Weird mood

Not sure exactly why I haven't felt like blogging lately. There just hasn't been much to say, I guess. There's a lot going on, but at the same time, there's really not much going on. Does that make sense?

I'm starting to want to become much more of a homebody. There's a lot I want to do to our house, and for the first time, it's that I want to, not that I feel like we have to. So that's kind of cool. But it's also frustrating because I look at our calendar and in the next couple months, there are only a couple of weekends with nothing scheduled. Luckily, one of those is soon, so we're not likely to schedule anything else over it and can get some stuff done.

I don't know. It's just been strange lately.

Sorry for the lame post. Enjoy your holiday weekend. If you're in Hilton Head, come to the Wild Wing and watch the England game with us!

Blog Themes, Inspiration, and Great Songwriters

While Funkle Ester was busy winning the Flagpole Award for Best Cover Band (YAY!), Dave and I were at Eddie’s Attic watching one of my favorite songwriters perform. I must thank Dave publicly for being so sweet, patient, and understanding to go with me and sit four feet from the stage next to me while I swooned over Radney Foster. He’s a wonderful man, who puts up with a lot from me (Dave, not Radney) in the way of forced screenings of girly movies and country music, for instance.

I’m happy to say that Dave appreciates good music, even if it’s country. This is great for our relationship, because, though I pretty much have to introduce it to him, he’s open to listening. And he seems to have truly enjoyed the show last night.

This time around it was Radney and his acoustic, with another guitarist (Eric Borash) with an electric guitar.

What’s interesting is that I’ve noticed a few themes in Radney’s music as I’ve listened to it more and more. A big theme of his is taking chances. And in his most recent albums, he’s written a lot of songs about love and happy relationships. I know you’re thinking, but wait, didn’t you say he’s a country singer? Yes. I have to say, I’m impressed with his ability to write songs about great love and when things go right, or even sticking it out when things in life go wrong. He’s got plenty of love-gone-wrong songs, too, but so many love-is-great songs. It seems that most songwriters can only write when they’re miserable, so it’s nice to hear one that can write no matter what.

Good grief, I’m rambling here.

Favorite lyrics? Well I could probably quote from 40 different songs and count them as favorites. I’ll spare you and only include a few here:

If You Can’t Be Good (Be Lucky)(Foster/Morrou)
The title pretty much says it all

There are nights I own this town
Most nights it owns me
Play my guitar till it draws blood
It still won’t let me be
People think you know what you’re talking about
All because you wrote some song
I ain’t no smarter than the rest of these clowns
I’m just making it up as I go along
Making It Up As I Go Along (Foster)

Built that wall around your heart
So that no one could get through it
You must have missed a spot, baby
I walked right through it
Love Had Something to Say About It (Foster)

Now romance is just like money
You can always get more if you got it
And let me tell you friends
I’m a lot more handsome with a c-note in my pocket
Folding Money (Foster)

That kiss that you just hammered me with girl,
Is a staggering revelation
Drunk on Love (Foster/Brown)


And really, when it comes down to it, song lyrics are as much about the delivery and music behind them as they are about the words. So if you like country music (Texas country, storyteller stuff), get some Radney Foster. See What You Want to See (a little more pop/Americana, actually) and And Then There’s Me are both good albums to start with.

Yes indeedy

The English boys did it again today. They beat Trinidad & Tobago 2-0 today. They played a bit sloppy but closed the deal in the last 10 minutes of the game. Even better, both goal scorers play for Liverpool - with Beckham serving up a beautiful cross for Crouch to head in at the 83rd minute, and Gerrard scoring a blazing left-footed shot into the top left corner of the net at the beginning of stoppage time.

Good on ya!

Key West Pictures ... Finally

I'm sorry there are no captions, but I had captions and about 10 pictures loaded into Blogger earlier, and all was lost when I tried to save the draft and work on something else for a while. Grrr.

So, without further ado (or any real info), here are some pics.

Bringing a knife to a gun fight?

Not a problem if you are a Marine.

Stephens says one of the attackers had a shotgun and another had a pistol.

The suspects eventually caught up with Autry. But Autry — who managed to pull a knife out of his backpack — kicked the shotgun out of one of the attacker's hands. He stabbed a teenage girl who jumped on him and a man who attacked him.

I'm sure glad I didn't cancel

the comprehensive coverage on our 11 year-old Accord a couple of weeks ago...

Looks normal from here, right?


But take a closer look at the window...


Closer...


And then, the ignition...




What was in the driver side floorboard? Well, that would be what's left of the external bits of the ignition (now on the bed for photographic purposes).


It sure looks like someone tried to steal our car last night. Here are the keys we found in the front passenger seat. Odd, huh? All class with the Playboy symbol and the "support my habit" (those are little marijuana leaves) key chains.


And, yeah, this happened in our driveway overnight.

