SUMMER TURNS TO WINTER

79 degrees yesterday. 37 as I write this at 9AM. Minnesota Sneezed after Winnipeg caught a cold. The cold front is the worst since last February! OOoooo. Now, this is interesting to me as I lived in Montreal for 2 years (where it's colder than Minneapolis where I lived for 11 years.) I know cold. In Farenheit and Celcius.

Here in Central Texas you might have thought this was a really big deal, as the news last night had TEAM coverage!!! Here's a reporter where it's 3o something up north of here. He's behind the cold front. Oooo. Here's another guy south of the cold front, where it's 70. Oooo.

I do get that this affects all the viewers so it has some buzz. Even at the local supermarket yesterday, Terri cracked wise about 'the storm' and elicted several cackles from strangers on the aisles. But come on!

Oh, last night we had thunder. And rain. Wind. Tornado warnings.

It's raining Perspective today.

OH CRUEL CUPID

Actress Pamela Anderson and her husband, recording star Kid Rock, filed for divorce from each other on Monday after just four months of marriage, according to court papers.

First Reese then Britney and now Pammy.

My god, why can't stars twinkle together!?

This particular tragic development just cripples the hopes of so many for that happy couple.

I guess Cupid's Arrow, shot from on high, pierced Pamela's breast implant, and stopped, never making it to her heart!

PEOPLE WE COULD DO WITHOUT

...knowing what they are up to. Permanently.

OJ SIMPSON
MICHAEL JACKSON
NEWT GINGRICH
DONALD RUSMFIELD
BRITNEY SPEARS
DICK CHENEY

The OJ book/TV deal was so amazingly tawdry, it's hard to believe anyone would stoop that low. But then OJ IS that low. Said he was doing it 'for the children' - right - like killing mom?

Mikey appeared at the World Music Awards and didn't do Thriller, as expected; instead he did a couple lines from We Are The World. (Someone should do another verse: Oh God, No You Aren't!) Now someone is promoting another show where he just is there. He doesn't do anything. The man IS the creeps on legs. And you read that where ever he goes legions of fans wait anxiously. Really? What lives are THEY leading?

Newt is planning a comeback. Please, Newt, sit down and stay there.

Donald Rumsfield. Just go away. Get a job in Dubai.

Britney. Sorry, girl. The trailer is calling you home.

Dick, go away. Or get arrested and jailed for Haliburton malfeasance. Then enjoy your new roommate, Hoss.

This list could go on and on. Sad, isn't it?

TRASH TALK

We have a 350 foot long driveway. Each Tuesday I take the trash to the street. Each Wednesday (Thursday if lazy) I bring the empty can and containers back. So that's 4 trips a cycle. 52 cycles a year. In ten years I will have walked 137.87 MILES of walking the trash!

I also figured that 10 years of walking the dog is about equal to walking across the USA.

Tell both to my stomach, where the calories like to sit.

THE AMAZING UNELECTROCUTED BOB

Weekly pool water test: Uh - Oh. First time since we had our pool built that the chlorine wasn't happening. It's a salt based chlorine generation system... breaks down the salt molecule into sodium and chlorine... via electricity. Nice. No smell. And very little salt is required. So I go to pool store for more salt. "No no," sez man... What's the count?
"3000."
"You don't need salt - have you cleaned your generator?"
"Wha?"
"You have to clean the generator."
"I do?"
"Yeah. When was the last time...?"
"...uh, never?"

So, adventures in instruction manual, plumbing, electricity, acid wash (lookit all the bubbles!)

I worried that even though I thought I had turned off the power, I hadn't, and would pay the price.

Man, was that grid clogged with scale! Exactly what the man said. I dipped in it acid at precisely the correct mixture, and amazingly didn't get any on myself. Here's 5 gallons of nasty mixture waiting for me to goof. History would suggest at minimum a nice scar.

But no. I triumph. Cheat fate. Live large. Keep skin.

THE NEW BETA BLOGGER

Is needlessly complicated. WHY DO I CHANGE THINGS WHEN THEY ARE WORKING FINE? Maybe it's the "final frontier" thing? But I get sucker punched AND NEVER LEARN FROM IT! So far, I don't like one thing from this - here it comes - one way - no going back - trip!

Logging in is a pain. The input screen is pretty different from the final screen (actually better, but misleading at the same time.)

I'm out of blog gas temporarily. Drawing a blank. I guess after more than 500 postings it's okay to pause a few days. Sure as the sun rises, I will have some self-serving opinion to put out into cyberspace very soon.

Did you know Canadians celebrate their Thanksgiving in October? Different indians?

HIKE

Terri planned another great adventure - we'd drive to Bastrop State Park (about 40-50 miles away) and we'd take a hike. Temperature was that of a cold front, low 60s. Perfect!

The park is really neat - trails are nicely laid out yet people were relatively rare so it felt like we were farther out in wilderness than we were. The wind blowing through the pines was all a hush. (Pines don't start till just about that area, as you head southeast out of Austin. They are very tall and the ground is cushioned by fallen pine needles.)



