Intellectual Poison

My sister forwarded me a good email titled California's Secession Letter to President Bush. I've posted the entire thing over on IP Politik.

Definitely worth a read.
Venom -1

As I've noted before, I've been with my company for a while now and have seen quite alot of people come and go during my time. Some have been very intense personalities, some have been wallflowers and some have been the proverbial bull-in-a-china-shop mentalities where they start trying to change things the instant they get hired.

Which is a bad idea.

Best bet for longevity here is to learn how things are done and then make adjustments to those codified processess. Don't push too hard too quickly or you will get bounced. And don't promise what you cannot deliver, that's just stupid.

Anyway, I just had a short impromptu meeting with one of the folks here. During the course of the meeting, he let me know that he was going to be a "flaming asshole" for the next 35-60 days because of the new hires, because of the new pressures being put on him to perform and the rather large target he put on his back when he came on board.

My question is, does public acknowledgement of an intention to be an asshole excuse the flaming assholery?

I'd be inclined to say that it does not but the warning is nice. Otherwise every politician would start every speech with a disclaimer that they were going to spew outrageous lies and try to make bad news sound good (yes, Georgie, we're winning in Iraq even though the terrorist attacks keep rising in quantity and severity).
Venom -1

[Update: Further, would you rather someone be nice and polite to your face and stab you in the back when you're not around or would you rather they be poison to your face as well?]

There's a vista point on my drive home along Highway 1 just a couple of miles north of Watsonville. It affords some pretty nice views of the bay from an elevated position and I'd been wanting to stop in and shoot a panorama for one of my Flickr groups.

Usually, I check over my shoulder as I drive up the large hill to approach the rest stop, if its exceptionally clear then I'll try to get over and get out to snap a few pics. Last night was gorgeous, no early fog anywhere on the coast, no low lying clouds, just a brilliant and sinking sun over the water.

So I pulled in and grabbed my digicam.

I should note that the only other time I've stopped at this particular vista point/rest stop was on the way home many months ago when the need to void was, um, excessive. They were still doing work on the bathrooms so they had Porta-Pots arranged.

I opened the first one that was unlocked and found a guy sitting inside, waiting.
For another guy to come in.
So that he could give them a blowjob.

Because I really had no interest, I excused myself and tried the next one, same thing. The third one was unoccupied and I was able to take care of the business I'd stopped in for.

And when I pulled back in yesterday, that episode played through my mind a couple of times and I wondered if there would be some kind of repeat. But the porta-pots were gone and there were only a couple of cars in the lot.

I'd also just seen a couple of girls walking towards the vista points with a couple of kids so I didn't expect much out of the ordinary. I stopped at the lower lookout and snapped a couple of pics but the trees were too tall and the view was pretty well obstructed.

I walked up to the top landing, expecting to see the two ladies and the two kids. But, instead, there were two guys hanging out. Each was leaning against the stone wall, about fifteen feet apart, definitely not together, definitely not sightseeing, definitely waiting for some "business", definitely not appealling in any way, shape or form (even if I were gay). I said hello to them and then jumped up on the stone wall on the far side to shoot my panorama. I could feel them watching me and wondering what the hell was going on and I could almost hear one of them worried about having their picture taken.

I shot the last of the six pictures to be stitched together, jumped down, nodded goodbye to them and headed on back down the path to my car. The pano turned out like shit because the sun was too low and glared out a third of the image and I will probably return to shoot it again. But I'll get there earlier in the day so the sun will be higher and maybe there won't be the commute hummer crew in attendance.

Part of me would have liked to sit down with and talk with either of these guys, to get an idea of what in the hell motivates them to hang out at vista points for random gay encounters. But I'm don't really know that I'd want to know the answer to questions like that. No judgments against them but damn, if I ever got to the point where I was hanging out at rest stops looking for some sex, I'd have to seriously re-evaluate my ambitions in life.
Venom 0

Those wacky Aussies are infectious, if a little creepy. I can now sing six or seven Wiggles' songs for my little guy.

