I've been fairly beat the past couple of days...

Of course it has to do with working the night shift. I'm still a fan of nights but it's almost time to transition over to being ready for days for a little stretch. Heck, the past couple of days, I slept just long enough until I could wake up and beat my body into submission on the elliptical machine and then get ready for work. My body won today. I can say that I feel extraordinarily rejuvenated.

So, news that has interested me....

The reports from the GAO about Iraq - #1 and #2
Ol' Fred jumps on the bandwagon to be the Prez
Addio Maestro!

I guess that I'd better run along now. It's about time to get ready for and then high-tail it on into work....

Peace!

Quite an end to a day and the week...

From a political standpoint, there was the beginning and end of the whole Larry Craig debacle. I was quite tired of that story by the end of the first day. I feel bad for the dude if his pleas of innocence were true. Much of his party was extraordinarily quick to turn its back on him as soon as the story exploded into the public eye. The story (along with Tony Snow's resignation announcement this week) did get me thinking about how many higher level people have left the Bush administration since the 2006 election. Look here for a partial list of more of Bush's folks who have resigned. It almost seems like they're dropping like the proverbial flies....

On a slightly more melancholy note, my neighbor was back this week. It was good to see him. He and his wife were tossing darts (along with a brew or two) and we went over to throw down a few brews for a little bit. I do happen to think that I probably scared the heck out of both of them. Somehow we got to talking about hot sauces and one of the items Jason broke out was a bottle of Dave's Ultimate Insanity Sauce. Ever the one to test the waters of craziness, I eyed the bottle for a little bit and then decided that I could tip it up for a few swigs. I'd already had my lovin' spoonful of the regular Dave's Insanity today. This stuff was a little bit hotter and gave me hiccups like I haven't had for a while, but it wasn't much of a problem. I think the neighbors believe I really am a lunatic (well, there was the Absolut from the party at the end of June). Good luck over there, Jason!

Well, I'm thinking it's about time for me to sweat a little bit. All y'all have a good Labor Day. Peace!

Wassa' happenin'...

hot stuff? Mmmmmm, those are some beautiful peppers!

Now I know it's strange that I'm up at 2:30 in the morning (I am a creature of the night) and all but I couldn't resist watching The Jerk. Besides, I wasn't tired yet. I just need to shift myself back to being ready for the daytime by tomorrow morning.

I'll often use this space as a place to complain about this administration. When the next administration is elected, I am sure I'll have plenty of fodder for discussion. Just in the interest of fairness, here's the page for the official "White House spin" on stories that are negative toward the policies of the current Executive Branch. I still believe that in most instances (particularly where politics is concerned) the truth of many issues lies somewhere closer to the middle than the opposing participants would have people believe.

Well folks, I suppose that it's time for a wrap...

Peace!

I was recently surfing the internets aimlessly....

when I remembered a little side business that a buddy of mine from my last place of employment had started. He took a vacation a few years ago and took some KILLER pictures from some beautiful locations in the western US. I went back to see how his photo store was coming along. The pictures of the bald eagles hanging around the northern Iowa-Illinois portion of the Mississippi River are great. Other than the people I worked with and a few restaurants up there, the eagles are one of a few things I miss. It was tremendous to watch the eagles sit around on the parts of the river that had frozen and occasionally take off soaring to look for fish. Check out Jason's photo store....

As promised....

Here is part two (the remaining nine minutes). I have y'all click "read more" because I don't like having too much video and glitzy stuff right on the front page. So, if you want to check it out, go ahead and click "read more"...


Last 9 (or so) minutes of Art and Suzanne's wedding reception
12/19/1992
Weatherly Heights Baptist Church
Huntsville, AL

I've been swearing for years....

that I was going to get the 17 minute video of our wedding reception onto DVD so we would have less chance of losing it. Years later, I've finally done it. In addition, I've created a PC file-based version of it. Now the entire world can check it out by clicking "read more". That's only true if YouTube isn't blocked for you. The last half of the video will be coming soon. Talk about a blast from the past...