We found many geodes.

No wild animals were sighted.

And when we checked in to buy our pass, we each bought walking sticks... you've probably seen these - they are nicely done up, varnished, etc. Hers was $7, mine $8. Mine saved me from at least one tripping face plant so it was well worth it.



After we finished the 4 or 5 miles, we drove to the Hyatt Lost Pines Resort (fancy!) where we had a nice lunch. Upon leaving we checked out their store. There they had walking sticks. $46 each.

"ACCIDENT FORGIVENESS"

This is a breakthrough for Allstate . Whoever came up with the concept is brilliant! The insurance company has found a way to collect more money for essentially nothing AND get credit as being super nice caring people. That's just super!

We even signed up for it.

But here's what it really is... the insurance companies are really just statistic crunchers. They know that most people will never use the foregiveness part (which is supposed to 'forgive' an accident in that they won't raise your rates because you are a safe driver.) So they crunch the numbers and figure the profit, based on those who would have their rates go up, by how much, etc., versus those who would likely not have an accident. Viola! Accident Forgiveness. More profit. Good imaging. Brilliant!

THE BIG LIE

Bush the W explained that when the reporter asked about his support of Rumsfeld the other day, even though Rummy's leaving was in the works, he gave him his 'full support for the rest of his term' to get to the next question.

Uh, that would be a lie.

If you lie, don't stop. That's the lesson here.

So now that he's been caught, why would you believe anything the man says? Maybe he should adopt the circular lie strategy: here's how it works - you admit you lie. Then your lie might be a lie, which makes it the truth. I should have been a political consultant.

Wonder what Karl Rove is saying now?

Bush is now Mister Bi-Partisan. He'd better be. (Does he seem shorter to you already?) WIll the Republicans get the message about working for the sake of the country, not the party? Will they clap at the next state of the uniono speech?

Bush reminds me of some of the corporate guys I've seen in my career, who blow into town and make these pronouncements about the great things the company will do "going forward." Of course, they don't work out that way, and nobody ever brings up the bad "initiatives."

Rush Limbaugh said he was 'tired of carrying the water for some of these guys' who got de-elected. What that means, I think, is that he is a hypocrite. An entertaining one though. I suppose the cry will now be how the democrats are not doing enough.

VOTING

Okay, this is out of sequence with the entry below. So?

Yesterday we voted. The polling place was empty, or darn close. The machines were the new electronic kind and they seemed to be very responsive and easy to use. As I was making my selections I kept hearing, in a very tiny voice, words like "Democrat." At first I thought I was imagining it. Then I thought maybe the election officials had a talk radio station on, which seemed wrong. Terri was beside me on her machine and I asked her if she heard a voice. She pointed to headphones which were hung below my machine and which were confirming my choices! We assume I used the unit for the voting-challenged.

RUMSFELD RESIGNS!

Thank GOD! But you have to wonder what caused it only days after the President's 'forever or 2008, whichever comes first' line. (Whispered voice: election results?)

Is this the work of a humbled Rove? A chastened Bush? Or a selfless Rumsfeld (ha ha ha ha ha hahaha hahahahahahahahaha!)?

When someone's mantra is "stay the course, etc.", it seems odd to me that this happened.

I know absolutely nothing about it yet. Just that it happened.

Politics is full of half-truths, untruths, greed, slime. Wasn't Bush on the news just a few days ago saying the generals were calling the shots?

The changes weren't fast enough? Maybe W wants some approval now that the Democrats are on the ascendancy.

BOOK 'EM!

Yesterday I said, "I need a book to read." There were no likely unread candidates. I looked at our meager collection of read books (many were thrown out in the move here, a year and a half ago.) In that collection was one very old (1950s) book which I know I've read 4 times already. It's about Creative Realism, and I remember it being very very 'heavy.' I had to stop and think about what various paragraphs really meant on the first go-rounds. MUCH TO MY SURPRISE so far (100+pages) it makes sense! How'd THAT happen? No, it's not because I've read it before, as each of the first 4 times were as confusing as the first time through. Maybe I'm finally ready for the message. Hope so.

Written by a Canadian MD in 1952 or so, Creative Realism is a world view on a micro and macro level. How to fully experience life. A worthy read and goal.

WASP'S LAST ACT

I spotted this twin engine wasp by the window. At first I thought it was outside, but since Terri is somewhat allergic to stings, I got closer and yes, this horrible bee was inside.

Fearlessly I whipped out my handkerchief and snapped it, sending the wasp to the floor where I picked it up with the cloth.

$$@#^&!!!!&%!@#&!! Stung, right through the cloth. How'd it know? Stung right on my right index finger (my mouse wheel finger). After a few minutes the pain went away yet TODAY the finger is swollen and hurts more than yesterday.

I describe scorpions as land wasps and haven't been stung by one of those yet but at least now I have a recent comparison.

The wasp was sighted on my hand - Terri says, "It's on your hand!" I shake it off like I've been tasered and then crush it into bee heaven or hell.

Halloween !