Where Do I Stand?

I thought I'd let my readers get to know me a little better by letting them know where I stand on important issues of the day:

1. Abortion - Wishy-washy on this one. I believe in pro-responsibility. I also believe there are worse things than death, and being raised without loving parents in a drug culture, or with a debilitating disease or defect qualifies.

2. Death penalty - Very Pro. Murderers, drug-dealers, rapists, violent criminals, terrorists, rap artists (redundant) - they all need to be removed from this earth.

3. Right to bear arms - Pro. I agree with waiting periods and background checks, however. I also believe no one has a legitimate need for a machine gun. I wouldn't cry if we outlawed handguns, but someone had better follow up such a law with a good method of taking them away from criminals if they were to do that. A shotgun is much better for home defense, anyway.

4. Freedom of the Press - In my opinion, this is being abused in the USA. We have so-called "legitimate" media (Dan Rather and CBS) fabricating evidence of wrongdoing and reporting it as truth. We have rampant partisanship being disguised as 'straight news' instead of 'opinion'. We have stories from 'unnamed sources' being treated as fact. We have a breakdown of common politeness being broadcast as 'hard news'. We have censorship in the form of 'political correctness' being used against the ethnic and religious majorities. We have reporters taking law enforcement into their own hands and calling it "investigative journalism". We have 5 major news sources that are blatantly for one political party and one for the other party, and the 5 do everything they can to discredit the other while denying their own politically slanted reporting. We have news items from Iraq being filed by reporters who never leave their hotel rooms and get information from local sources that feed them whatever they want to hear. We have 'exit polling' results declaring false winners and discouraging voters from voting before the election is even over. We have Al-Jazeera being taken seriously as a news source, despite plenty of evidence that they are in cahoots with terrorist organizations. Something needs to be done.

5. Global warming - Skeptic. I have a degree in Biology and I participated in scientific studies in school. I learned statistics. I've written synopses for studies. So far, I haven't seen a legitimate study of global climate change. Every single one started with an opinion and set out to find measurements to support that opinion, then immediately released those results to the press. That isn't science. Scientific study follows a process where data is gathered in an impartial manner, then trends are looked for, using the approved methods of statistical analysis. Then a theory is developed. Then the theory is vigorously attempted to be disproved. If the theory holds up over the course of time, it is eventually accepted to be law. None of this hysterical pseudoscience has gone through that process. I believe there has been a small increase in global average temperature over the past 100 years. I believe this is due to natural forces. I do not think that man can change this trend, and I think it will eventually reverse itself. I think it is a shame that we've all let people who stand to profit from global warming hysteria pull the wool over our eyes. When you suspect a scam, follow the money. It will lead you to the truth. If Al Gore really believed that reducing carbon emissions would save the world, don't you think he'd close down the coal mines on his property?

5a. Despite my disbelief in man-made global warming, I believe we should cut emissions and pollution whenever we can. Not out of fear, but out of a sense of decency and a desire to preserve beauty.

6. God - I'm a member of the United Methodist Church. I currently attend Catholic church with my wife. My position on religion is that I don't know anything about religion. I hope one day to be certain of the answer. Until that day, I won't be preaching to anyone. I hope there is an afterlife and that living a decent life where you care for others and try to do no evil and repent when you do wrong gets you into heaven, because I want to go there. I hope there is a place after death where those who do unrepentant evil are punished. I hope that if there is 'one true' religion, that it allows those who were taught differently to go to heaven if they were good people. I hope there's a way into heaven for agnostics who are truly looking for answers.

7. The Monroe Doctrine and US Foreign Policy - I think the USA should try to be more self-sufficient. I think we should let other countries do as they please as long as they don't threaten the US. I think we should take actions to make sure that we aren't dependent on other countries for anything. I think the United Nations is useless and corrupt and should be abolished and rebuilt from the ground up, because the inmates are running the asylum.

8. Oil - I think the US should be spending 25% of its GNP to develop an alternative to fossil fuels. We should then share this with the rest of the world and let the Middle East fend for itself without the wealth that keeps it alive artificially. I think the world will be a much better place once all the oil reserves run out.

9. Personal responsibility - I think ultimately, everyone is responsible for their own choices in life. The USA was founded on the principle that "all men were created equal". This does not mean that all people are entitled to an equal start in life, because that simply isn't possible. We all have talents and detriments and advantages and disadvantages and we have to use what tools we are given to make whatever we can out of life. No one is entitled to anything they don't earn, but no one is entitled to take away unearned advantages from others, either. Blaming others for your own failures is a disservice to not only those who are blamed, but to those placing blame as well, for it inhibits the urge to overcome and instead encourages more failure.We should be judged not on where we end up, but on how far we have come to get there, because that is the measure of our individual achievements.

(I'm sure I have unconsciously stolen lots of that verbiage from stuff that I have read - don't sue me if I have unintentionally plagiarized! I know those words seem familiar to me, but I don't remember where I heard them)

There, now. You all know me a bit better. Do you still want to be my friends?

Hair Boy Goes Home

Phew! Idol lives for another season. Sanjaya goes home. I was pretty close in my bottom three prediction, but I had Chris and Blake reversed. I guess Chris's heartfelt sympathy for the Va Tech victims won him some votes. From this week on, Idol is serious business. 6 folks left.

The AI Power Rankings:
1. Melinda
2. Jordin
3. LaKisha
4. Blake
5. Chris
6. Phil

I have a hunch that LaKisha may be the next one to go. We'll see how that works out next week.

CountryTyme Lemon-flavored Idol

OK, don't expect me to remember all the song titles tonight. Country music is not my thing. Apparently, I have that in common with most of this year's Idols. I'll go through the group quickly tonight.

1. Phil - You know, when he sang "Tobacco Road" a few weeks ago, I thought he could do justice to redneck rock songs. He did the same tonight. It was pretty good. Not stunning, but pretty good. The judges told him that country may be his genre. Personally, I don't think he knows country music from a hole in the ground, but his voice seems to fit it fairly well.

2. Jordin - I remember the song was "Broken Wing" and it is a Martina McBride song, because she had to sing it in front of tonight's coach, Martina McBride. Well, Jordin absolutely blew away the audience, judges, television audience, etc. Best of the season. Simon told her that she could win it all (which I've been saying since week one, ahem.).

3. LaKisha - She chose to do "Jesus Take The Wheel", which was done by former idol Carrie Underwood. This was a bad bad bad bad bad choice. This song requires a sweet, lilting voice, and LaKisha....well, imagine James Brown singing a lullaby. Get it? This was another case of the elephant trying to tap-dance, just like last week. She's gonna be bottom three, I just know it.