First 8 minutes of Art and Suzanne's wedding reception
12/19/1992
Weatherly Heights Baptist Church
Huntsville, AL

Yesterday, it was the invocation of Vietnam...

Today, the unclassified key findings of an updated National Intelligence Estimate regarding Iraqi stability were released. This merited a prepared statement AND a press conference from the White House. Not long after the new NIE was making news, Senator John Warner (R.-VA) was discussing the need for at least a symbolic pullout of a small number of troops by Christmas. We have to start somewhere. That's had me thinking for a while. What metric will we use to judge whether the "war on terror" part of Iraq has been a success? The President often mentions that too early of a withdrawal from Iraq would "embolden the terrorists and provide a fertile recruiting ground". Seems to me that it's already a prime recruiting ground and (for those militants who don't get killed) an invaluable training ground. Unless the US intends on having forces in Iraq for a VERY long time, our adversaries will still declare their own victory when we get around to bringing our troops home. The new generation of Islamic militants will have the benefit of at least some battle-hardened leaders. I think we need to revamp SOME of the way we conduct business. I think there are a number of people who realize this and are trying to effect change, but inertia and bureaucracy hinder them.....

Well, I'll leave it there for now. I want to devote more attention to watching The China Syndrome. It's on Turner Classic Movies right now and it's much more interesting now that I'm in the nuke industry than it was when I was nine...

Today was a good day to....

grill. These burgers were meant for the grill at the neighborhood party the other night, but it was a little late after returning from Monte Sano...

I don't know what made me start thinking about my 20 year HS reunion (if the Butler High School c/o '88 has one), but it should be less than a year from now. Scary, eh? Here's the official alumni page from Butler's web site. As it is often noted, time flies...

Well, I think I'll end this for now. It's almost time for South Park followed by Lil' Bush. It should be a laugh-filled close to prime time....

One can't place the blame for most....

of the results of the newly declassified executive summary regarding CIA shortcomings leading up to 9/11 on the current administration. The .pdf file is linked from near the bottom of the page. Sure, there were probably things that Bush and Company could have done differently, but it seems that many of the failures (through the various branches of government) were political and systemic. Unfortunately, it often seems as if the will to change the political side of things doesn't exist because the two beasts of power in this country are more interested in longevity in office and partisan bickering than actually achieving much.

Glancing over the news today, I found it somewhat laughable that the President was pointing out the flaws of the Iraqi government (first question in the press availability). To be sure, there are flaws. It is (or should be) MUCH HARDER to correct the errors of the government of a sovereign country than it is to fix our own shortfalls. An admittedly cursory search for any remarks by the President on the GAO report comes up surprisingly empty. There are things that are going OK over there, but much of the lead-up to and follow-through in this war has been farcical.

Anyway, enough complaining....

Y'all have fun, now!

It just occurred to me that I forgot to mention something the other night...

Yes, Assemblage 23 will be in Nashville on September 24. And I'm ready to go right now. However, I noticed that the supporting act will be a band named Cryogen Second. After the shortest amount of looking around, I discovered that Cryogen Second is actually local to Nashville, TN. It's a little bit unusual to hear music like that come from a town so closely associated with country music. I know that when I heard the first track on Cryogen's myspace profile (Outside the Light), the first impression that popped into my head considering the distortion vocals, dark melodies, and pulsing beat was Funker Vogt...

Very nice! If you are able to tolerate the kind of music I listen to, check'em out....

Ahhhhh, weekend recap.....

It's been a nice weekend to just chill out....

