Held Prisoner in Hampton Roads

noreply@blogger.com (Bulldog) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:50:00 +0000

Good news . . .

. . . I hope.

Monday, I am to receive a formal offer and proposed salary for the job in Naples, Italy. It supposedly was emailed to me on Thursday, but there was a glitch somewhere.

The process of applying, selecting, etc., has been going on since 27 JUL. I have found that the wheels of government truly grind slowly.

Film at 11 . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Bulldog) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:37:00 +0000

School ties . . .

. . . dissolved.

The mascot/team name of the small-town high school I attended in Illinois was the Bulldogs. The Virden (IL) Community High School Bulldogs, that is. Our colors were purple and white.

No longer.

Virden schools have now consolidated with nearby Girard (IL), and now the Bulldogs and our #2 sports rival, the Redbirds are now one.

Of course, neither mascot could survive, as that would cause an inter-village war among the athletic supporters (so to speak). So some sort of referendum was held, and the schools have a new name, new colors and a new mascot.

The school name is North Mac, the colors are black and blue, and the mascot is a panther - showing a complete lack of imagination, I might add.

North Mac comes from North Macoupin County, IL, where the schools are located. However, I suspect a forthcoming lawsuit from McDonalds, as they believe they have full rights to anything starting with Mc or Mac.

Black and blue colors for a football team? Come on. Besides, the new logo is an exact copy of an existing logo for a semi-pro team.

Finally, there are NO panthers in Illinois, panthers have no historical connection to Illinois, and there are already dozens of teams in in the state with the same name.

At least it's an improvement of the name the Pekin, IL teams formerly used. Can you believe the Pekin "Chinks?" Yep, because Pekin sounds kind of like the old pronuncation for China's capital, they were called the "Chinks."

Makes the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians nicknames a bit tame.

Why should I care?

I guess I really don't, but high school years are some of the most formative of our lives, and changing those anchors of who we are just doesn't seem right.

noreply@blogger.com (Bulldog) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:13:00 +0000

Nicknames . . .

. . . for Lisa

Rocky - from my college roommate.

La - from her older brother because he couldn't say Lisa at first.

Ahsa - from her younger brother because he couldn't say Lisa either.

Lucy - from a point in her life when she was younger and rather vociferous. Charles Schultz fans will understand.

noreply@blogger.com (Bulldog) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:28:00 +0000

Check Lisa's post . . .

. . . "My dad + wiring = fire"

No, not THIS Lisa. Another Lisa.

That post brought back a fond memory.

My dad could do anything BUT wiring. He was a machinist's mate in the Navy. He ran a service station, a grain terminal, a fertilizer depot and a quarry at different times. He built a motorcycle from parts, painted cars, overhauled engines, poured concrete. He jacked up our house and put a basement under it.

He is why I am so mechanically inclined. However, he didn't study electricity, and I did.

My first year in college, he asked me about running 220V wiring for the new clothes dryer. When he showed me what he intended to do, I told him it would cause a direct short and burn out the wiring.

He didn't seem to believe me, so I took a very fine piece of wire, held it in insulated pliers and touched the ends where he thought he should hook up the dryer.

Result? Sparks. Wire burned in half.

After I helped him hook it up, he patted me on the back and said thanks. That was the first time I can remember that my dad asked me for technical advice.

It was a nice, fuzzy, warm feeling - from 47 years ago. I can still see it in my mind's eye.

noreply@blogger.com (Bulldog) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:14:00 +0000

Have some pride . . .

. . . damn it.

Stop it, and stop it NOW!

You are the president of the United States.

You do not bow to ANY other head of state.

Period.

noreply@blogger.com (Bulldog) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 14:45:00 +0000

What we are teaching . . .

. . . our college athletes.

In the Virginian-Pilot this morning:

"I want to apologize to the officiating staff. I kind of lost it a little bit. You guys are just doing your job. I should have just did my job a little better."

- University of Virginia quarterback after losing his temper at the officiating crew.

He's a senior in college. After 15 -1/2 years of schooling, this is the result?

noreply@blogger.com (Bulldog) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:14:00 +0000

Veterans' Day - 11 NOV 2009

My Father

MM3, USN - 1943 - 1946

noreply@blogger.com (Bulldog) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:06:00 +0000

Well done . . .

. . . Officer Munley.

This is Kimberly Munley, who faced off Major Nidal Malik Hasan at Ft. Hood. She shot him four times and put him down, despite being wounded herself.

A hero among heroes.