4. Melinda - She picked some song no one had ever heard of called "Trouble was a lady". This was a straight blues song with country accompaniment. She did it very well, but missed some opportunities to mesh with the band and improve the song. There was a place at the end of the verses where it builds up to the chorus, and the drummer breaks up his beat a bit, hitting off-beats hard while the chords ascend chromatically. Melinda could have broken up her lyrics the same way and rode the wave into the chorus and brought the house down, but she didn't try it. I grade this the same way judges do olympic figure-skaters - it's a stunt that wasn't attempted, so the degree of difficulty of the routine suffers as a result.

5. Sanjaya - ppffft. Moronic song choice "Let's Give Them Something To Talk About" by Bonnie Raitt. He'd have done better trying to do Ozzy Osbourne. This was an abomination. William Hung was better. Off-pitch, Off-tempo, Got lost in the lyrics, improvised badly. If he doesn't go home this week, I don't know how we'll ever get rid of him, because he was offensive. Six-year olds playing violins in grade school concerts are easier to listen to.

6. Chris - I thought he'd have a chance doing country. He has a twang that sometimes hurts him in other kinds of music, but works fine for country. Unfortunately, he was off-pitch badly. He did a Rascal Flatts song, "Mayberry", and it really wasn't good. Flat (pitch-wise and performance-wise). Bottom three material.

7. Blake - He did a Tim McGraw song, and had the very same pitch problems as Chris. The judges didn't even mention it. Sometimes I wonder if they hear what we hear on TV. Anyway, I didn't like it at all.

I noticed something tonight, however. When they recap the show at the end, the clips of the songs are not the same as the live performances. I think these clips are shot in the final dress rehearsal right before the show starts, as I noticed they do not show the audience or judges in them. The pitch problems that Chris and Blake had, weren't present in the recap clip. Sanjaya wasn't off-key in his clip like he was when it was live. Is this cheating?

Here's my ranking for the evening:
1. Jordin
2. Melinda
3. Phil
4. Blake
5. LaKisha
6. Chris
7. Sanjaya

I want to believe it. I'm trying hard to believe it, but I have my doubts. This was by far the worst Sanjaya performance ever, and we've had some real stinkers from him before. I may be wrong, but I have to predict it.

Sanjaya goes home. This is the end of the joke. It's not funny any more.

Thoughts on the Virginia Tech Massacre

As most of you know, a gunman killed 32 students at Virginia Tech today, locking them inside a building and then systematically hunting them down in their barricaded classrooms.

The emotions that must be going through the survivors and the bereaved eludes me until I remember several frantic phone calls from my parents when I was in college. Those calls were regarding fears that wouldn't even approach what most parents of the Hokie students were feeling this morning, but it gave me a touchstone that I can use to gauge the depth of fear and remorse that these people are going through right now.

What I cannot understand is how trained police and administrators can fail to lock down a campus and cancel classes after a double murder takes place in one of their dorm rooms, and the gunman hasn't been caught. I find that unforgivable. The university president says that they had no indication that the murderer would rampage, and in fact had good reason to believe that he had left the campus. My response to that is "why the heck would you gamble lives on the best-case scenario, when cancelling classes and evacuating campus costs you so little?" His poor decision is even less forgivable in light of the fact that he had a similar situation just one year ago, and did the right thing in that situation!

The fact is, the campus police and the university administration not only had experience in a nearly identical situation, but had a year to make plans in case it would happen again! And it did! And they failed to do their utmost to protect the children in their care.

As the hours pass, we will learn more about the killer and the reasons for his rampage, but the parents of the survivors have many questions to ask of the administration for their mishandling of this situation. This wasn't preventable, but it could have been mitigated and many lives could have been saved.

Today We Go Yard Again

Today's plan: Get up and mow the lawn before the rain comes. Bernie plans to go to the farmer's market with Mom.

Today's actual happenings:

1. I get up, make breakfast, mow the lawn.
2. Bernie gets a call from Mom. "Meet me at Lowe's and we'll go to the farmer's market from there."
3. I've finished the lawn, so I tag along.
4. Farmer's Market fails to happen. Lowe's trip involves buying plants and flowers.
5. Remembering the next project we plan to do, I buy 25 castlewall retaining wall bricks for our flowerbed.
6. I proceed to lift 25 of these bricks off of a pile and onto my cart, by myself, while the ladies buy plants.
7. I load these bricks, weighing 20 lbs apiece, onto the truck. (I've now lifted 1000 lbs worth of bricks from squat position to upright so far - my back and arms are dead)
8. The whole family ends up bricking in our front flowerbed, edging the front lawn, planting the new plants, spreading mulch, replacing the edging around two trees with new bricks.
9. I BBQ some babyback ribs for dinner in repayment for everyone's labor.
10. Bernie and I go for a walk.

I'm too tired to do anything now, and I'm not sleepy enough to go to bed. It's going to storm tonight and rain tomorrow. Thank God for that. I won't have to do any more yard work.

Stupid People - a Plea For Social Darwinism

• Don Imus makes a wisecrack about "nappy-headed ho's" on the air.
  
  
• My wife's boss decides to have a screaming fit at an employee that has to be broken up by HR - directly in front of the CEO's office.
  
  
• Governor Corzine of New Jersey breaks 12 ribs, his femur (twice), and a vertebra in a car wreck - because he wasn't wearing his seat belt - while being chauferred by a State Highway Patrolman.

How are such dumb people getting such high-paying jobs?

Major Shake-Up on Idol!

Tonight turned American Idol on its head. I knew when they announced Latin music as the theme that it was ill-suited to most of the contestants, so I was quite interested to see what would happen.

I expected Melinda and Lakisha to fall to the middle of the pack tonight, and I was right. Otherwise, I had no idea how it would shake out. I also had no idea that nearly everyone on the show would totally drop the ball this week.

Melinda and Lakisha were up first.

Melinda performed a Latin-Jazz song (don't remember the title) with a muted rhythm and it was mild and bland. Not bad, but completely forgotten by the time she finished.

Lakisha attempted a song that would have put her on top, had it worked ("Conga" by Miami Sound Machine). Lakisha apparently can't handle quick lyrics and was very heavy-toned, and the song dragged hopelessly. This was like an elephant trying to tap-dance.

Chris tried "Smooth" by Santana, and his vocal range was not appropriate for the song. This is a low, smoky song, and high and whiny vocals don't work on it. The judges liked it, shockingly.

Haley tried "Turn the Beat Around", wearing micro-spandex shorts, and turned it into an aerobic routine. No power to her lyrics whatsoever, and she got out of breath. The judges just shook their heads in shame.

