Just under the wire for May.
The Farm: Season 2 episode 1
I got a dozen or so seedlings going early for the farm this year with some success. I tried tomatoes, zucchini, squash, cucumber and beans. Many seeds germinated in my starter tray, however, once in the ground most faltered. I do have a solid clump of five zucchini plants that are looking quite healthy and bearing the fruits of my limited labor. There are currently four zucchinis that I would estimate to be in the pupa stage of development. They look like zucchinis and if all goes well in the coming weeks they'll come to full term, I'll eat them and they'll taste like zucchini. One bean plant is going strong. I've given it a pole on which to climb, and it is a-climbin'. The Roanoke Garden club sale has added to the crop list with two good-looking tomato plants, some basil and rosemary. All have made it through their first week down south splendidly. I've tilled up some more ground and look to give the cucumbers another shot. And there is rumor of more tomato plants coming available. I will keep you posted as I know it is of great interest to all. The back forty has once again been attacked by ants. All attempts at diplomacy have failed as they will not listen to reason or even consider my terms. I am going medieval on them. Boiling water seems to be slowing down their assault and limiting their advances, hopefully it will drive them away. So far the tomato plants (which are nearest the ant encampments) seem to be surviving.
I got a tetanus shot today.... and boy does my arm hurt.
I thought about ranting about current events and politics, but as I sit outside in a shaded part of the yard enjoying a gentle warm breeze, a fat black dog in her crate awaiting dinner, a lean, loudly panting brown dog laying faithfully by my chair, it seems like the wrong way to go. Good thoughts. Peace and harmony and all that. Good (if slightly smelly) dogs. Good day.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Here I go again
I don't want to be that guy that is always contradicting everything, but there are so many topics and opinions flying around (conflicted, multi-layered issues that require some actual thought) that are receiving little in the way of civil debate/discourse. Some people understand what's going on (even with differing takes on the issues in question), but I don't think we get to hear from most of them. They're not on the big news payroll. We all need to take a deep breath and pull back a little bit. Let's listen to reasonable people. That doesn't mean they have to moderate or non-partisan or without a position, just reasonable... willing to rise above the political fray, if only for a moment and if only slightly.
Both quick reads.
A REASONABLE business perspective on the Washington flogging of Goldman-Sachs
A REASONABLE liberal perspective on the Arizona Immigration Law
So long as each side goes for the jugular by ratcheting up their opponent's position to the unlikely extreme, we'll get no where. If we work by that notion, the debates between the Fascist-Nazi-Rebuplicrats vs the Communist-Nazi-Demoplicans will yield nothing but (somehow) more outrageous and unproductive rhetoric. Fine, each side has an agenda and the extreme positions play a role... but they can not play a central role. It's time to grow up, behave like adults and get some shit done.
Pardonez moi pour "la merde," s'il vous plait.
Also, please pardon my poor French.
Both quick reads.
A REASONABLE business perspective on the Washington flogging of Goldman-Sachs
A REASONABLE liberal perspective on the Arizona Immigration Law
So long as each side goes for the jugular by ratcheting up their opponent's position to the unlikely extreme, we'll get no where. If we work by that notion, the debates between the Fascist-Nazi-Rebuplicrats vs the Communist-Nazi-Demoplicans will yield nothing but (somehow) more outrageous and unproductive rhetoric. Fine, each side has an agenda and the extreme positions play a role... but they can not play a central role. It's time to grow up, behave like adults and get some shit done.
Pardonez moi pour "la merde," s'il vous plait.
Also, please pardon my poor French.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Happy Earthday To You
A perspective on green that I liked... (reading required)
SHOPPING!
Set your hypocrisy beams on stun so we can all get through this.
Much of the following I am guilty of, complicit in or tend to facilitate with extreme prejudice. It doesn't mean I don't have a differing opinion from my actions. Let the bloodletting begin.
Reduce reuse recycle.
easy as 1-2-3, or is it 3-2-1.