And I don't immediately tap the Next button when one of their songs happens to come up on Random play. I like many of their songs, like "Chugga Chugga Big Red Car", "Shakey Shake" and "The Monkey Dance". Not because they're great songs or anything but they're catchy and they make Graydon's legs jiggle. I've caught him dancing a few times now and sometimes he doesn't even seem to be aware that he's dancing.

And I've also got to note that I should have known about the sonic brilliance that is Bill Withers years ago.
Venom +1

Found this campaign over on my pal, Captain Normal, and am more than happy to sign the pledge. The concept is to highlight WalMart's business practices in regards to women in particular because, really, WalMart doesn't like women very much, at least not enough to treat them equally to men. And really, what does it say about a gift you give your mother for Mother's Day (May 8th for those that aren't sure) when you're helping to propel a company that doesn't respect women's rights?

Want to join the growing group of people who refuse to support a company that has a long history of paying women less and promoting them to management positions ALOT slower than their male counterparts. Join me in saying we love our mothers (and sisters and daughters and girlfriends) and will not give our money to a corporation that treats them like second class citizens.
Venom -1

[Update: So where to shop for Mom online? How about a site that donates part of its profits to helping cure Breast Cancer? I've been a big fan of the Gear That Gives shops from the Breast Cancer Site. Not only do they have some really cool items, they benefit all women with their services and that's a really nice meta-gift for the important women in your life.]

Another picture from my nowhere near long enough aerial series from last summer. I've added quite a few notes to the image over on Flickr so, if you're inclined, head over and check out the details.

It is still on my list of things to do but, with the baby boy, the house, the dog and everything else, its very hard to commit to a couple of flights a month. And that's not even considering the expense of a couple of flights a month.

But its something I'm still quite keen on keeping working on. I'm still down with the idea of jumping from an airplane as well. And, I do have a a pal in the biz who would love to see me jump too. Maybe when she and her man move closer, it'll all come to fruition.

For now, I've got plenty of other stuff to keep me busy. We're installing the new living room floor this weekend and I've got some serious house projects to get underway.

To that end, J sent along the URL to a place called Tadalist that might help me stay on top of the ever shifting pile a little more easily. Especially since I can update the lists online easily.
Venom +1

It can be a bad thing when a word gets stuck on repeat in my head. For weeks I wasn't able to think anything without first dwelling on the word "nictitating" which refers to the kind of inner eyelid frogs and other creatures have to protect their eyes while under water. Yeah, pretty useless but its a pretty cool word. Just not for weeks on end.

Lately I've been playing two words over and over in my head, "Winkler" and "Sitzpinkel". Neither has an direct bearing on my moment to moment and day to day life but damned if they refuse to budge from the forefront of my mind.

Winkler may have perfectly innocuous uses in the course of a day but it is forever tied to slang for a man's penis. Its slightly German and slightly funny but is like superglue in my mind.

Sitzpinkel is another sticky word, it means, literally, peeing while sitting down. And it does not refer to women, its about men who are required to sit and pee so as to avoid making a mess. I'd think it was an urban legend but I had a buddy of mine tell me that his apartment mate required guests to sitzpinkel. I did not take him up on the offer to move in as I don't really take to having people telling me how I should void my bladder (unless I had a tendency to spray all over the place but that would have come up alot sooner).
Venom +1

Play Malt by Glenfiddich is a limited edition single malt scotch for Playboy magazine.

In his tasting notes, Mr Stewart described it as “vibrant and complex with a lively mouthfeel and long-lasting rich, sweet finish” and then he tried the scotch.

Abraham Lincoln once stated that "It has long been recognized that the problems with alcohol relate not to the use of a bad thing, but to the abuse of a good thing." More fun alkiehawl facts at Alcohol Trivia.
Venom: +1

I had an interesting conversation with my brother last week about the general tenor of posts to Intellectual Poison. He mentioned the ratio of venom to non-venom and that he felt the venom was pulling out and leading the non-venom posts.

So, for the next week or so, I will try to add a notation to posts at the end, the scale will be simple, +1 for non-venom, 0 for evenly venomous and non-venomous and -1 for venom posts. If his theory bears out then I will end up with a negative balance at the end of the experiment.

Should be interesting to see what the number looks like at the end of the week.