Phil performed "Maria Maria" by Santana, and I thought it was pretty darn solid. No love from the judges, as usual. I think they've got their favorites and just won't give credit where credit is due with Phil, as I thought he was good last week and they universally panned him. If he and Chris had traded songs, both of them would have been better this week.

(A side note - I don't want to hear "Spanish Harlem" in a song ever again. I think the phrase was used 10 times in the first 5 songs tonight.)

Blake came out and sang a Marc Anthony song and it totally clicked. I think he was the only singer tonight to actually feel the beat and use it. I sort of expected this theme would work for him, as he's shown himself to be very flexible and adaptable in the show this season.

Jordin sang "Rhythm Is Gonna Get You", and did a passable performance, however, the verses and chorus of this song are repetitive, and if you aren't rocking to the beat and conveying that to the audience, it doesn't work. I think her genuine enjoyment in this performance goes a long way, however - especially tonight when almost no one else enjoyed themselves on stage.

Then there was Sanjaya.

I didn't devote much thought to Latin music + Sanjaya this week. I probably should have. He's not got a lot of range in his voice. Latin is good for that. He likes to sing low. Latin is good for that. He likes to sell his performance with his personality. Latin is good for that. He likes to mug the camera while he sings. Latin is great for that. He likes to dress up. Latin is totally into that.

Holy crap, the kid totally outperformed everyone this week! This marks 3 weeks in a row where Sanjaya didn't suck. This week, he may have cracked the top two. He was the only one to sing a song that actually had Spanish words, and I'll give him bonus points for that.

(Another side note. Sanjaya is half Italian. You can tell because he grew a goatee in 6 days.)

So what does this do to my rankings for tonight?

1. Blake
2. Sanjaya (I can't believe it.)
3. Jordin
4. Melinda
5. Lakisha
6. Phil
7. Chris
8. Haley

America can vote however it wants, but I truly think my bottom three will be accurate, and either Phil or Haley are going home this week. Sanjaya might actually be the top vote-getter this week.

Va-Ca-Tion All I Ever Wanted!

3 days of lovely vacation with my lovely wife. Wish it could have lasted longer.

I'm sure Bernie will spin the tale better than I could. She'll probably post it on her blog soon.

Hong Kong Phooey!

We are now considering a 3 day stay in Hong Kong before our Malaysia trip. Believe it or not, it could actually save us $500 on each ticket. The drawback is due to the schedule of the flights, we'd have to take an additional vacation day and leave a day earlier. I'm leaning toward doing this. Dim Sum in Hong Kong! Cheap electronics!

Results

Gina goes home. I'm surprised, but I actually had her in my bottom three originally, then re-read my post and changed it. The shock is that she got fewer votes than Haley, who has been a fixture in the bottom three all season.

DialIdol has proven itself useless this season, as the voting is too close to call by its reckoning. It only dared call Melinda safe this week.

Sanjaya will outlast Phil and Haley, who will almost certainly be the next to go. Whether he outlasts Chris or Blake will be interesting.

Who absorbs Gina's voters next week? Gina had a unique style and her voters won't go over to the jazz singing women. I think Blake and Chris will get most of them, though if Jordin sings a rock song, she might be able to steal them.

Tonight's Idol report

After the departure of Chris Sligh, who has now admitted what I had observed, i.e, his heart hasn't been in it for weeks, the Idols did jazz standards tonight. Tony Bennett ran the masters' class.

What was unique tonight was that Sanjaya didn't suck. He wasn't good, by any means, but he was certainly not as hideous as he has been in the past - and he was (shockingly) entertaining.

What was not unique tonight was the lower-tier singers continuing to sing flat, pitchwise, and in too low of a key.

I disagreed with the judges just about every time they were critical. There were no instances of constructive criticism, just inane yammering. I expect better from Simon, at least, if not from the other two stooges.

Blake: "Mack the Knife". Too syrupy for my taste. Flat (pitch) in places. The band carried him. Mediocre. Nice dance moves, though. Safe this week.

Phil: "Night and Day". I felt he did it well - on pitch, on rhythm, good interpretation, understated. Judges disagree with me. Phil will be in the bottom two.

Chris: "Don't Get Around Much Anymore". I prefer the original version of this song to his, however, he did interpret it in a modern way and it worked. Still flat in places, as usual. Safe this week.

Melinda: "I Got Rhythm". Wonderful! She did the little-heard introduction slowly, then revved right into the fast chorus. Perfect pitch, and a nice finish as well. Top score.

Sanjaya: "Dancing Cheek To Cheek". As I said, he didn't suck. White tux, slicked hair. Went into the audience and danced with Paula and didn't miss more than one note while he did it. The media have been on a "It's OK to like Sanjaya" kick lately. He won't be in the bottom three this week (just like last week).

Gina: "Smile". I couldn't find a beat during this song, but apparently, she did. I blame the band and she overcame it. Good, but not real memorable. Weird wardrobe choice. Safe.

Haley: "Ain't Misbehavin'". Nice dress. Sang flat for most of the song. Moved around too much and got out of breath a bit. She's trying too hard and has been this way for weeks now. I put her in the bottom three, and probably send her home this week.

Jordin: "On a Clear Day". Hard song. Not normally a crowd-pleaser. She nailed it and made it into much more than it deserves. Perfect performance, LOOOOOOOOOONG high note at the end in perfect pitch and volume. I put her a tiny bit behind Melinda.

LaKisha: "Stormy Weather". This is cheating, and she shouldn't have been allowed to do this one. Too easy for her. She did it just like you would expect her to - which makes it unremarkable. Third place.

Top of the charts:
1. Melinda
2. Jordin
3. LaKisha

Middle of the road:
4. Gina
5. Blake
6. Sanjaya

Bottom three:
7. Chris
8. Phil
9. Haley

I'm predicting Haley's legs won't be around much anymore.

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

Thanks to my Dad, I now own a Nintendo Wii!

Dad got one a month or so ago and he loves it. The background story is that my Dad had surgery two years ago for spinal stenosis, which means that his spine grew bone spurs inside the spinal cord channel and they were putting pressure on his spinal cord, causing weakness and partial paralysis in his legs. He had surgery that fused and replaced two or three vertebrae, and it left his left arm extremely weak and numb and took away a lot of his range of motion. A year later, after therapy and exercise, he only had about 50% of his strength back.

Since he's gotten the Wii, he's been playing games using the motion-sensing controller, and he's made some incredible gains in range of motion and strength. I've been over to play a few times and it's quite a workout playing tennis and boxing and such. You actually sweat and breathe hard and are sore the next day.

Dad's made no secret that he thinks I should get one to encourage me to exercise more. The problem is that stores simply don't have them. When they get a shipment, it consists of 3 or 4 systems, and they are bought up within minutes of the store opening.