We create so much trash. So much recyclable trash, even. Recycle! Great! We recycle the 4 quadrillion plastic bottles of water we consume each year. That we created them in the first place is waste, pure and simple. Reuse? Well some clever artistes make sculptural chandeliers out of the used bottles. That is a drop in the bucket, or bottle, and it is useless as well, though may have some value for social significance, so long as it is lit up by a compact fluorescent bulb powered by a wind turbine, solar array or Ed Begley pedaling a generator bicycle. Reduce! Reduce? Not a viable option. Nothing can change the fact (fact in this case meaning my passionate opinion) that something that should not be produced was still made and used... or to clarify, we do not need all this bottled water, Haitians, Rwandans and Darfurians do. But that is beside the point, for now. There is a company in New York City that bottles local tap water and sells it locally at a profit. Now, this more sustainable but not realllly sustainable. Return to the average bottled water company. That's a factory making the bottles, people and machines filling them with water, planes, trains and trucks transporting them to our favorite Wal-mart store so we can by a case for $5. And then we dutifully recycle the empties (which makes it all ok). All of which requires fuel to transport the empties and energy to process and clean them to turn them into the next generation of ridiculous products for us to buy. Wasteful from the word go. The upside? Jobs and industry. 10 years ago, bottled water was a $35 billion industry, (due to a limited research budget at McBlogland Enterprises, current market numbers are unavailable). What is most disturbing is that the US is not leading the world in consumption of bottled water, rather, Western Europe has us by about 4 times. We can do better! I would assume we pump much of our drink buying dollars in sports drinks and sodas, which is fodder for another day. I guess Europe drinks in fear of their bad tap water and plagues and such. Back on topic.
We make a lot of unnecessary stuff. We are in a rough economic time. It is pretty messed up, the engine of the economy is stalled, but we are still producing and consuming garbage. Bottled water... garbage. A new cell phone every 18 months... garbage. The ipad... garbage. The answer isn't recycling and taking 3 minute showers and buying clothes from thrift stores or hippies that make everything out of hemp, it's wayyyyy bigger than that. And until the global community gets a sense of that (you know, thinking exactly like me), we'll find ourselves climbing out of this economic abyss on the back of novelty ice cube trays and baby on board signs. I firmly believe that we already make enough stuff to satisfy the world, it just isn't getting to the right places. I'm not arguing for a redistribution of wealth, just a redistribution of stuff. Ever see the show about hoarders in the US, people living with piles upon piles of stuff in their homes? Granted, there is a psychological element here... but America makes for a perfect setting. Ever see the episode of the family in Kazakhstan with so much stuff they couldn't walk through their yurt? That's what I thought.
Happy Earthday!
End of diatribinous outburst.
SHOPPING!
Set your hypocrisy beams on stun so we can all get through this.
Much of the following I am guilty of, complicit in or tend to facilitate with extreme prejudice. It doesn't mean I don't have a differing opinion from my actions. Let the bloodletting begin.
Reduce reuse recycle.
easy as 1-2-3, or is it 3-2-1.
We create so much trash. So much recyclable trash, even. Recycle! Great! We recycle the 4 quadrillion plastic bottles of water we consume each year. That we created them in the first place is waste, pure and simple. Reuse? Well some clever artistes make sculptural chandeliers out of the used bottles. That is a drop in the bucket, or bottle, and it is useless as well, though may have some value for social significance, so long as it is lit up by a compact fluorescent bulb powered by a wind turbine, solar array or Ed Begley pedaling a generator bicycle. Reduce! Reduce? Not a viable option. Nothing can change the fact (fact in this case meaning my passionate opinion) that something that should not be produced was still made and used... or to clarify, we do not need all this bottled water, Haitians, Rwandans and Darfurians do. But that is beside the point, for now. There is a company in New York City that bottles local tap water and sells it locally at a profit. Now, this more sustainable but not realllly sustainable. Return to the average bottled water company. That's a factory making the bottles, people and machines filling them with water, planes, trains and trucks transporting them to our favorite Wal-mart store so we can by a case for $5. And then we dutifully recycle the empties (which makes it all ok). All of which requires fuel to transport the empties and energy to process and clean them to turn them into the next generation of ridiculous products for us to buy. Wasteful from the word go. The upside? Jobs and industry. 10 years ago, bottled water was a $35 billion industry, (due to a limited research budget at McBlogland Enterprises, current market numbers are unavailable). What is most disturbing is that the US is not leading the world in consumption of bottled water, rather, Western Europe has us by about 4 times. We can do better! I would assume we pump much of our drink buying dollars in sports drinks and sodas, which is fodder for another day. I guess Europe drinks in fear of their bad tap water and plagues and such. Back on topic.