Beyond cute, he is just incredibly wonderful and adorable and fabulous. Graydon had fun with the helmet but wasn't really all that crazy about wearing it so much, until we got it properly adjusted and had him wear his baseball cap to help hold it up.

And then, when we did go riding, he fell asleep almost instantly.

But I love this picture tremendously. His cuteness has gone off the scale into uncharted territories.

Here's a fun game for all of you.

Lift up your keyboard and sweep all of the debris under it into a pile. How large is that pile? What's in it?

Yeah, I was pretty thoroughly digusted and think I might just go wash my hands now.

Well, so far, the first day back in the office has been pretty much of a wash. Got in nice and early and wanted to hit the ground running, destroy my thousands of spams, catch up on all the coverage and basically get the week going.

But nope, I've been sitting and spinning since about 8:30 this morning because my computer decided, during my vacation, that it wasn't going to play nice with the router. Four hours later, I've been assigned a static IP address and have access again. But damn, what a bad way to get back on the ball, eh?

Only 2200 spams waiting to be deleted when I got in. It would have been nice to let Thundbird have at them before I had to hand delete them but XO's webmail interface pretty well sucks. So that was fun.

I've got my eyes and ears going now though so I'll be able to actually be productive for the rest of the day.

I'm waiting to hear back from my sister about publishing a couple of pics of her and my nephew. Nothing risque, just nice to check and make sure they have no qualms with internet fame. Beyond that, its almost business as usual. Press releases to write, coverage to collect, interviews to set and oversee and lots more PR fun that's just too damned boring to relate here.

It is nice to be back at work, I just wish I could have slept in for four hours and then come in. Oh well. I'll be having lunch with my wife and little boy soon so I'm sure that'll be lots of fun.

Some of you may have noticed the addition of three drop down menus below the links to other IP blogs. Please let me know if they do not function as advertised, I put them together very late the other night and thought I'd tested them all but you never know. They were also only tested in FireFox though because I do my damndest to never run Microsoft software on my machines.

I'm not totally thrilled with the site design right now, it feels like its becoming cluttered again. What I'd really like are some of those articulating triangles to open up menus or an on/off switch to show or not show links.

On an unrelated note, my eye has turned a quite lovely combination of purple and yellow as the bruise spreads out and heals slowly.

[Update: The drop downs were created with much information found on Draac.com. They have a bunch of good info and their motto is "Building a Better Internet", seems to be working so far!]

It was a long day travelling yesterday, a good day but it was a long day, 27 hours to be exact, with the three time zone shift and all the hubbub.

Graydon was a magnificent traveller again. We had strangers on both flights letting us know that they were mightily impressed with what a great kid he was in the air. He made some noise during landings because his ears were popping but he barely cried and really slept a good four hours out of the total flying time. His rest made the day go so much easier its just not even possible to put into words clearly.

The funny (sort of) thing is that the most memorable part of the whole day took place while we were driving home from San Francisco where we were behind a drunk driver who was unable to successfully negotiate the connector ramp between Highway 101 and 85. He crashed his minivan into the concrete abuttment, shredded his front tire and sent a spray of plastic bits back into the road. He went back for more and bashed his car up some more before starting to swerve towards the shoulder on the right side. One car tried to sneak by on that side but was nearly hit by him.

When I saw he was coming to a stop and getting off the road (and was two lanes away), I moved around him quickly to get as much distance between him and us as possible. P, my lovely wife, disagreed with my decision but since I was driving, I got us around and away. And then we argued about it most of the rest of the way home which wasn't really the ending to the day I was looking for but what can you do?

We also called the CHP to let them know about the accident and I hope the guy was picked up before he could do any more damage to himself, his car or anyone else.

When we finally did get home, we had a huge and happy welcome from Nande who was almost winnying with joy at seeing us. And I was too amped to sleep so I added three drop down menus of links, inbound, outbound and archives to IP before finally succumbing.

Captiva was nice and we loved the time spent with the family. I'll write up more about the island, maybe even a formal review if I get a wild hair going. For now, its a foggy Sunday morning, we've got an amped baby boy and lots of unpacking, resting and catching up on our world out here.

