bi-monthly or even monthly visits in future, mainly coz Renee cuts my hair like I want it to be cut... which is to say longish.  We did quarterly visits to our barber in the past, coz it took at least that long for our hair to grow out after past barbering butchering sessions.  No more, however.  This most recent visit, at two months, might have erred on the two-weeks-too-long side.  But we'll see.

Digressions aside, Renee recommended I stop by Sally's and pick up a bottle of Shimmer Lights shampoo, all the better to bring out the "stunning silver" in my hair (her words... like I said: she sez all the right things at all the right times).  I demurred on the Sally's bit, mainly coz a trip to Sally's in The Big(ger) City™ would have resulted in a 40 mile side-trip on my way home.  But I WAS interested enough to go out to Amazon and check out the recommended product, which is sorta spendy.  I don't mind "owning the gray," coz I earned all of that.  OTOH, if shimmering gray silver hair is considered sexy in some demographics it MIGHT help my campaign to avoid sleeping alone for the rest o' my life.

I'm tempted.

Not Your Father's Air Force XVIII

From the Usual USAF Source...

Can't We All Get Along?: Reflecting on the fact that the Air Force—and no other service—has seen three top leaders fired, one resign early, and one publicly reprimanded over the last 20 years, outgoing Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said he doesn't think the service has a problem getting along with civilian leadership. In none of those events was there any suggestion of "malfeasance" or a "criminal context," said Schwartz on July 24 during his final meeting with Pentagon reporters before his retirement ceremony on Aug. 10. "We work for civilian masters in this country, and that's the way it works," observed Schwartz. "All I can do is tell you is that in my own experience, there are lots of reasons for leaving a position . . . and not all of them are what they appear to be," he added. As for the current "trust" issue with Congress, Schwartz said, "we all know what the remedy is" for that. While he declined to name the cure, he said, "let's just say . . . making force structure reductions is not for the faint of heart." (Schwartz transcript)

—John A. Tirpak

I didn't know USAF had had THAT many leaders fired.  Or perhaps I did... it all depends on how you define "top leader."  To me that term means Chief of Staff or perhaps MAJCOM leaders, but if you broaden it to include the various Assistant Secretaries and Under Secretaries, then yeah... I suppose I knew that.  General Schwartz was also being somewhat coy with his "we all know" remark.  Hell, the man is retiring next month and he SHOULD be able to call a spade a spade.  There ain't a congresscritter alive who'll support force reductions or base closures that affect HIS constituents.  Ain't never gonna hoppen, Gee-Eye.  And Today's Modern Air Force is just like Yer Father's Air Force in that particular regard.

―:☺:―

And then there's Ramirez...

If I got the plot to Thelma and Louise right, there was a REASON they drove off that cliff... no other choice.  Not so with our gub'mint.

Earlier This Afternoon

It began raining around 1600 hrs today...

...and it still hasn't stopped.  It hasn't been a steady rain, more of an off-and-on, stop-and-go sorta thang, but there has been a lot of it.  So much such so that the 17th Street Canal and Inter-City Waterway is beginning to reach navigable status.  Yays!

It's nice and warm outside and the rain is mostly in a vertical plane, which is to say the verandah is reasonably dry.  I do believe we'll tap that new bottle of JW Green I bought today, fire up a cigar, and go enjoy the show.

Is This ME... Or What?

Heh.  And this is SHE...

Blog-Bud Loosy-Anna Andy doesn't think this is one of her best.  But, Hell... Sunny on a bad day is better than most political pundits at their best.