We make a lot of unnecessary stuff. We are in a rough economic time. It is pretty messed up, the engine of the economy is stalled, but we are still producing and consuming garbage. Bottled water... garbage. A new cell phone every 18 months... garbage. The ipad... garbage. The answer isn't recycling and taking 3 minute showers and buying clothes from thrift stores or hippies that make everything out of hemp, it's wayyyyy bigger than that. And until the global community gets a sense of that (you know, thinking exactly like me), we'll find ourselves climbing out of this economic abyss on the back of novelty ice cube trays and baby on board signs. I firmly believe that we already make enough stuff to satisfy the world, it just isn't getting to the right places. I'm not arguing for a redistribution of wealth, just a redistribution of stuff. Ever see the show about hoarders in the US, people living with piles upon piles of stuff in their homes? Granted, there is a psychological element here... but America makes for a perfect setting. Ever see the episode of the family in Kazakhstan with so much stuff they couldn't walk through their yurt? That's what I thought.
Happy Earthday!
End of diatribinous outburst.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Another side
Austan Goolsbee, chief economist on the president's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, has a slightly more optimistic take on the reform bill than Ratigan (see yesterday). Now, with full embedded video technology (so you need not click on a link, only click play)... I give you Goolsbeeeeee. Goolsbee comes on at about the midpoint, so you'll have to work through the background as framed by my dear friend Keith Olbermann unless you click forward to the four minute mark or so. Your choice.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Monday, April 19, 2010
They call me the streak
Two days, two posts. Impressive.
If anyone wants a decent perspective on the financial mess/shenanigans, I suggest you check out Dylan Ratigan's explanation. And his Goldman Sachs explanation is pretty good as well, though cluttered with morning show banter. Too often on the evening news or Today show such stories get 45 seconds and you don't know any more than you had prior to hearing the report. So before you go back to youtube to watch cat videos, give it a shot.
They are both video links, so no extra reading will be required. If I was reading this, with that information, I'd be at least 13% more likely to click on those links and check them out.
And make no mistake, I wouldn't normally suggest anyone listen to someone named Dylan, especially one who has a capacity for hot-headedness, but he is passionate about it and he makes sense. He's got his own angle, but makes his case well. Give a look, give a listen. I feel more informed in the last 20 minutes than I had in the course of the previous year.
If anyone wants a decent perspective on the financial mess/shenanigans, I suggest you check out Dylan Ratigan's explanation. And his Goldman Sachs explanation is pretty good as well, though cluttered with morning show banter. Too often on the evening news or Today show such stories get 45 seconds and you don't know any more than you had prior to hearing the report. So before you go back to youtube to watch cat videos, give it a shot.
They are both video links, so no extra reading will be required. If I was reading this, with that information, I'd be at least 13% more likely to click on those links and check them out.
And make no mistake, I wouldn't normally suggest anyone listen to someone named Dylan, especially one who has a capacity for hot-headedness, but he is passionate about it and he makes sense. He's got his own angle, but makes his case well. Give a look, give a listen. I feel more informed in the last 20 minutes than I had in the course of the previous year.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
April, mid to late... April
Having dogs is not like having kids.
I yelled out the window last week "Mickey! Stop eating that chair." If Mickey was my kid, this probably wouldn't have happened.