It sure does feel nice to sleep in your own bed again though. Even if your dog is laying next to it and farting audibly.

Today we say goodbye to this great big house on the beach and go to sit in a flying cigar tube with a bunch of strangers who are praying our little baby boy does not scream his face off for six hours.

I don't imagine he will since he's such a marvelous little guy but it is possible.

Think happy, easy travel thoughts and we will soon, soon, soon be home to our little house with our great big dog.

And I am really glad that I was smart enough to take Monday off as well because it will take a day or two to get settled. And then I'm sure a couple more days to deal with the wonky time shift.

So I shall leave you with one final image (for now), sunset through our bedroom window last night.

Well, almost officially a party, I guess. Isn't the old saw, its not a party until someone gets an eye put out? Or is it not a party until something gets broken?

That someone was nearly me. Instead, I have a lazy looking eyelid with a purplish bruise, some minor swelling and a sore browridge. Almost a poked out eye and almost a broken orbit.

It was an accident but an eminently avoidable accident. One of my nephews and I were playing in the pool and he got a little too, umm, vigorous in his retaliation of some squirting that had been going on. He grabbed a plastic scuba guy and hucked it at me, hard.

I saw it in time to close my eyes but that was about it and it damned near hit me square in the eye. As it is, I felt like an asshole because I got pissed off and swore a bit, not at him mind you, at the pain and the unnecessary-ness of it all. I know he felt bad, he didn't intend on hurting me but dang, who knew a 5 year old could throw that well?

We've also seen the first departure from the family vacation, the original 13 is now down to 9 and it still seems like a lot but its all good and tomorrow should be a lovely day.

As for me, I'm well and truly exhausted and in need of a good night's sleep so that is what I am going to and try to find.

[Update: This morning it looks like I put on some eyeliner upside down, a lovely purplish eye liner across the entire top of my eye. Lovely. I'm sure the airport security goons will love that.]

Microsoft Caves on Gay Rights, Pressured by Evangelical Minister, Microsoft Withdraws Support for Civil Rights Bill, by Sandeep Kaushik (04/21/05).

Microsoft pulls their support for an anti-gay bill in the Washington senate because of pressure applied by an evangelical Christian pastor, that bill then fails and dies on the floor of the Senate.

Microsoft is not a company that anyone should willingly do business with. Not that I would willingly use their shitty products if I didn't absolutely have to. And that's part of the problem. Microsoft has sucked for years and yet, where are the viable alternatives to Office? Is StarOffice mature enough for widespread use?

Why hasn't Apple come out with a full suite of products yet? It shouldn't be that hard, they invented the spreadsheet for chrissake! They've got Keynote, they've got some of the other parts ready to go, let's bust it out, Steve. The world is literally begging for something else to use so that we can all let Microsoft and its shitty products and shitty philosophy.

There is a huge opportunity here, someone should be working night and day to capitalize on the desire for a whole world that would love a decent alternative to Microsoft and their bullshit.

No, not more vacation fun to report. Today's a good day for a whole other reason altogether. Today's a good day because the Yankees are in last place with their vaunted $200 million dollar payroll, paired up with the lowly Devil Rays. And my Baltimore Orioles' are on top.

Now, I know there are alot of people who think the Red Sox are just as bad as the Yankees for spending so much on their team and creating an utter lack of parity in the league. But, according to One Stop Baseball's calculations, the Yankees payroll for 2005 stands at a truly astounding $208 million. The Red Sox have the second highest payroll in the league, its true but theirs is $85 million LESS at $123 million. Eighty five million more than the next team? Come the fuck on Steinbrenner. There are three teams with payrolls of more than $100 million and the Yankees are more than double the Mets' $101 million. In fact, once you get out of the top ten team payrolls, NONE OF THEM ARE HIGHER THAN $85 million.

Combine the five lowest payrolls in the league and you still have to make up $23 million to match the Yankees. Five teams. That's the Indians, the Brewers, Pirates, Royals and Devil Rays (who beat them today with a payroll almost one SEVENTH of the Yankees' bloated bullshit payroll). By the way, of those five teams, one has a worse record than the Yankees, the Pirates at 4 wins and 10 losses. The team with the 6th lowest payroll is in a virtual tie for the league lead in the AL East, the Blue Jays and that's cool. Buying championships is about as close to cheating as one can get and its fucking lame.