A politician who gets things done, apparently...

Maybe the governor of Missori should run for President.

Inevitable

Think the government's big now? Wait until they start trying to regulate the internet. It will happen.

So Sue Me

This game-night theme is absolutely fantastic!

In case you're wondering ...

why I haven't posted. Let's see:

I've just checked my last email from last Thursday, so now I can start on Friday's. There are two loads of laundry on our dining room table - folded, three loads of laundry on a chair in our living room - unfolded, and two loads of laundry in the washing machine and dryer - waiting. The dishwasher is full of clean dishes, with a sink full of dirty ones waiting for space. And there's a ten foot (square) pile of tree limbs and brush in the back yard.

Since April 14, I have been to Charleston, Austin, Boston, Cleveland, Key West, Orlando, and Murphy NC.

I will post pictures from Key West eventually. Maybe this weekend. As soon as I can.

See ya!

Flying here, driving over this to get here, staying here, all to attend a wedding here.

Talk to you late next week. If we come back.

Interesting

We’re getting fatter, and according to health alarmists and nannies, that means we’re all unhealthier, will die more often and earlier of cancer, heart disease, and stroke. The obesity “epidemic” is horrible for our collective health in America.

Really?

According to a recently released report:

ATLANTA - In what appears to be an amazing success for American medicine, preliminary government figures released Wednesday showed that the annual number of deaths in the U.S. dropped by nearly 50,000 in 2004 — the biggest decline in nearly 70 years.

The 2 percent decrease, reported by the National Center for Health Statistics, came as a shock to many, because the U.S. is aging, growing in population and getting fatter. In fact, some experts said they suspect the numbers may not hold up when a final report is released later this year.

Nevertheless, center officials said the statistics, based on a review of about 90 percent of death records reported in all 50 states in 2004, were consistent across the country and were deemed solid enough to report.

The center said drops in the death rates for heart disease, cancer and stroke accounted for most of the decline.

I know that lower death rates don’t equate to lower incident rates of these diseases, and that fewer deaths probably only mean delayed deaths from these diseases. I’d be interested in seeing how the rates of actual occurrences have changed over the last few years. It’ll also be interesting to see what happens with the final numbers.

Rent

I finally got the movie version from Blockbuster for a trip, and I will be buying it. Maybe it’s because of everything I was dealing with in the summer of 1997 when Stacy, Erica, and I saw this on stage. Maybe it’s the message. Or both. Definitely – both.

525,600 minutes. 525,600 moments so dear.
How do you measure a year in the life?

There’s a lot of this movie that I don’t agree with politically. But this is just one of those where the politics just don’t matter to me. It hits me somewhere many other things (music, movie, stage, whatever) don’t.

There is no future
There is no past
Thank God this moment’s not the last
There’s only us
There’s only this
Forget regret
Or life is yours to miss
No other road
No other way
No day but today

And the voices! Those voices. It just takes my breath away every time I listen to it. Yeah, I bought the Broadway recording immediately after I saw the show almost nine years ago. I still can't believe it's been nine years.

Traveling...

My recent and future schedule, April 14 through May 10.
two days - Charleston, SC - personal
one night, one day - Austin - work
(I really wish I could have stayed longer)
one day home
four days - Boston - personal
half day home
two days - Cleveland, OH - work
a week home
five days - Key West - personal
three days - Orlando - work
HOME

I'm not complaining, just a bit overwhelmed. Yikes. I'm also happy that it's split work and personal. Of course, I'll be working during some of the personal. Oh well. It's still a kick-ass life.

New web addiction

Previously my web addiction, besides the blogs and political commentary, has been the Internet Movie Database. I can hardly watch a movie at home without the laptop open and IMDB pulled up online.

For a few months, I've been lamenting the lack of a music version of this kind of database. I don't know why I didn't just do a google search before tonight, because when I thought to do that, I found AllMusic (by AMG - the guys who keep all the CD information that shows up on your burned CDs).

This is fantastic! Enter a name, and it pulls up several tabs, including Overview, Biography, Discography, Songs, Credits, and Charts & Awards. Within the overview tab, you'll see links to similar artists, influences, other writers whose songs they've performed, a timeline of their musical life, genres, pictures, etc. etc.

Don't question an arrogant 20-something year old "man"

Tonight, Dave and I decided to go try a sushi place down the road that we'd heard was great. It was good, but we still prefer the place close to our house.

We were enjoying ourselves, and the atmosphere was nice and relaxing. That is, until two guys came in and sat next to us at the bar. The first impression came when they sat down, leaned back in their chairs, and put their knees up against the sushi bar. Sure, I've done this before in some places, but never in an austere sushi restaurant.