We attended a friend's wedding up on Monte Sano mountain in Huntsville yesterday. The wedding was very nice albeit very HOT. Tracy and Ashley, if you read this, CONGRATULATIONS! Heck, congratulations anyway! After that, we came home and dressed down a bit so we could go to a little neighborhood party. We didn't get over there until about 7:30 PM. We had fun. I finally finished the rest of the Sparks Plus that's been in my fridge for at least a month (only 3). That was topped off by a few pints of Guinness (draft bottles). Tasty! Oh, and there were also a few jello shots that appeared out of nowhere. Anyway, we called it a night around 11:00 PM.

Having had that "energy beer", I couldn't get right to sleep. That wasn't necessarily good because I had to get up around 5AM this morning. I had planned to go out riding (bicycles) this morning around 6:30. 5AM sure came early. At least I had enough time to down a cup of coffee. Ric and I rode about 15 miles out here on the back-roads this morning. After we rode, we split up to shower so all of us could go eat breakfast. Over breakfast, we learned that one of the restaurants that we enjoy in Huntsville is closing at the end of this week. We made plans then and there to go to Qdoba this evening. After returning home, the bed was calling me to take a nap. Unfortunately, we got to Qdoba to eat and they had closed up for the day. There weren't enough employees to keep the place open for their normal hours. I'm just wondering if things will be like that the rest of this week. We went to the "alternative" down the street and had a big old time....

And here we are.....

I almost don't know if I'll know what to do with myself tomorrow. I'd love some rain, but I wouldn't mind going up and trudging around the trails on Monte Sano mountain. And there's a chance of having this for dinner tomorrow night. It doesn't matter what's for dinner because the food at Chez Terrell is always awesome! This does mean that I probably won't be going in if I get called for OT tomorrow. C'est la vie! I can't turn down some tasty vittles.....

Peace, y'all!

As it was the first of seven days off, I took it easy today...

Work even called for OT EARLY this morning, but I had a few things to do to get ready for a buddy who's getting married tomorrow. I suspect that they'll call again a few times this weekend, but I'll be fairly tied up. Hopefully they'll have some slots available next week. I used to be the one to sell my soul for the OT money...

Check out some of the biodiversity from my neighborhood:





I could probably make it out to Denver, CO to see Assemblage 23, Tristraum and Leiahdorus on October 20, but I just can't see spending the time and money when I'm already planning to see A23 in Nashville in September. Speaking of Leiahdorus, go on and click "read more" for a video via YouTube. They sound a lot like they're from the 80s....

Fortunately....

The fine people of Athens made (again, my humble opinion) the proper decision last night. I'm not saying there are no adverse effects of alcohol. Heck, I'm living proof. However, it is possible to work through those kinds of issues and just making the city dry wouldn't have ended them anyway. Besides, I found out (I kind of suspected before arriving) that our precinct wasn't voting on the wet-dry thing anyway....

Well, it looks like people aren't being as careful on the roads during the "Take Back Our Highways" campaign as they probably should be. It's not like this little traffic jihad came unannounced or anything....

EARTHQUAKE!

I was glad to hear that my father and family survived Flossie out in Hawaii. I forgot to ask him if he had been that close to a hurricane before. I imagine that he's seen a typhoon or two from the time he was in Korea. I'll have to ask him. Yo, daddy-o, ever been through a tropical-type storm?

Well, I need to go shower right now. I'm stinky. Good night, folks!

PS, for a cool video (this was very spiffy live), click "read more"...

As I am often driven to extremes....

I am going to have to find a way to grow some of these. The site admin for Children of Acid happens to have a great picture of some of these peppers that he has grown. I enjoy insanely HOT food and I believe that these will be entirely too hot for me.....

It looks like the wet-dry issue has kind of stirred things up on al.com's Limestone County forum. As a last plea for common sense (in my humble opinion), if you are reading this and voting on the issues in Athens tomorrow, remember this:

Prohibition Worked Wonders

Howdy, folks...