And, for fun, I roll Mickey on his back, grab his legs and spank him while he chews on a rubber bone. He loves it. If Mickey was my kid, I'd be in jail for this one.
There's also the caging of dogs that is nothing like the caging of children.
I've started up the farm again. Death and destruction is already upon us. I began some seeds indoors and got them going before plopping them in the ground. After one night in the ground, a mole had tunneled right underneath my plantings. Also, some speckled something has tainted the leaves on the plants that aren't already necrotic. I am not much of a plant grower. Perhaps I'll get lucky with a few this year, it has to help that I have planted in April instead of August. I added a bag of topsoil to my quite infertile growing medium, so I remain confident. Gonna be a bumper crop... of something.
The pine pollen that had yellowed the world a couple weeks ago has now disappeared making outdoor blogging a possibility. Surely this will kick up my posting frequency. It's blog or exercise. Or neither. But not both. Definitely not both.
So, we're all up to date. I see future blog posts about the banjo, hypocrites in politics and other important issues of the day. Whether you see those blog posts... that's another matter.
I yelled out the window last week "Mickey! Stop eating that chair." If Mickey was my kid, this probably wouldn't have happened.
And, for fun, I roll Mickey on his back, grab his legs and spank him while he chews on a rubber bone. He loves it. If Mickey was my kid, I'd be in jail for this one.
There's also the caging of dogs that is nothing like the caging of children.
I've started up the farm again. Death and destruction is already upon us. I began some seeds indoors and got them going before plopping them in the ground. After one night in the ground, a mole had tunneled right underneath my plantings. Also, some speckled something has tainted the leaves on the plants that aren't already necrotic. I am not much of a plant grower. Perhaps I'll get lucky with a few this year, it has to help that I have planted in April instead of August. I added a bag of topsoil to my quite infertile growing medium, so I remain confident. Gonna be a bumper crop... of something.
The pine pollen that had yellowed the world a couple weeks ago has now disappeared making outdoor blogging a possibility. Surely this will kick up my posting frequency. It's blog or exercise. Or neither. But not both. Definitely not both.
So, we're all up to date. I see future blog posts about the banjo, hypocrites in politics and other important issues of the day. Whether you see those blog posts... that's another matter.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
March Blog
Oh, hi there. You remember me, right? The blog that blogged everyday for some time. Some time ago in fact. Now a forced effort is required to make sure each month has a single entry. Last post: February 1st. Quite a drought. In fact, it was pretty juicy around these parts, making a trip outside with the laptop and dogs unwise, unlikely and unhappening. That's no excuse for almost 60 days of nothing. Sometimes it just shuts itself down. There was travel and sickness, which are also not worthwhile excuses since both could have and should have provided some material. Some tidbits. Some thing. But no. Maybe life's little details didn't seem interesting. That happens. The minutia, just too minute too mention. The big stuff too big to tackle. 
Not enough outdoor dog time has some effect on me. I get a different perspective. A different field of vision opens up, closes, twists, turns, fades and heaves. The dogs let me know how exciting it would be to go outside right now. And how much fun it would be to lay on my back with my mouth half open, eyes rolled back in my head, softly snoring. An occasional dreamtwitch of my leg the only movement besides my chest rising and falling with each unconscious breath.
So, I'm not saying I'm back or promising any specific blog frequency in the coming weeks. But, I am here right now. (cue Doogie Howser M.D. closing music)
Not enough outdoor dog time has some effect on me. I get a different perspective. A different field of vision opens up, closes, twists, turns, fades and heaves. The dogs let me know how exciting it would be to go outside right now. And how much fun it would be to lay on my back with my mouth half open, eyes rolled back in my head, softly snoring. An occasional dreamtwitch of my leg the only movement besides my chest rising and falling with each unconscious breath. So, I'm not saying I'm back or promising any specific blog frequency in the coming weeks. But, I am here right now. (cue Doogie Howser M.D. closing music)
Monday, February 1, 2010
read?