Well, I figured something was up this weekend. Bernie has the details of our Saturday on her blog. I had to work on Sunday (10 hours!!), and Bernie told me that my Dad had been calling the house looking for me several times on Sunday. He wanted us to come over. Since I didn't get home until after 8pm, we couldn't go over there. I called and talked to both Mom and Dad, and they did a good job of keeping a secret on the phone.

Today, Bernie called me at work and said that my Mom had told her that Dad had called and told her that we were coming over for dinner. I didn't remember actually making plans to do that, but we are always glad to eat my Mom's cooking, so I went straight over from work and Bernie drove over from the house.

Surprise! Dad had gotten his hands on a Wii! And furthermore, he got me Madden Football '07 to go with it. The great thing about Madden on the Wii, is that it takes advantage of the motion-sensing controller. You actually throw the ball, make juke moves on defenders, throw stiff-arms, break tackles, high-step (by drumming the controller), pump-fake, etc, by moving the remote. I tried it out at Dad's place, and it's freaking awesome!

I've gotten it hooked up over at our house, now, and I can't wait to start playing this thing. By the way, here's an article about a guy in Australia that lost 10 lbs and 10cm in six weeks playing games on his Wii.

Do I have great parents, or what?

The Top Ten

Tuesday Night Idol time!

Tonight's theme: Songs sung by No Doubt, or songs that Gwen Stefani really really likes. (How lame is that?)

LaKisha: Really, really good version of "Last Dance". I think I remember someone doing this song in a previous season, and it turned out to indeed be their "last dance". Won't be that way tonight, though. Very strong. Donna Summer is jealous.

Gina: Excellent song choice with "I'll Stand By You". Knocked it out. Full points.

Phil: "Every Breath You Take". The judges liked it. I didn't. This is a song that doesn't sound right unless Sting is singing it, and guys shouldn't try. The equivalent of the "don't sing Whitney" rule except for guys. He didn't do it badly, however.

Haley: "True Colors". This song worked for Cindy Lauper because she vocally blunted her sharp edges in order to pull it off. Haley doesn't have sharp edges to her voice to begin with, so this was vanilla over vanilla. Very pretty, but not memorable.

Sanjaya: "Bath Water". I don't actually think he planned to do it, but he lucked into a decent song for his voice. Ska-like songs don't require much range (lucky for him), but do require you to hit the lyrics solidly in the right spots. One stumble, and you blow up the whole song. He didn't stumble, so it was OK. The faux-hawk, however, was atrocious. If Sanjaya offended the Californians that worship Gwen, he might lose out this week, as the majority of his votes come from Cali.

Blake: "Love Song", by The Cure. I thought this was a straight rip-off of the more modern cover of this song. The judges felt it was current and original. (WTF??) He performed it well, however.

Chris Sligh: "Every Little Thing She Does". I am seriously getting tired of the same old same old from Chris. This week, he did the song in the same style as always, but added a horrible tendency to lose the beat to his problems. He could go home. It's that serious.

Jordin: "Hey Baby". Bold choice, and she did it well, and showed some moves on-stage. The band, however, totally let her down. The backup singers which are SO critical in this song, were so soft that it sounded acapella at times. The drums were the only instrument loud enough, in my opinion. Gwen Stefani's No Doubt performances put her volume at the same level as the instruments instead of being out front with the band playing background, and without that same mix, this song loses it's excitement. Not Jordin's fault. The judges liked the performance, however.

Melinda: "Heaven Knows". Strange coincidence that LaKisha and Melinda both choose Donna Summer? Maybe not. We'll have to choose between these two at some point. Melinda met her usual standard with this one, putting her and LaKisha in a tie at the top once again in my rankings. Pretty funny that Simon could only say that he hated her outfit. I'd have suggested the long white 70's dress for this one.

Chris R.: I told my wife that if he did "Don't Speak", I'd hunt him down and kill him. Guess what he did? The No Doubt song has two great characteristics: The acoustic guitar, and the harmony, (which is really Gwen Stefani overrecording her own voice twice in the studio). Chris performs it R&B style, which omits both of these great things. Unfortunately, it also makes the song sound like "Careless Whisper", and Chris isn't nearly the singer that George Michael is. The judges of course, disagree with me and love it.

My rankings:
1 (tie). Melinda
1 (tie). LaKisha
3. Jordin
4. Gina
5. Blake
6. Phil
7. Haley
8. Chris Sligh
9 .Chris Richardson
10. Sanjaya

My prediction:
If Sanjaya doesn't get his comeuppance this week, one of the Chris's gets kicked to the curb.

My Wife's Evil List

Bernie and I went to church this morning, and she took out her little note pad and started scribbling during the service. I peeked and saw that she was making a shopping list for Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse. Uh oh.

So right after church, we go to Lowe's. Here's the list as I remember it:
4 bags of mulch
6 bags of pea gravel (later reduced to 3)
10 bags of top soil (later reduced to 5 after I mentioned that 10 bags at 40 lbs each was 400lbs)
2 bags of garden soil
black plastic sheeting
Castle Wall bricks

I start wondering if I'm going to need a bigger truck.

We dropped the sheeting from the list because I knew we had some already, and we left off the castle wall because we were already pulling two heavy flatbed carts and Bernie was struggling to move the lightest one.

We added:
4 rectangular paving stones (to put in front of the lawn mower house)
1 bag of lawn fertilizer (with 4% iron)

Strangely, this whole haul only cost us $50, and we had a $10 off coupon.

(Since this wild urge to do yardwork hit her during mass, I have to assume that it didn't come from heaven.)
We were not looking forward to putting this stuff in the truck. Bernie stood around with her cart, giving her best "helpless little girl" act, and one of Lowe's teenage employees told her to pull the truck around and he'd load it for her. Then I showed up with the second cart. (Sucker!) I took pity and helped load, though.
(Bernie was really evil today and will need to go to church again next week to ask forgiveness.)

Then we got home and had three hours before the basketball game. I decided to take the initiative and choose a project myself. We've been wanting to use some of the flat landscaping stones from the fountain project and make a cobblestone path to the garden around the fountain. So Bernie and I pulled up all the grass in the area (we had to take turns because of the heat), put down landscape fabric, poured out some of the pea gravel, put down the flat stones, and filled in with more pea gravel. This took us a couple of hours, but was really hot and exhausting.

It looks pretty good, though. We intend to take this project a little bit further next Sunday.

Meanwhile, the grass-growing experiment in the front yard continues.

Plastic-sniffing Dogs: Marked for Death

You just gotta love Malaysia for weird news:

Malaysia DVD Pirates want sniffer dogs dead

Reuters

Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian movie pirates have put a bounty on the heads of two sniffer dogs who busted a fake DVD ring with a seizure of discs worth about $3 million (Dh11 million), media and officials said yesterday.