For those of y'all in my immediate neck of the woods (i.e. Athens, AL), don't forget to join the fray in the wet-dry vote on Tuesday. Obviously, I have my own opinion on the vote. For those who swear that repealing sales will cut down on drinking and driving, I DO NOT BELIEVE you. For those who vaguely invoke the "adverse effects of alcohol" (I saw that in a recent article about the wet-dry issue), alcohol is still for sale in at least some of the surrounding counties. Those who desire alcohol will go to those areas and purchase alcohol to bring it back or, worse yet, drink it on the way back into town or before coming back into town.

For those of you in any part of Alabama, don't forget that the "Take Back Our Highways" campaign begins on Alabama roads this week.

I forgot to mention that we saw The Bourne Ultimatum last week. Great movie!

Running on fumes...

Well, I got back from Columbus in one piece and (amazingly) free of road usage fees around noon today. Of course, I left from Columbus at 6 AM EDT. I dropped my daddy-o off at the airport and then engaged ludicrous speed...

Once I got home, I chilled for a while. Since I had missed it for the past couple of days, I had to partake of the hot sauce on a spoon ritual and then go outside to sweat for about an hour. I knew before I returned that we were going to a Huntsville Stars game with friends this evening. Man, it's been a while since I've even thought about watching (let alone attending) a baseball game. That was quite fun.

All in all, the early rise, seven hour drive and baseball game as a finale should make it supremely easy for me to get right to sleep.

In conclusion, click "read more" for a nifty video (from Tristraum via youtube.com) that I've also included on my myspace profile. Sorry, I like exposing the world to different music...


Tristraum - First Embrace

Yeah, we're cookin' with gas now...

I'm in Columbus, OH. Unfortunately, it's under sad circumstances. I'll be at a viewing for my grandmother tomorrow and a memorial service on Thursday. I've only been up here to visit several times in the past twenty years. I'd say that I'd change that, but I'm never totally sure where life will take me anyway...

The drive from Athens, AL to Columbus was almost perfect (i.e. no speeding tickets and no serious traffic SNAFUs). I say almost because I get to within 5 miles of my aunt and uncle's home and almost have a big wreck. Fortunately, I'm well schooled in the tactics of insanely diversionary driving. I missed hitting the woman who pulled out in front of me by less than one foot. Whewww! That was too close....

My dad and brother are supposed to be flying in fairly early tomorrow. On that note, I'd better skedaddle. It's approaching 1AM and I should try to wake up fairly early in the morning. I am stoked about the wi-fi connection. Later, folks!

It is with an extraordinarily sad heart...

that I have to say farewell to my Grandmother Metcalf. I can say that I don't feel that I ever spent enough time around any of my grandparents but that can't be changed now. She was a TREMENDOUS person. I know that she played a larger part in my life than any of my grandparents because of things that happened long ago.

RIP Grandmother Metcalf! We'll miss you immensely!

Delerium - Angelicus

This video was released soon after Delerium put out Nuages du Monde. Different...

Fairly recently, myspace.com added a feature to be able to list your status and mood...

Now maybe it's just me, but I find it very odd that one of the "moods" they have available is "high". Even the little emoticon looks kind of like a stoner. Maybe they just mean ultra-happy. If not, I'm not sure that I would list "high" as my mood in such a public place...

Speaking of MySpace like things...

Check out MyDeathSpace.com in the next couple of weeks! Unfortunately, the site received an immense amount of traffic after being the subject of an article and isn't currently available.

If this bit of research is true, I might be better off than I thought. I was overexposed to the sun frequently when I was a kid. Back then, it would have taken a team of wild horses to drag me out of the swimming pool during the summer. I had a few sunburns that were excruciating. Hopefully, I never experience skin cancer (or any kind for that matter).

Speaking of caffeine, it's about time to load up on some more. I tried stay awake by loading up on caffeine last night, but the strangest thing happened. After downing a 16 oz. can of sugar free ROCKSTAR, I was out within thirty minutes. I never expected that to happen...

Anyway, y'all have fun. I'm going to get hyped up on caffeine, taurine, guarana and B vitamins! Bye!