Can't seem to do it these days. I just finished the first novel by Gary Shteyngart, the Russian Debutante's Handbook. It was good, not as entertaining as Absurdistan. I guess he progressed nicely in his sophomore effort. I read Debutante and thought this isn't that great, but if I wrote a novel I'd be thrilled if it was half as good. I have a(n) Haruki Murakami book on deck, but haven't pushed into it yet. I also have a couple business books that I'd like to want to read, but I can't commit myself. A Scrabble obsession has taken hold here, so the focus is more on individual words, sometimes two words, sometimes several two letter words, but complete thoughts created in intently formed sentences are on vacation. There was a chess obsession for a few weeks back in the fall, but you wouldn't know it to look at me at the time. I dream in Scrabble. Triple word has taken over my life. Either the prevention of or the taking advantage... uh... you see? I've lost my vocabulary. Plenty of words, but no vocabulary. Certainly nothing longer than seven letters. What would be the point? How would that help me score? I'd rather turn "ox" into "toxic" for 36 points than put together a thought. And what of the carpal tunnel strain all this mousing around is causing? Yes. What of that... indeed. Slushy brain keeps thinking of ta tam tame tamer oi oil oiled roiled broiled. Ah the waste. But it draws me in, like golf. One good shot, one killer word. I started out with a seventy pointer last night... it's intoxicating. The rush! The thrill! Nerdiness run amok. Dorkfest. Geek Week. Still I play. I'm cool, right? I swear I like sports. I can play guitar, too. Surprisingly well (at times). I'm aware of pop culture. Sure, most of it scares me, but at least I'm aware of it. I'm not totally out of touch. I'm hipper than most 35 year-olds, right? "Hipper" is a cool word, right? Cool is cool, yeah? I'm not a square. Mmmmh, squared... 17 points, but wait... triple letter on the "d", double word overall... 42 points. Excellent. Ahhhhhh. Oh yeah, I'm cool. 42 points cooler than you.
42 points
cooler
than
you
42 points
cooler
than
you
Saturday, January 30, 2010
write?
What to write on a cold and juicy day? Low 30's and drizzly outside. Lazy and full of dog snoozing inside. No snow to look at. No ice to fear. No sun to see. Blankets and couches. Beds and blankets. Dogs sleep. Cat sleeps. Grey. Gray. Grey. Gray. A blog sits at the crossroads once again, inactively searching for an identity. Maybe the search is the identity. No, that doesn't sound like something I'd be into.
I went to the beach the other day. My office is ten minutes away from there but I haven't seen the water in months. Many months. It was cool and crisp with a nice stiff wind. I walked a bit. Looking at shells and sand and other oceanic bric-a-brac. I sat for a bit and listened to the waves crash. It was a gentle surf. The sea was melancholy that day, my friends. I woman walked by with a dog. The dog stopped several times to bark at me. He looked like Maggie. It was good natured barking. He didn't bark at anyone else. Another dog went by without incident. There were two guys out on the water (the 48 degree water). They were standing on surfboards and paddling around. Probably a nice relaxing time for them. If it were me out there I would have been in a full body spasm of fear, panic and anxiety. Also, the odds are pretty slim that I'll ever don a wetsuit. A small man's wetsuit.
A thin mist of some form of precipitation continues to fall outside beyond our double-paned windows. My stomach hurts. The dogs want dinner. The dogs always want dinner. Soon, I'll want dinner too.
I went to the beach the other day. My office is ten minutes away from there but I haven't seen the water in months. Many months. It was cool and crisp with a nice stiff wind. I walked a bit. Looking at shells and sand and other oceanic bric-a-brac. I sat for a bit and listened to the waves crash. It was a gentle surf. The sea was melancholy that day, my friends. I woman walked by with a dog. The dog stopped several times to bark at me. He looked like Maggie. It was good natured barking. He didn't bark at anyone else. Another dog went by without incident. There were two guys out on the water (the 48 degree water). They were standing on surfboards and paddling around. Probably a nice relaxing time for them. If it were me out there I would have been in a full body spasm of fear, panic and anxiety. Also, the odds are pretty slim that I'll ever don a wetsuit. A small man's wetsuit.