Any team that tries to buy a championship is run by assholes who don't care about the game, they just care about another fucking trophy.

And I hope they continue to suck all season.

And would Bud Selig either grow a goddamned spine or step down as commissioner so that someone can put a damned salary cap on the league so assholes like Steinbrenner can't just spend, spend, spend and ruin the game?

Or, better yet, how about salary weighted scoring? The Devil Rays have the lowest payroll, they're runs should be worth seven times the inflated Yankees' payroll. That would make for some real parity and pricks like Steinbrenner would actually have to work to get talent and value, not just spend like its going out of fucking style.

Salary weighted scoring. That IS my good idea for the week. Don't expect many more.

So, Ha Ha Ha to you Yankees dickfaces. I hope you end up in last place and Steinbrenner has a damned embollism because of it.

Does this really need any verbiage to accompany it?

Hi, my name is Johnny and I have a confession to make.....

I'm a Flickr addict. I love the community, I love the groups, I love being to wander through everyone's pictures and I especially love the chance to leave a comment letting them know if I liked their pic.

And I found out that Flickr loves me right back. Since I upgraded to my Pro account before the end of the beta, they have given me a few great gifts in return. Namely, they've doubled the length of my account from one year to two years. They've doubled my monthly upload capacity to 2 gigs (I think I've gotten to 10% of one gig in a month so far but its a nice gesture!) and, the best one of all, they've given me two free Pro accounts to give away!

This is a company that gets "it". They understand how to build community, how to foster growth and how to let their members know that they are appreciated and loved.

One of the Pro accounts is already spoken for and I may give the other to a friend who takes really excellent photos but doesn't share them beyond his blog, although he really should since he's got "the eye" for it.

Yeah, we're suffering mightily here, the sun goes down, the sun comes up, the waves roll in, the wind blows. Its tough stuff.

This is from just about 100 feet from the house, right above the gulf. Day two was another provisions day with some beach time, some pool time, some quiet time and lots of shelling time.

Captiva and Sanibel are well known for being some of the best shelling beaches in the world. And the boys found some pretty interesting stuff last night. One of the finds is really pretty amazing and I'll be snapping pics of it later on to see if I can capture some of its curiousity.

The house is pretty well full. Aside from my little family, there's my brother's family of four, my sister's family of four and my mom and stepdad. Makes for a pretty raucous and loud house but its fun (until one of the kids breaks a toy or, heaven forbid, breaks one of the other kid's toys).

This is the first shot of the house we'll be staying in this week. We had a long trip, it went well overall but it really does suck when the airlines have to split up parents. It means one parent gets stuck dealing with the boy on their own. Not that he's a burden, mind you, but he's easier to get under control with a dedicated aide right next to me, not two rows and an aisle away.

But we have arrived to a beautiful location (panorama to follow) with all our goodies (save the stupid USB cable to connect to my photo printer but Radio Shack will set us right).

It should be a great, great break from the normal course of affairs.

Really the only bittersweet aspect to this vacation is that we do not get to take Nande with us. And I will miss her alot. For all her faults, she is a great, great pal to have around.

This morning we went down to the slough later than usual when the sun was up higher. She got to run for a good long time chasing the rocks into the brush. Only a couple of people came through, she was perfect and barely even registered them. Not even other dogs can get her off the rocks when she's gotten going on them. Her fixation is sometimes comical, especially when the other dog wants her attention and is trying to get in her face. Usually its a little dog who has to jump up to be seen and Nande just ignores them completely.

I think, that I will make a plea for next year's family go away to be out west so that we can bring our hound too.

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Sixth Level of Hell - The City of Dis!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Very Low
Level 2 (Lustful)	Very High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	High
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Very Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	High
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very High
Level 7 (Violent)	Very High
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Very High
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	High

Take the Dante's Inferno Hell Test

Found via my favorite road in America, the Glory Road. I'll have to keep honing my evilness to see if I can make it all the way to the big time at Level Nine.