Lucky and Flo, two female black Labradors deployed by Malaysian authorities in their crackdown on pirated movie DVDs and music CDs, carried out their first major successful operation in Johor state on Tuesday.

The New Straits Times said syndicate bosses had offered an unspecified reward for the killing of the two dogs.

Poor doggies! They were just doing their job!

Stephanie Falters!

DialIdol.com really has a problem this year. The top 3 are so far ahead of the others that the remainder are too close to call in their predictions. I figured Sanjaya wouldn't go home this week after he at least tried to be better.

Poor Stephanie. She had been in a bit of a slump and she had stiff competition for the niche of black female soul singer in this season's competition. Basically, Jordin's surge fueled Stephanie's demise.

What really sucks is that America will have to listen to Sanjaya on tour all summer, now.

The good news is that Haley has figured out what it takes to get votes - wear less.

Tuesday Night AI

This time tomorrow, we'll be down to the top 10 on American Idol.

I was actually impressed tonight. I think someone told the contestants that if you make it through this week, you get paid to go on tour all summer. Either that, or the guest coaches (some lady named Lulu and a guy that sounds just like Nick Arrojo on What Not To Wear) were particularly inspiring this week. Every single one of the performers (including Sanjaya) left it all on the stage tonight.

Anyway, here's my impressions:

Haley: Well, unfortunately, I got a phone call while she was performing. She sang "I Know Something About Love". The judges said she did well, so I'll have to take their word for it.

Chris Richardson: "Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying". I think he did a good job, slowed down and relaxed and kept it real. The girls probably loved it. I am not a particular fan of his style, but he's not in danger for a few more weeks.

Stephanie: She's falling back into the pack lately, after being one of the top 3 in the beginning of the show. "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me" should be performed such that the verse is sung off-rhythm, then the chorus snaps to the beat. Stephanie tried to do the whole song off-beat and she fought the band the whole way through. It sounded like a cat fight. Not good.

Blake: Sang "It's The Time Of The Season" and arranged it in a modern fashion. The judges really liked it. I personally didn't get it, but I have already conceded that Blake's style sometimes is too modern for me to understand. I thought he was off-pitch quite a bit, but sometimes that was intentional. The song lends itself (especially the way he arranged it) to being in a weird key, but I felt it wasn't right some of the time.

Lakisha: "Diamonds Are Forever". I loved the song and the performance, but it was un-original. I could imagine the Bond Babes With Guns in silhouette on-screen when I closed my eyes. Unfortunately, when I opened them, Lakisha was there and I had to grab for the eye bleach. Lakisha has dropped back a bit since establishing dominance early in the competition. Still in second place, but she's not as strong as she once seemed.

Phil: "Tobacco Road". I liked his performance on tape with the coach much better than the actual on-stage performance. He pushes a little too much when the band is playing behind him. He strutted and dipped and played with the mike stand and really tried to rock out. His voice is too clean for this kind of song, though and he really didn't sell it, despite a great effort. He needs to smoke a pack or two before trying this one again.

Sanjaya: Poor kid. He just doesn't have it and I finally saw him try to give us what we have been wanting for weeks - a song with a pulse. He attempted to rock out to "You Really Got Me". Unfortunately, this is NOT a song where vocals are important. He somehow managed to make me cringe to a Kinks song. Only a couple of times, though, which is a tenfold improvement over previous performances. Please, America, put him out of his misery.

Jordin: CRACK! Another one over the fence! She's my favorite and she didn't let me down. I had never heard the song before (and can't remember the title now), but it was a pleading, heart-ripping, love song, and she totally sold it. The vocals were impeccable and she blew everyone away. What was once a Lakisha-Melinda battle is turning into a Jordin-Melinda battle.

Gina: I knew she'd falter sometime. She picked "Fade To Black" and I think she chose poorly. The Stones were the correct band, but this song is too repetitive and non-melodic for a singing competition. Her performance was solid but not perfect, and not inspiring. I think she's in the bottom 3 this week.

Chris Sligh: A pretty good comeback after last week's debacle. He sang "She's Not There", which he said was one of his favorites. He didn't play with the arrangement at all this week. Vocals were good but vanilla. I think he needs to update his sound or he'll start losing votes for being boring. Nice job playing the crowd, but he looked distracted.

Melinda: It seems like the songs I liked best this week are ones I can't remember the titles to. Melinda sang a ballad and jazzed it up nicely. She is just flawless on stage and her held notes are crystal pure. The only bad thing to say this week is that her outfit was terrible and made her boobs look like a National Geographic photoshoot.

My Top Rankings:
1. Jordin (tie)
1. Melinda (tie)
3. Lakisha

Somewhere In The Middle:
Chris
Chris
Phil
Haley
Blake

Bottom 3:
9. Gina
10. Stephanie
11. Sanjaya

Body Hurt

Today, I was planning on mowing the grass, then seeding and fertilizing the lawn.

This involves passing over the lawn 3 times, once with the mower and twice with the spreader. Easy, right?

Well, I mowed. Then I looked at the front lawn and decided that I had a thatch problem. Thatch is dead grass that gets tangled up in the live grass and sinks down to the soil, preventing water and nutrients from getting to the roots of the grass, and preventing grass seed from getting down to the dirt.

My grass is yellow. It has been yellow despite my best efforts to put various fertilizers, lime, seed, etc on it to get it to green up. I figure it's the thatch preventing the stuff from getting to the soil.

So Bernie and I grab rakes and start scratching the lawn. After 10 minutes, I can tell that my body isn't going to be happy tomorrow. After an hour, I can tell that my body may not be able to get out of bed in the morning. After an eternity, we finish the front lawn, and we pack a 40-gallon trash bag with dead grass that we've raked. I then proceed to seed. (haha).

I put one-third of a 50lb bag of grass seed into the spreader and give it to Bernie. The rest of the bag goes into a bucket and I toss it into bare patches by hand. Once we finish, we soak the heck out of the lawn. I plan to fertilize when I get home from work tomorrow.

Bernie remarked to me at dinner that the damn grass had better grow after this. I totally agree. The next option is green spray paint.

Alert! Political Subject

I read my friend Brian Dickerson's blog the other day, and he made a post about how dissatisfied he is with the current administration and the President. I commented and he challenged me to find something - anything - that the current administration had accomplished that was not a disaster.

So I sat down and thought about it. I really haven't been able to understand throughout the Bush administration exactly what it is that makes some people so, well, hysterical about how much they dislike it, and Bush in particular. Also, the lengths that some folks will go to, to communicate their hatred for the President really shocks me. I know that my opinion of Americans in general has taken a sharp dip in the past few years, mostly due to the amount of emotional histrionics that people have put into their political opinions recently. Suddenly, everything is a conspiracy in the public eye. The media has taken to inventing crises because if the public isn't angry or scared, they don't watch news broadcasts.

