COMING SOON

In a blatant attempt for more attention and views... I ordered Photoshop today. This might allow some good visual hijinx and fun for all.

If you see something you like, please have at it and share the url. Maybe I can brand whatever... who knows, but this IS Texas.

Have you seen those sites that show what retouching can do? Where they take a plain looking person and turn them into world class beauty? If I worked on screen in Hollywood I think I'd become pretty insecure quickly when I realized how many people it takes to make 'one.'

My goal will be parody and fun. Hang around.

FAN

I actually tried to find the e mail address of the producers of DIRT (on FX) which had its season-ender last evening. I have no idea if the show gets ratings but I was hooked from day one.

But the reason I wanted to write was to say the season-ending episode did exactly what they promised, and that was tie up all the loose ends. In fact, if the show is dropped, it still leaves one with a sense of completion. Either way, they nailed it.

The writing is great, the acting and casting really good. I am a fan. For my money, there are only a few shows of that caliber on TV today. The SHIELD starts next week, I think. RESCUE ME goes in June. BATTLESTAR GALLACTICA is off now till next year. FRIDAY NIGHT LITES is on the bubble, but is wonderfully done (local too.)

LOST still intrigues. HOUSE is a new fave. We were late on that one. And 24 still works VERY well. GREYS ANATOMY is a must see, but the recent "she died - no she didn't" story arc (arcette?) wasn't up to the usual standard.

THE RICHES looks like it might be good... from the previews. I've set TiVo to snag it.

And PLANET EARTH on Discovery is amazing. 5 years in production. I wish we had HDTV because it was shot in HD and has stellar pictures even on standard broadcast. I expect we'll make the leap this fall when hdmi 1.3 is more common. At that point it's start over with HD TiVo, HD or Blu-Ray Hi Def DVD, a new receiver with Dolby TrueHD, 5.1 surround, and so on.

SNAKE WARNING!

This past weekend we again went to Bastrop State Park where we had rented a cabin. The Houston Toad was in mating season (signs everywhere, then at night, you could hear them getting all romantic. Man, honky tonks aren't that loud!) I'll have some pictures once I download them. Still learning my camera which is wonderfully advanced and complex.

It's almost time. Snakes. Poisonous snakes. You can tell poisonous ones from others by their triangular heads. And that's why I am worried a lot - I am beginning to notice these poison snake signs everywhere I go.

COULDN'T RESIST

I FAILED

Tried to put a duck head onto the a 380 Motherofallairplanes Airbus. Couldn't. I need, but don't wish to spend for Photoshop.

Today will be interesting - Terri will fill the house with a Realtor lunch and I have to get away, but I have no plan except to get into my car and drive. I need to blow about 2 hours. Movies aren't open this early. The mall has very little to interest me. I have absolutely no good ideas. I was going to go fish, but it's rainy and I'm not that dedicated.

Movie - out
Bar - not my type of thing
Shopping for clothes - yuk
Shopping for high tech - cannot afford, and this fall is the time when better gear arrives and is worth waiting for
Mall - boring
History Museum - was just there
Hike - wet
Fish - wet
Hang out at Starbucks - don't have laptop
Go take pictures - dull day
Fly r/c Air Hog - too windy, muddy
I could weed, but that would embarrass Terri as her guests roll in.
Find Willie Nelson to bum some weed. Have no idea where he is.
Panhandle. My conscience would get me.
Go eat a long lunch. Not that hungry.
Cut myself on something at Sharper Image, prepare for lawsuit. Desperately bad idea.
Charter a plane and fly over house. Too low a ceiling (sky, not house.)
Rustle cattle. I don't know how.
Car wash. Rain.
Stop and smell the roses. Allergies.
Workout. Did it already.
Test drive cars I can't afford. Possible.

Check back for what I fear will be a boring summary of my 2 and a half hours on the loose, on the wind, on the fly, on the lam, in the moment.

Okay, I am back.

I hit the book store and spent quite the browse. Got three books and a CD I didn't mean to buy.

SCAM PROOF YOUR LIFE
SHOOTER (soon to be/already is a major movie)
DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY

I also browsed some Flying and Auto magazines and a Picture Book with pictures of stars. Stars from the sky. There are more than you could imagine. Unless you bought the book or know Stephen Hawking who hawked the foreword.

Get this - the new "maybe-they-will maybe-they-won't produce them" Cessna 2 seater small plane is targeted to come in at under $100,000. It'll have to wait.

I love the new Audi R8. $110,000. It'll have to wait.

What is it with 6 figures?