There are several countdowns in motion this morning. The countdown to officially moving on to vacation time is a good one. I've got about nine and a half hours until I'm off the clock for a while. P's countdown to termination is also moving this morning, she's looking at becoming unemployed at 5 pm today. Its not a bad thing at all though, she either gets promoted to another position with her company or she has a great line on a position with a partner to her current company.

Then there's the countdown to departure with all of its own special issues. Flying is stressful nowadays and it gets moreso with an infant and I can't imagine how tough its going to be with an increasingly mobile infant. And we still haven't quite decided how we're going to play the car seat angle off. We can bring one of ours with us to use or chance the rental company's offerings.

Other countdowns include the settling of the estate but that's the clock they put in the detention rooms at high schools, it moves forward a second and then back a couple seconds and then forward a few until you think time's moving backwards. It'll get here eventually but watching the clock will make you nuts. Or me.

And then there are also the myriad errands and details to run before heading out to the airport tomorrow night. That's right, we're taking a red-eye across the country in the hopes that Graydon will sleep most of the time. Ebay auctions to ship out, cars to smog, health insurance to initiate, dog care directions to be written, Tivo schedules to update and more, I'm sure.

I know that I'll be pretty darned excited to finally set ourselves down in our seats tomorrow. And I'll be incredibly relieved to finally arrive in Florida to spend the week with my family.

I don't know, it's kind of a nice change, I think. Alot less busy and cluttered.

Stripped of common sense is a news article about Ohio liquor enforcement agents employing some pretty underhanded tactics to try and shut down a strip club.

They sent in an undercover agent to strip and get inside dirt to help shut them down. They gave her a false identity to keep her safe. The problem is that they cut and pasted her new "details" from a real woman in Ohio. She has now had her identity stolen by the state of Ohio, she has now had stripper added to her record and cannot do a damned thing to change it because the liquor cops acted within the bounds of the law.

Nice, eh? The sting operation was legal under state law because state law allows authorites to assume the identity of anyone they want to during an investigation. Which means, they can lie like rugs, steal like kleptos and won't be held responsible for it.

Ohio's been off my list of states I'd willingly visit. Now its on the list of states I would go well out of my way to avoid. The authorities are abusing their power but that's nothing new in Ohio, remember the Republican who was in charge of the election recount? Funny how no one else seems to anymore.

Check out what some smart fellas over at MIT are working on, Project: Parasitic Power in Shoes. Basically, they are researching the feasibility of generating small amounts of power by harnessing the energy lost in our locomotion. Its clever, green and very, very cool.

This is sort of another take on the concept of harnessing all that wasted power at health clubs of people on stationary machinery. Bikes, stairclimbers, treadmills, the people working out on them are using energy that could be captured and returned to the grid or used within the gym. It could also be used as a means of tracking and helping to encourage longer and more intense workouts. Give each member a card to track their power production and publish top producers and give them prizes and you've got an instant power generating station!
via

Time for last week's just in time for this week's Cheese.

What are you least likely to do?
I'm least likely to do anything that jeopardizes my son's future.

Who's life is better than yours and what makes it so great?
Anyone who's kids are through the teething stage is living better than we are right now. They get to sleep.

What does "How ya doing?" really mean?
I think it really means, get out of the way, you're blocking the sidewalk, I've got places to go and things to do and I really don't need to hear about your sore knee.

Why would someone say something as stupid as "Does a bear shit in the woods?"?
Because they are either a. too drunk to come up with something else, or b. too stupid to think for themselves so they have to speak in cliches and platitudes.

Would you rather be super strong or super smart? Would you trade that to be able to
fly?
Super strong, I've already gone the super smart way and it just doesn't get the chicks like being able to bench press a truck. And yes, I'd trade it in a heartbeat to be able to fly.

When wheels spin, why do they look like they're going backwards?
I think it has to do with a defect in our eyes where we're unable to process the flashing information so quickly and it becomes an optical illusion. Unless the wheels are those damned spinners.

What kind of a person would say "Well, you can't get there from here."?
Definitely someone from my old hometown in Vermonth where they delighted in subtly insulting them stupid New Yawkers who came through in their fancy cars and didn't know where they were going on their way to Woodstock for brunch.