So, I sat down and thought, and tried to take my emotions out of the equation. What good things have come from the Bush administration?

Well, I thought, it all started with 9/11. I thought the immediate response to the disaster was fairly well handled. Everyone stayed calm. All air traffic was immediately grounded and the planes left in the air at the time were tracked carefully. The one airborne hijacked plane was met with fighter jets and if it had gotten near a valuable target, it would have been shot down. In the days that immediately followed, the administration did a pretty good job of keeping the public informed without stirring up panic.

So far so good. Now, we all seem to be in agreement that the occupation of Iraq hasn't gone well. Can I blame the President for this? Well, not directly. In a war situation, the President has to allow the military to do the actual planning, unless he's got experience in doing that himself. My opinion is that Rumsfeld really screwed up the occupation. Can you blame the President for letting Rumsfeld run the occupation? Some, yes. But who knew that Rummy would do so poorly? He had a resume that read like Greenspan's. You couldn't doubt his credentials. He should have been replaced sooner, I agree, but it was nearly inconceivable that he could screw up that badly.

So we have one for the good, and one for the bad. For brevity, I'll bullet the next few things I'd like to point out.

• Iran and nukes. Truly, I think this has been handled very well. Eventually, Russia and China will give in to hard sanctions, and it will all be over with. Russia is already wavering because Iran won't pay them for the reactor they are constructing.
  
  
• Korea and nukes. This was also handled quite well. Kim Jong-Il was never serious about talking to us until we made China smack him in the face. Then we cut off his supply of Ipods and froze his bank accounts after we proved to the world that he was counterfeiting money and buying goods with it. Suddenly, he's ready to deal, and he can't cheat this time because his babysitters are watching.
  
  
• The economy. It's good. Revenues are up due to middle-class tax cuts. Only because of war spending is there a deficit. Unemployment is low. Pork projects are at an all-time low. Interest rates have been relatively low for several years now. Inflation is in check. Greenspan retires and is replaced by an actual competent successor. (The whole financial world has been holding its breath for decades over that, and Bush handled it perfectly.) The stock market has recovered and surpassed its pre-9/11 record highs.

All in all, I really can't find much to be unhappy with, except for the war in Iraq, which I think should have been wrapped up long ago. However, I think the invasion of Iraq has achieved a goal that most people don't realize was a major reason for it: It turned the focus of Islamic fascists to their own back yard, instead of trying to attack the USA in the USA. Iraq is a smudge-pot for Islamic radicals. Better there than here.

Anyway, this post has gone on for too long. I just wanted to reason out why I don't feel that Bush has done a terrible job. I conclude that all the fuss isn't about policy - it's about politics and who wants power and what they'll do in order to seize it.

That's all. Now I'm preparing to handle a bunch of nasty comments from people that I've never heard of. We'll see if I get some prime examples of folks that have abandoned reason and given in to hateful name-calling.

Aftermath

Brandon goes home. No shock there. The good news is that Sanjaya was in the bottom three. I think we'll get rid of him next week, thank God. Only the top 10 go on tour after the season, so if he goes next week, America won't have to deal with that.

It's funny, though. Diana Ross dispenses all that good advice to the kids, and then goes out tonight and breaks every AI rule. She did a Stevie song, did it too low, shouted the chorus, was "pitchy", etc. Legends get a pass, though. What a nice lady!

AI: The Top Twelve Take On Diana Ross!

It was a depressing show tonight, I thought. The guys fizzled for the most part, except for Phil Stacey, who elevated his game and finally impressed me. Melinda and LaKisha were off the scale, as always, but Jordin Sparks came up last and absolutely crushed one out of the ballpark. The judges are mentioning her in the same breath with the dynamic duo now.

Top 3 performances:
(well, duhhhh...)
1. Melinda
2. LaKisha
3. Jordin - wow!

As Darth Vader says, "Impressive!":
4. Gina. Really nice version of "Love Child" that hit on all cylinders. Perfect song for her style. She's on a roll.

5. Phil Stacey. "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" - He hit all the right notes. Very Michael McDonald-ish, and he totally sold the song with his stage presence. Just in the nick of time - I was about to lose hope for him.

6. Haley. She forgot the words to her song (I didn't notice it, until she let it show in her body language) and probably thinks that sank her tonight. Not so. Her performance was good, the style fit her well, and she garnered a lot of sympathy. She was far from the bottom tonight, and I think the fact that she's the best looking girl left will keep her around for a bit longer. She showed signs of 'getting it' tonight.

Nothing Special:
7. Chris Richardson. I actually dug his version of "Boss" and his performance. I don't think it was as obvious to the rest of America what he was trying to accomplish, though.

8. Chris Sligh. Did "Endless Love" in a free-form arrangement with a syncopated backbeat that just didn't work. This was the first example of Chris over-thinking his strategy. The arrangement of the song didn't work, but the vocals were good. The bad arrangement was stronger than the good vocals, though.

9. Blake. Tried to do the same thing as Chris. I wonder if they planned this out together? I've forgotten the song, but he tried to modernize it and he completely forgot that he needed to sell his vocals. He lost focus on the goal of the competition - singing well.

10. Stephanie. Vocals good, but nothing memorable. Her performance was better than the 3 guys above her on this list, but Chris, Chris, and Blake all took big swings and missed. To extend the baseball metaphor, she got on base, but people will remember their attempts and forget her performance. One thing I noticed with my super-powers of criticism, but the world will miss: She had a moment in one of the choruses where she actually channelled Diana Ross - I could swear Diana sang those couple of notes. Then the moment passed.

The Basement:
11. Brandon. Geez, guy, I feel sorry for you. You have all the tools, but haven't figured out song choice or style yet. Everyone else is shooting off cannons, and you keep fooling around with a bb gun. Pick an uptempo song, one that doesn't start off low and slow for once, and belt it out with some power! He did "Can't Hurry Love", using the same arrangement as Phil Collins, but didn't fill it up, and he messed up the roadmap of the song and tried to sing the chorus when the band played the bridge. Understandable, he didn't do anything else well enough to overlook it.

12. Sanjaya. Bad, and continuing to get worse. He pretty much spoke his song tonight ("Ain't No Mountain High Enough"). He couldn't win third prize in a karaoke bar. Whatever is causing him to get more votes than others will probably keep going until it gets serious, I'm afraid, but I can always hope that America wises up and kicks him to the curb.

For the first show on the big stage, I'd say that Haley, Phil, and Gina were positively affected by the big audience and expanded band, and Stephanie, Blake, and Brandon were negatively affected.