A thin mist of some form of precipitation continues to fall outside beyond our double-paned windows. My stomach hurts. The dogs want dinner. The dogs always want dinner. Soon, I'll want dinner too.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
I'll Huff and I'll Puff
The Huffington Post came through in a big way tonight. Big Big Big big headline about James O'Keefe being arrested for a plot to bug Senator Mary Landrieu's office phones. The motivation was certainly to expose the 'buying' of healthcare votes from the more moderate democrats.
The Huffington Post leans left, but also has a decidedly trashy-tabloid-celebrity addiction that many other news and/or opinion sites have. I think Arianna Huffington is pretty serious in her views, but her site is a little cutesy and trite for me to embrace, no matter the opinions within it. To the story at hand. If the allegations of wrongdoing are true, and let's assume they are, then it is a pretty sleazy attempt at another undercover sting operation. You'll recall O'Keefe from his role as the pimp who went to ACORN offices for tax advice on running underage brothels, and, in fact, received advice on just that. The whole ACORN episode was ridiculous from top to bottom. From O'Keefe's Bootsy Collins look
to the unbelievable response from ACORN counselors... it had the look of an SNL skit... one that goes on six minutes too long where no one ever laughs. The beauty of this article in the Huffington Post is that they quote the Twitter feed from ACORN saying: "Couldn't have happened to a more deserving soul." Did I mention that is the official twitter feed from the organization? Tacky? Yes. Unprofessional? Yes. Come on! Grow up. Move on (dot org). Also, there's a boatload of irony there that I can't begin to sort through. (The following is taken from the article... and yes, they use 'allegations' twice in the same sentence separated by only two words.) The allegations quickly inspired allegations of a "Louisiana Watergate" from state Democrats and claims of vindication at ACORN... I'm all for vast right-wing conspiracies, but for now, I think we just have an over-motivated Alex P. Keaton trying to make his mark in an environment that is all too fertile. CONCLUSION: O'Keefe, as evidenced by this arrest, is a huge goober who may get ten years for his latest exploit, but that doesn't alter what he exposed in his first grand public stunt.
The Huffington Post leans left, but also has a decidedly trashy-tabloid-celebrity addiction that many other news and/or opinion sites have. I think Arianna Huffington is pretty serious in her views, but her site is a little cutesy and trite for me to embrace, no matter the opinions within it. To the story at hand. If the allegations of wrongdoing are true, and let's assume they are, then it is a pretty sleazy attempt at another undercover sting operation. You'll recall O'Keefe from his role as the pimp who went to ACORN offices for tax advice on running underage brothels, and, in fact, received advice on just that. The whole ACORN episode was ridiculous from top to bottom. From O'Keefe's Bootsy Collins look
to the unbelievable response from ACORN counselors... it had the look of an SNL skit... one that goes on six minutes too long where no one ever laughs. The beauty of this article in the Huffington Post is that they quote the Twitter feed from ACORN saying: "Couldn't have happened to a more deserving soul." Did I mention that is the official twitter feed from the organization? Tacky? Yes. Unprofessional? Yes. Come on! Grow up. Move on (dot org). Also, there's a boatload of irony there that I can't begin to sort through. (The following is taken from the article... and yes, they use 'allegations' twice in the same sentence separated by only two words.) The allegations quickly inspired allegations of a "Louisiana Watergate" from state Democrats and claims of vindication at ACORN... I'm all for vast right-wing conspiracies, but for now, I think we just have an over-motivated Alex P. Keaton trying to make his mark in an environment that is all too fertile. CONCLUSION: O'Keefe, as evidenced by this arrest, is a huge goober who may get ten years for his latest exploit, but that doesn't alter what he exposed in his first grand public stunt.
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