And, what was Barry O up to? Addressing the nation? Well, sort of. He spent the first 2:17 of his "address" commenting on the conference he was attending, including giving a "shout out" to a Native American Medal of Honor recipient.

Then he got around to Ft. Hood.

Tacky, Barry. Tacky.

noreply@blogger.com (Bulldog) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:08:00 +0000

There's a special place in Hell . . .

. . . for those who kill their brothers-in-arms.

noreply@blogger.com (Bulldog) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:00:00 +0000

November 5 . . .

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The gunpowder treason and plot,
I know of no reason
Why the gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

That's one of too many rhymes stuck in my head.

noreply@blogger.com (Bulldog) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:44:00 +0000

Staying cool . . .

. . . can save your life.

But panic can kill you.

On 16 SEP, a highway patrolman, his wife, daughter and brother-in-law were killed in a crash because the accelerator pedal on the loner toyota they were driving stuck down.

Actully, the stuck accelerator didn't kill them, the panic did.

If your accelerator pedal stuck, what would you do?

1) Jam on the brakes?
2) Turn off the ignition?
3) Put it in neutral?

If you chose 1 or 2, you're likely dead. Here's why.

1) Wrong! If you jam on the brakes, they probably won't be able to hold against the engine, and will burn out. Then, you have a stuck accelerator AND no brakes.

2) Wrong! That will kill the engine, but most cars today (in the US at least) have that theft-defeating steering wheel lock. Now, you have a stuck accelerator AND no steering.

3) Right! That may blow up the engine, but at least you're not accelerating, and you DO have brakes and steering.

The 911 call is really disturbing to me for two reasons. First, the guy in the car taking way too long to describe the situation. That's understandable because he's in dire stress. Second, the 911 operator has no sense of urgency. What bearing does "where are you?" have on the emergency? Instead of saying "Can't you turn it off?" he needed to say "PUT IT IN NEUTRAL!"

I know that's second guessing, and I wasn't there. But every driver and every 911 operator should be trained on this situation.

Chris Lastrella 911 Call Before Crashing sound bite Chris Lastrella sound bites

noreply@blogger.com (Bulldog) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:57:00 +0000

The mouths in the bus . . .

. . . go "YAP YAP YAP"

Maybe it's because it's Friday, and everyone is happy to be off work.

Or, maybe they're just clods.

I'm sitting about three-fourths of the way to the rear of the bus. One lady sits in the seat in front of me. One lady sits a row behind me on the other side of the aisle. The guy sits in the front.

This is all nice, except they want to talk to each other for most of the ride. By talk, I mean YELL, because the bus is noisy, and they can't hear each other unless they YELL.

So, they YELL.

And LAUGH.

And YELL some more.

Which would have been fairly excusable for a pack of teenagers, except all of these people were grown adults.

Clods it is.

noreply@blogger.com (Bulldog) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:53:00 +0000

Progress . . .

. . . report

I received an email from Naples today. Salary action is complete - although I don't know what the proposed salary is - and my paperwork is at the head shed to be signed.

noreply@blogger.com (Bulldog) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:57:00 +0000

Barry O . . .

. . . socialist extraordinaire

Exact quotes:

The so-called Founders did not allow for economic freedom. While political freedom is supposedly a cornerstone of the document, the distribution of wealth is not even mentioned.

And one of the I think the tragedies of the Civil Rights movement was because the Civil Rights movement became so court focused I think that there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalitions of power through which you bring about redistributive change and in some ways we still suffer from that."

If you look at the victories and failures of the civil rights movement and its litigation strategy in the court, I think where it succeeded was to vest formal rights in previously dispossessed peoples so that, uh, I would now have the right to vote, I would now be able to sit at a lunch counter and -- and order and as long as I could pay for it I'd be okay. But the Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth and sort of more basic issues of political and economic justice in this society.

2008: I think when you spread the wealth around it's good for everybody.

So, if you're having trouble distributing YOUR money to folks who think they need it more, Barry's your guy.

Don't yell at me. YOU elected him. I didn't.

noreply@blogger.com (Bulldog) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:15:00 +0000

Just Mahvelous . . .

Lisa and Ian know what I'm talkin' about.

noreply@blogger.com (Bulldog) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 23:29:00 +0000

How to build . . .

. . . a six hundred forty-dollar toilet seat.

Well, not exactly.

You remember that, of course. Along with the $436 claw hammer.

Examples of government waste in the 1980s.

In that vein, the government have (BrE plural used because this was too big a deal to be singular) stopped that, with the National Security Payroll System - or, as we refer to it, the N.S. f***ing P.S.