I'm personally disappointed that no one, particularly none of the guys, did "Upside Down". If a girl had tried it, they'd have had that low-note problem I described in a previous post, but a guy could take advantage of the range and pull it off, without being accused of "trying to be Diana Ross". That's a missed opportunity for one of the guys.

2007 ACC Champions!

2007 ACC Regular Season
and
ACC Tournament Champions!

University of North Carolina Tar Heels

Total Eclipse of the Sun

So Sanjaya made the final 12. How embarrassing. Paula acted like the sun had gone out when it happened.

I have a little advice for you, Paula.

STOP PUTTING CHARITY CASES THROUGH TO HOLLYWOOD!

You keep handing out golden tickets to people you feel sorry for in auditions. Well, guess what? Those people end up getting sympathy votes and send people with actual talent home. If you'd start taking your job seriously, you'd remember that it's the 'panel of three' who have the job of weeding out the untalented from the talented each season before it gets to this point.

White Girls (apparently) Can't Sing

Rosie O'Donnell has no idea what she's talking about. As usual. If Idol was racist, they'd be trying to keep the white girls on the show. After tomorrow, there will be 5 ladies of color, and 1 white chick on the show.

I'm looking forward to next week and beyond, because we're going to see the guys get dropped off one by one every week from now on.

Melinda and LaKisha will be fighting it out for the trophy (do they get a trophy?) in the end. If America has any taste, that is.

Bored

I watched AI tonight and I was seriously bored. Not a single song that I liked, except maybe the first one, which Blake performed fairly well.

There's not enough material here to analyze, but here's who I think is safe for next week:
1. Blake
2. Chris Sligh
3. Chris Richardson
4. Sundance

The rest just bore me to death. Jared gets on my nerves, because he's like a karaoke singer that takes himself too seriously. Brandon gets on my nerves because he could be good, but he can't pick a song. Phil bores me, and Sanjaya's presence on the show offends me. I swear, he's not even making an effort. I wish the judges would let him finish his song and just say "Next!", because he's not even worth criticizing.

There's still not a belly singer in the group. Blake's my new favorite because he at least is interesting.

Idol Voters Are Morons

AJ being voted out and Sanjaya being kept is reason enough to nuke California. The best guy singer leaves and the worst stays despite giving one of the worst performances in Idol history.

Antonella's continued existence on Idol can be chalked up to her internet striptease nonsense.

I wasn't planning on voting until it got near the end, but I think I'm going to have to hook up with DialIdol.com and start voting against people.

And I'm taking bets on AJ having a CD on the charts before they get down to the final two this season.

Girls, Girls, Girls

After watching the girls on Idol tonight, I have come to the conclusion that the six that make the finals will be the following:

1. Melinda Doolittle
2. Lakisha Jones
3. Jordin Sparks
4. Sabrina Sloan
5. Stephanie Edwards
6. Gina Glocksen

What's a shame is that 5 of those 6 could have won the whole competition in previous seasons. I truly think the final four in the competition will be the first four in that list. No guys.

Who's going home this week? Antonella and Alaina. Next week, Leslie and Nicole. I feel sorry for Leslie, because there is absolutely nothing she can do to please the judges because the rest are so good. Gina's been surprisingly strong, and I chalk this up to her studying up on AI strategy.

Best tonight was Melinda. She knows how to be strong without being loud. That's experience talking. Her years singing backup are paying off for her big-time. She's got grace under pressure that the others don't have.

What is really annoying is that nearly all of the weaker girls are singing too low. You hit lower notes in rehearsals, but when the adrenaline kicks in, your throat tightens up and you lose some of your low-range. 90% of the time when Randy says something is 'pitchy', that's what he means. The flip-side of this is that you can hit high notes better when this happens, so it's better to gamble on a high note that you can't quite reach in rehearsals to come through in crunch time.

My favorite to win it all right now is Melinda. Put that in the envelope and we'll see if it comes true in a couple of months.

This Is More Like It

Your results:
You are Dr. Doom

Dr. Doom 90% Apocalypse 78% Lex Luthor 78% Mr. Freeze 74% The Joker 71% Juggernaut 67% Dark Phoenix 66% Magneto 65% Venom 60% Kingpin 58% Mystique 55% Catwoman 53% Green Goblin 47% Poison Ivy 47% Two-Face 39% Riddler 35%

Blessed with smarts and power but burdened by vanity.

Click here to take the Supervillain Personality Quiz

Stuck In Idol

Tonight's Idol Analysis:

Only 10 guys left. My opinion of the field is that we don't have a belly-singer in the bunch. There are at least 6 of the girls that can blow any of these guys off the stage with just one note.

How do they rank after tonight's performances?

1. AJ Tabaldo - The kid makes it look easy. I think he could win, especially if he mixes in some Spanish lyrics once in a while.

2. Blake Lewis - I can't analyze this guy, but I like what he does. A lot.

3. Chris Sligh - His performance of 'Trouble' was better than Taylor's last season. He doesn't make mistakes. Song choices are solid, Vocals are solid as well. Plays to the crowd perfectly. He isn't capable of winning the competition, but he will be around fairly late in the contest, until he has to go head-to-head with a better performer. One of the girls will end up eliminating him.

4. Chris Richardson - He's doing a lot with a little. Nice song choices, but he has limited range and only a so-so voice. He'll last until they do a theme night outside his comfort zone.

5. Phil Stacey - Consistently OK, but weak. Mellow. No pizzazz. Not sure if he'll make the final 12. I can't even remember what he sang tonight.

6. Sundance Head - Got back in his comfort zone tonight, but he doesn't have the powerful voice that he needs to beat out the falsetto boys. If he can be more consistent, he can make the final 12. Personally, I didn't like his version of 'Mustang Sally' tonight, but it was miles ahead of his last 3 performances.

7. Nick Pedro - Everything he sings sounds falsetto. I'm getting tired of it and so is America.

8. Jared Cotter - Technically good, but...boring. I think he's got another week to figure out what it takes or get sent home. I've heard 'Let's Get It On' done better during karaoke shows.

9. Brandon Rogers - Song choice may have just sent him home. Wasn't a good technical performance, either. Only voter sentiment can save him this week. I like the guy, but he's ruining his chances with his song choices. I can't think of anything weaker than an acoustic verison of 'Time After Time'.

10. Sanjaya Malakar - Done. He should have done a Michael Jackson song. Extremely poor song choice tonight with 'Steppin Out With My Baby'. Sang it all monotone in one octave and got softer as the song went on. Borrrrrrring.

At this point, my predictions for the 6 that make the cut:

AJ, Chris, Chris, Blake, Sundance, and Nick.