I also bought a Phil Collins Hits CD which I didn't realize I even had in my hand with the books. I go to Borders and listen to everything, then buy on line at a third of the price (www.yourmusic.com - warning - they don't have everything, but do have a pretty good selection.) So Phil gets his share of my $18.99, and he can get the Audi.

BIG SISTER? BIG BROTHER. 2008 not 1984

Somebody posted a high tech slam on Hillary. Now there's clucking going on about how the Internet could affect voting. Like the electoral process wasn't manipulated before!?? I think it's good. Even if the public creates wildly wrong or sensational or wonderful spots, until now, people have educated themselves (!) mostly on 30 second (simplified, sanitized, focus-grouped, imageful) ads and sound bites. A little internet fueled chaos might force voters to dig into the candidates positions a bit (lot) deeper.

They say it'll cost about a BILLION dollars to run for president in the next campaign (already begun) for all the candidates in toto.

The buzz surrounds a rip off of the Apple "Big Brother" spot that is legendary even though it only ran once, in a Super Bowl.

As I write this, over 750,000 people have viewed this viral video.

See for yourself.

CHICKEN FAT FUEL

Story in the paper today says outside of Houston they are burning chicken fat to power some generators as alternative sources of power. Now, I wonder how many chickens it takes per btu or therm or kilowatt?

Does the power plant smell like KFC for miles?

Clearly a job for geneticists... let's have some gene splicing for chickens the size of cows. Oil problems solved. Plus we corner the world market in feathers.

GUMMY BEAR GOES TO HELL (VIDEO)

If ever you ate too many... you'll love this.

HIGH DEFINITION PICTURES

credit: http://www.hdrsoft.com

They are really incredible. There's some special software involved - you take the same picture at various contrast levels which then, with the help of the software, brings out the detail you might see but your camera doesn't. I may indeed mess with this.

Also, I found another way to see from the air, our home...(not in hi def)



Which of course proves - they're always watching!!!! Word to the paranoid!

IF DICKLESS, THEN WHAT?

Maybe I slept through class when they covered it - I admit I had some profs who - for whatever reason - just zoned me out! I'd be on the serious nod.

Here's the question: Let's say the Scooter Libby thing, other pressure, and thrombosis cause Dick Cheney to resign or be let go. Then what happens?

I know Nanci (y?) Pelosi is third in succession to the presidency, but that doesn't mean she steps up to number two does it? Wouldn't George Bush get to appoint someone else (with no confirmation?)

It's a little scary...

George could then pick one of the Republican Front runners to get the person (I guess it'd be a man) invaluable extra exposure.

Hey, one more question? Is it me getting older and deeper into things, or is a LOT of stuff REALLY REALLY screwed up? Just for starters: FEMA and the trailers. The government where partisanship equals little gets done. Seems like if the congressman across the aisle gets a good idea it's automatically a bad idea.

Pork... the new improved hidden earmark process?

The huge waste and lack of oversight in, oh, spending on private contractors (no bids) in Iraq?

Walter Reed Hospital. Why doesn't someone step up and go right down the firing line?

I could go on, but the bile rises.

Please answer if you know the answers. Curious minds want to know.

DEFAULT RECOVERY SPECIALIST

I found this in the on-line classifieds:

The Default Recovery Specialist will contact borrowers, using strong verbal and written communication, sound judgment and decision making in order to prompt repayment and recovery of defaulted student loan dollars.

Default Recovery Specialist. That's fancy for arm-twister, intimidator. Not for nice.

...from the same minds that made janitor an industrial waste engineer.

CACTI

I replanted several this weekend. Wearing leather gloves. Leather gloves are like butter to those needles.

Every once in a while you'd see a cowboy fall off his horse into a mess o' cactii in the old Westerns. I got to tell ya, that dude was in hell for a LONG time. Unless he happened to travel with tweezers and maybe a magnifying glass.

I had unimaginably tiny spines in me. You could only see them in profile. Anything that thin should break, but apparently skin is more porous than we think. Best advice: leave cactii alone.

WHAT THE LABEL SHOULD SAY

Label says: Kills Hundreds of Weeds
Label should say: Kills a lot of one weed type, even hundreds.

Label says: Pure water. And shows Mountains or other natural place.
Label should say: Filtered water from you don't want to know but it's a big filter.

Label says: If you experience an erection lasting for more than 4 hours, see a doctor immediately.
Label should say: Good luck in the taxi, the elevator, the reception room. AT least when people point you can point back.

Label says: For children 8 and up.
Label should say: Not for parents to try to figure out.

Label says: May cause drowsiness.
Label should say: Find out what a coma feels like.