Another brainchild from Donald Rumsfeld. You also remember him from his magnificent strategy during . . . well, nevermind. If I have to explain, there's no point.

In essence, this was an attempt to institute a pay-for-performance system in the Department of Defense. Over the last several years, 200,000 DoD personnel have been ~~dragged, kicking and screaming~~ enrolled in this system.

All those people were required to take three days of training. Assuming eight hour days and about $30/hour salary (full salary, including benefits), that was about $144,000,000 in lost time. Add the millions for the computer system, consultant fees, etc., and the total cost must have been somewhat north of a quarter-billion dollars.

What was gained? (He asked, rhetorically)

- An annual performance review that takes about 18 pages to print out.
- An additional $100,000,000 or so each year in time spent completing and discussing the aforesaid form.
- "Measurable" objectives defined by government-speak that nobody can understand.
- A distribution of salary increases that were not measurably different from those paid under the old GS system.

Would anyone have expected less from Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz?

Not I. (He stated, a prescriptivist by nature )

Fortunately, they are gone.

Unfortunately, NSPS is not gone until 2012.

Fortunately, it's on its way out.

noreply@blogger.com (Bulldog) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:58:00 +0000

Friday . . .

. . . senses

1) Sight: The picture on our 46" LCD TV (only two years old) went blank last week. $295.00 got it running again, but the picture was terribly dark. The only way we could see anything was to turn the brightness and contrast up to 100%. I talked to the repairman, who kept claiming it was fixed - even after a second trip. I was preparing to call him again, so I ran through the on-screen picture menu and wrote down everything I could to help explain the problem. As I was exiting from the menu, I saw an option called "Energy Saver." Guess what "Energy Saver" does. Yep, it turns down the contrast and brightness to save power. Guess what the repairman set it on. Yep, "Maximum." When I reset it to "Normal," everything was fine.

2) Sound: None of the fighter squadrons from NAS Oceana are deployed, so there are lots of F/A 18 Hornets wandering around our part of the sky. Many around here hate the sound. I do not. Those are the men and women who go in harm's way for us. What's a little noise in exchange for that?

3) Smell: There's a new rider on the afternoon bus, and he always sits at the front. I did too, until a little breeze came my way. This guy smokes so much that he positively reeks. He polluted the entire front half of the bus. I now sit in the back.

4) Touch: I had several hands and an unknown number of tools in my mouth on Thursday. I had to have a wisdom tooth pulled. The DDS had to do a surgical extraction because of the size and tenacity of the roots. He also had to remove a little bone to get it out. Since I have had to rely on small doses of "Mother's Little Helpers," I couldn't go to work today. Without a little C18H21NO3 in my system, it hurts like hell.

5) Taste: Because of #4, I'm not eating much. But a soup and ice cream diet isn't all that bad.

6) Accomplishment: According to an email I received Tuesday, my appointment to a 3-year assignment in Naples, Italy is being typed up. It will still take a couple of months, as the wheels of government grind slowly. (Yeah, I know that's not a bodily sense, but I'm really happy about it.)

noreply@blogger.com (Bulldog) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:25:00 +0000

The Pope . . .

. . . named five new saints.

Strangely enough, Obama wasn't one of them.

noreply@blogger.com (Bulldog) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 22:43:00 +0000

The Nobel Peace Prize . . .

. . . is now officially a joke.

It was bad enough that Al Gore won the prize for making a movie. But now it's given to someone who has accomplished absolutely nothing. Zero. Zip. Nada. Well, except for his apology tour.

Ghandi never won, and Barry O does? Who's next? Michael Moore?

Of course, since Algore won for a movie, Peanut Carter won for a bunch of failed peace efforts, and Henry Kissinger won for ending the war in Vietnam - a year or two before the North Vietnamese stormed the south and took over the coutry, why am I surprised?

The Nobel committe has effectively demeaned every past winner with this insane choice.

noreply@blogger.com (Bulldog) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 23:18:00 +0000

Saturday night . . .

. . . at the Irish Rover

My jones for a good plate of fish & chips had reached critical mass. Previously we had tried Finn McCool's, which advertises Atlantic cod in a Bass beer batter sauce with chips and tartar sauce.

Tartar sauce?

That should have been a clue.

They did have malt vinegar after all, so I ordered the fish & chips. The fish was undercooked and soggy, and I couldn't get a black and tan.

Scratch off Finn McCools as a bunch of poseurs.

Last week, Mrs. B put on her internet search hat and found Conklin's Irish Rover. Bless her little heart.