Then the conversation begins. The one who monopolized the entire conversation begins talking about work (sounds like he's a sales manager), and lamenting the disrespect he feels is directed his way "because he's in his twenties." I'm sure that's it. It doesn't have anything to do with the fact that he's an arrogant jerk. No, that couldn't be it. His view...

"There's this woman at work who's like 55, and tells me how she has 25 years of experience in the industry. Listen, anyone in their fifties and still working in the same industry - no, anyone in their fifties who doesn't own their own business is a schmuck."

Seriously, this guy's enourmous ego is so fragile that someone discussing her experience in the industry (I do know time doesn't necessarily translate into knowledge and success) is immediately percieved as disrespect.

The definition of schmuck:
Shmuck: another of the many Yiddish words for "penis." Although it has the same basic meaning as putz, a shmuck often refers to someone with greater power or social/emotional status; someone who's intentionally nasty or uses their power for ill, whereas a putz is more ineffectual, easier to dismiss because he's beneath consideration or has no real effect on your life. (It's the difference between "jerk" and "total a$$hole.") (It's a very subtle difference, I grant you, and the line is often blurry...)

Turns out he's the schmuck.
Hehe.

Tishamingo

Hey, I've heard of them, but would love to know if any of you have heard their music or seen them live. We're thinking about going to see them at The Windjammer on Isle of Palms tomorrow night. For $8, I'm sure we can't lose, but I'd like to have some ammunition, if I need to convince my dad to go, and our friends to meet us there. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks!

And have a wonderful Easter.

How hard is it to understand?

Some people just don't get it, but Gunner does.

I think that most of you who read this will certainly appreciate Gunner's response to an editorial writer at Athens' student-run (not affiliated with the University) Red and Black newspaper.

Well-said, Gunner.

One Nation

Issues of the Patriot Post are emailed a few days each week. This is a conservative newsletter with which I agree more often than not. Their newsletters are heavy, chock full of well-researched and interesting information. Though I don't always agree with the opinions in the larger essays, they are consistently well-reasoned and detailed.

Today's essay covering immigration was particularly good, though. I believe it requires a subscription - well worth it.

E PLURIBUS UNUM?

Out of many, one.

That was the national motto proposed by Benjamin Franklin, John
Adams and Thomas Jefferson in 1776. Both simple and elegant, it
embodied the notion that all who had come to America's shores, and
all who would come, must be united---must all form one front---in
defense of freedom and liberty. For 200 years, we were, largely,
one people united behind constitutional republicanism. But soon
after the social turbulence of the '60s and the economic woes
of the '70s, that unity began to crumble. This was the era in
which multiculturalism emerged---the era in which ethnocentricity
became chic.

Arthur Schlesinger, a former Harvard professor and senior advisor
to JFK, published a retrospective on this era in 1991 called
"The Disuniting of America." Schlesinger wrote primarily about
the orthodoxy of self-interested hyphenated-American citizen
groups---who, rather than unifying to become one, were diversifying
to become many. He warned that the cult of ethnicity would result
in "the fragmentation and tribalization of America," the natural
consequence being that these special-interest groups would be
co-opted by the political parties...

Security Concerns...

... A formidable security wall along our border with Mexico would also
provide a measure of safety against terrorist incursions, but there
are already serious security problems brewing within our borders.

...The Hispanic reconquest movement is on the verge of violent
nationalism---if it hasn't already become just that---with all its
terrorist implications. If they do in fact resort to violence, all
bets are off in regards to the status, guest worker or otherwise,
of any illegal alien in this country from south of the border.

Economic Concerns...

The essential protectionist argument against the provision
of guest-worker permits is that these workers take jobs away
from Americans and reduce wages for everyone. There is, however,
little factual basis for those arguments. As Former House Majority
Leader Dick Armey was fond of noting, "Demagoguery beats data." In
other words, an emotional rant tends to be louder than a reasoned
analysis.

With U.S. unemployment now at 4.8 percent (with most of these
being the chronically unemployable), we need immigrant workers
regardless of the ruckus that protectionists might raise...

Social Concerns...

... We are now beginning to bear the social consequences of
multicultural politicization in both American and immigrant
minority populations. "Progressive" policies---bilingual education
being the worst offender---have the effect of insulating and
ultimately ghettoizing otherwise hardworking and well-intentioned
immigrants. For fear of appearing "culturally imperialistic"
by forcing newcomers to learn our language, history and laws,
we've condemned them to permanent impoverishment. But then,
such policies have always bred Democrat votes.

Conclusion...

... Additionally, we strongly endorse free enterprise and free trade,
including the regulated in-sourcing of low-skill labor through
time-limited guest-worker visas.

I can't possibly quote all that I want to from this without just copying the entire piece, which isn't fair to its authors or the site on which it was originally published.

Iraq

Oliver North provides a point by point rebuttal to John Kerry's the-Iraqis-must- have-a-functioning-government-in-30-days plan here. Good stuff.