Does something that smells good attract you more quickly than something that looks good?
If its food, then yeah, smell's more important. But if I were still single and I smelled a pretty lady before seeing her, I'd still have to see her before deciding she's a pretty lady.

Complete this sentence: Hoo-doggy, I tell you what.......
That boy ain't right.

He sure does a lot to make me look better. I look at this pic and see the little "tired" lines near the corner of my eye. I see the redness in my eyes and I see the perfection that is Graydon's skin.

His latest new trait is that he battles us to change him. He has perfected the "arch" and can now lever himself over from his back in about a quarter second. It is damned near impossible to get a diaper on a baby that refuses to stay on his back. And frustrating as hell when he won't stay still and you're changing him at 3 in the morning.


He also has developed a stiff legged speed crawl in addition to his regular style crawl. I've seen him race across a twenty foot wide room as quickly as I would walk it.

That and he has been learning how to eat Cheerios, that's always fun to watch.

Wisconsin Considers Legalizing Cat Hunting because, you know, cats are like crazy and they kill birds and stuff.

I'm sure there won't be any assholes shooting their neighbor's cat, removing its collar and then claiming they thought it was a wild cat. Nah, that'd never happen.

But it sure is nice to know that Wisconsin's trying to be known for something other than cheese. Now they can be known for cat killing too! Oh boy!

Nothing like getting a notice of a certified letter waiting at the post office, being late into the office to be able to swing by and get it and then to find out that its just more paperwork as my grandmother's estate is slowly, slowly settled.

Three more days until the vacation begins and P officially becomes unemployed.

By the way, her boss's new tactic to try and keep the shit from sticking to her? She's now going to pursue a stress related leave of absence for my wife based on post partum depression. Which is just great really, its not that the requirements of the position have changed, its that she's nuts because she had a baby. That makes total sense. For a woman I've barely even met before, I am starting to harbor some pretty severe dislike for her tactics and methods. So much so that I may, once my wife is free and clear of the company, write a letter to her direct boss in an effort to shine a light on her poor managerial practices.

When P was telling me about her latest efforts to look good when she's been acting poorly, I came up with the perfect descriptive term for her and all the other corporate fucks who will screw over anyone in order to keep looking good. She's a Survival Weasel, anything she has to do in order to survive is acceptable to her. She may be really crappy at managing her staff but she is an excellent Survival Weasel.

Do you have any Survival Weasel's in your world? Share your tales!

PS. Suck on this Blogger, you tried to trash this post but I'd saved it to a Word Doc! Suck on that, you fucker!

Disgraced Cardinal Says Memorial Mass for Pope

WTF?

This is about as sensible as having Charles "Fuckin'" Manson delivering the eulogy at Johnny Cochran's funeral. Why in the name of everything pretending to be good would you invite a disgraced kid-touching scumbag asshole "Poster child for the sex abuse scandal" to give the memorial mass for the Pope? But wait, there's more, he's also the guy who passed the pedophiles around to other parishs without reporting them. Why? Who the fuck could know how the mind of a sick kid molesting fuck thinks. The fact that he is free and not being stabbed to death in prison shows just how goddamned warped the church is.

Nice way to take a weedwhacker to the wounds that Cardinal Law inflicted upon the children in his church and all the others that he helped to screw by sending pedophilic priests all over. Nice way to show that the church will back its people regardless of their crimes against people or society. Nice.

Are they that fucking "out there" that they can't see that having Cardinal Law deliver the mass, they are effectively condoning his behaviour? That they, the church, is saying its okay to sodomize children? That, by consorting with pedophiles and sexual predators, you are associating yourself with criminals and scum?

Nice work, shit for brains. Maybe you can get the next Pope to publicly insult black people and Asians, that'll help boost your conversion rates, I'm sure.

And they don't seem to get that people are able to see this latest outrage and then their next declaration of permissible behaviour, see the inherent double standard they hold themselves too and then, on Sunday morning when its time to dud up and trudge off to church, that's why there are more and more people saying, "Meh, you know what? Fuck it."