She ordered some non-Irish baked fish, and I ordered the fish & chips.

Real fish in Guinness batter. Chips, not potato chips.

"Malt vinegar, or tartar sauce?" says the serving wench.

"Malt vinegar, of course!" says I. "My Riley ancestors would haunt me otherwise"

So, it was fish & chips, a half-and-half (Guinness & Harp) and a fine little slice of Irish soda bread.

Very nice.

noreply@blogger.com (Bulldog) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:18:00 +0000

His ass . . .

. . . belongs in jail.

Question: If you drug, rape and sodomize a thirteen year-old girl, should you be able to avoid prosecution? Does it matter that you have been a fugitive for thirty years? Or that you're 76 years old? Or that the victim has forgiven you? Or that filmmakers and actors all over the world think it's unfair?

Since I have a daughter who was once thirteen, and several grand-daughters who eventually will be, I am totally, completely appalled about what I'm hearing:

Jack Lang, a former French culture minister, said that for Europeans the development showed that the American system of justice had run amok. “Sometimes, the American justice system shows an excess of formalism,” Mr. Lang said, “like an infernal machine that advances inexorably and blindly.”

Ronald Harwood, who won an Oscar as screenwriter of “The Pianist,” which Mr. Polanski directed, said: “It’s really disgraceful. Both the Americans and the Swiss have miscalculated.”

Nearly 100 entertainment industry professionals . . . urged in a petition that Mr. Polanski be released, saying: “Filmmakers in France, in Europe, in the United States and around the world are dismayed by this decision.”

Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, described Mr. Polanski’s arrest as “a bit sinister” and said he and the Polish foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, were jointly writing a letter expressing concern to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Polanski's agent, Jeff Berg, appearing Tuesday on NBC's "Today" show, said he did not understand why such a long-standing case was being pursued now.

Come on, folks. What if it was your daughter?

noreply@blogger.com (Bulldog) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 13:15:00 +0000

Remembrance and service ?

December 7 is a day of remembrance.

June 6 is a day of remembrance.

Veterans day is a day of remembrance.

September 11 is a day of remembrance, NOT remembrance and service.

Nothing against anyone who wants to do something positive, but I WILL NOT let that Chicago ward heeler redefine 9/11.

noreply@blogger.com (Bulldog) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:46:00 +0000

Without comment . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Bulldog) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 17:47:00 +0000

The Learning Channel . . .

. . . or creepshow?

I went out to mow the yard and apparently left the TV The Learning Channel . When I came back in, there was a so-called "documentary" on called Toddlers & Tiaras.

I watched for about five minutes, then had to turn it off. How creepy is it to dress five-year-old girls in big hair and makeup and parade them around on stage? Beyond that, how irresponsible are the mothers who allow it?

It seems to me that the mothers are transposing THEIR needs on their children, and need to get a life of their own. This isn't the equivalent of little league football, scouting or soccer. It's exploitation.

Why would any mother think it's appropriate to dress up her toddler daughter like a ten-dollar hooker? Maybe it's because most of these mothers couln't collect $10.00 themselves. These mothers are irresponsible, and he producers of the show are little more than panderers.

Anyone heard of Jon-Benet Ramsey? Yuck!

noreply@blogger.com (Bulldog) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 06:16:00 +0000

Odds . . .

. . . and ends

Item the first - part A: At a little over 32,000 miles, the harmonic balancer on our 2004 Ford Explorer failed. The bill was going to be $680, but our auto insurance partially covers mechanical breakdowns. Final bill - $250. I'm a bit disgusted that it would fail at such a low mileage.

Item the first, part B: The service writer at the Ford garage started to explain the function of a harmonic balancer.
- Him: The harmonic balancer failed, and -
- Me: I assume it was the elastomer between the hub and the outer ring.
- Him: Uh . . . exactly.

Item the second: The church up the street has two signs posted in the parking lot.
- Sunday, September 6 - Blessing of the pets.
- Monday, September 7 - Pig roast
(Uncontrollable laughter was heard coming from George Carlin's casket)

Item the third: On the way home today, I saw two signs on a single post.
- Top sign: SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals)
- Bottom sign: Recycling Center
(What exactly are they recycling. I shudder to think)

Item the fourth: The hiring manager from my location promised to call the hiring manager in Naples and suggest that she get on with it and just hire me. We'll see.

Item the fifth: One of Obama's 32 un-elected czars has resigned. Czar is an odd title for Van Jones, an avowed communist. Didn't the communists overthrow the Czar?

That is all. Have a nice labor day.