Unforgivable

OK, I'm back to normal now...

Being an IT guy, I read this article today and just about had a fit.

Excerpt:

When the group of Raptors crossed over the IDL (International Date Line), multiple computer systems crashed on the planes. Everything from fuel subsystems, to navigation and partial communications were completely taken offline. Numerous attempts were made to "reboot" the systems to no avail.

Luckily for the Raptors, there were no weather issues that day so visibility was not a problem. Also, the Raptors had their refueling tankers as guide dogs to "carry" them back to safety.

Now, the F-22 has been in service for 14 months, officially. This software bug has apparently existed for years of test flights, plus fourteen months of normal use. If I were the USAF, I'd have some hard questions for Lockheed:

1. WHY THE DEVIL WASN'T THIS SCENARIO TESTED IN QA?
2. WHY AREN'T THESE CRITICAL SYSTEMS REDUNDANT IN CASE OF A COMPUTER FAILURE?
3. What sub-contractor wrote the software? (and bring me the head of the programmer!)
4. Why isn't there a manual backup for radar and navigation?
5. HOW MANY OTHER BUGS ARE THERE THAT WE DON'T KNOW ABOUT?

If I were piloting these planes, I think I'd stick one of those rotating compass globes on the dash, just in case.

AI: The Twelve Guys

I just watched Idol and saw the 12 guys.

I'm not going to go into too much depth at this point of the season, but here are my impressions:

Nobody took any risks, and Simon hated that. I'm sorry to say that Simon is wrong about taking risks at this point in the competition - you just don't do it now. You let the weak ones die and you stay alive until you have to win, instead of not losing. At this point, you just want to not lose. Tonight was all about base hits, not home runs.

Winners:
1. AJ Tabaldo - Did an easy song perfectly and effortlessly, showing good stage presence.

2. Phil Stacy - Did an easy song quite well in the payoff chorus. Weak in the buildup, though. Wisely milked the "new baby" schtick for sympathy votes. Sucked up too obviously to Simon, though.

3. Chris Sligh - Did a good song nearly perfectly. He's smarter than any other Idol contestant I've ever seen, too. His strategy was very good on his song choice, and he got votes by challenging Simon. This guy must have read my blog from last season.

4. Blake Lewis - Did a perfect job on a good song, but didn't show off any range or stage presence. He's a sleeper.

5. Nick Pedro - Did a decent job of an easy song. He needs to show some depth, or he'll never make it to the top 12. So far, he's Boy-band all the time.

Losers:
1. Sundance Head - Geez, what was this kid thinking with that song choice? He took a big risk and it killed him. He's gone. After his poor performances in the last 2 weeks, he needed to blend in instead of being foolish. Did he sound good doing that song in rehearsals? Somehow I doubt it.

2. Paul Kim - Did an easy song poorly. Gone. The barefoot schitck works with women, not guys.

The rest were mighty boring.

Looks to me like it's going to be Chris Sligh vs. the Boy-band wannabes this season. Ugh.

Who Wants to Eat Their Way Through Malaysia?

We're planning on going back to Malaysia for two weeks in August. I'm dieting and plan to lose 70 lbs before then. Then I plan on gaining them all back by eating all that wonderful Malaysian food!

Here are my best reasons for wanting to go back (pictures are not mine):

Rotiboys. These are light, fresh-baked buns topped with coffee cream. The smell is amazing. This is Malaysia's answer to Krispy Kreme.


Roti Canai. Crispy grilled flatbread with curry dipping sauce.


Siew Pao. BBQ pork on the inside of a flaky pastry. The sausage biscuit of Malaysia.


Curry Puffs.


Char Siew. Chinese BBQ Pork. Usually found hanging in a hawker stall.


Nyonya Chicken Curry. Good stuff!


Chili Crabs. You just can't believe how cheap it is to buy crabs over there in restaurants. Shrimp, too.


Char Kway Teow. You can't see the noodles in this picture but they are wide egg noodles, fried.


Beef Rendang. This is beef in coconut red curry.


Nyonya style-dining. Indian dishes served on a banana leaf.


Bak Kut Teh. Slow-simmered short ribs.


Soup with pork meatballs. I like to have wantons in it, too.


Devil's Curry. I haven't had this yet, but it is on the list. It's supposed to be hot.


Hainanese Chicken Rice.


And finally, the mobile cafeterias you find at all the markets.


OK, who wants to go with me?

First Idol Blog of 2007

I've been keeping an eye on Idol so far this season, and I have to say that i am greatly disappointed. Either the producers are deliberately keeping the talented ones off-camera, or everybody that tried out this season is terrible.

They cut it down to 40 last night, and I can't disagree with any of the cuts. If I had my way, they'd send them all home and call for new auditions.

That being said, the best of a bad group comes down to 4 singers:

1. Chris Sligh. He hasn't sung a bad note yet, has good taste in music, and seems to have some genuine talent for arrangements. I just don't see Idol being won by a Meat Loaf/Weird Al novelty, though.

2. Sundance Head. I just read today that this guy is the son of the guy who sang "Treat Her Right" back in the 60's. He's got good pipes, but he got nervous and wobbly. I'd expect better from a legacy. He's also a Meat Loaf type.

3. Jordin Sparks. We didn't get to see her at all last night, and that lends itself to my theory that the good ones are being hidden from us at this point. I read that she moved on to the next round last night.

4. Matt Blake (beat box guy). He's good, but quirky. I can't see him being able to do beat box in the finals if he makes the last cut.

So far, except for Sparks, the girls all stink out loud. The guys are extremely shaky at this point.

How the heck can a record company offer any of these folks a contract? After last season, this one looks like a big joke so far.

I'm a Dead Man

Okay... so my wife and her friend Fiona are watching the Grammy's. They've been looking forward to it all week and they watched the pre-Grammy show while eating dinner from TV trays. We all watch the Police perform the opening number (that seemed a little rough, by the way...you'd think they'd sound better after rehearsing for a month).

Anyway, I get bored and I start doing our taxes. I run across the Dish Network bill and I decide to look on their site and see if our local channels are available in HD yet. WooHoo! They are! So I call Dish. They tell me that they just launched another satellite and these new HD locals are on that one, so I'll need a new dish installed - for free (SCORE!) - to get them. They can schedule it for Tuesday. Only one slight problem, though. They have to turn off the regular locals in order to add the HD locals to our programming (getting the new dish cost refunded complicated the transaction), and the HD locals won't get turned on until the work order for the new dish is completed. I say OK, I understand. Not realizing what I've done until...

Suddenly, the noise from the living room goes silent.

Ohhhhh.....crap. I'm in serious trouble now. I just turned off the Grammy's in the middle of the show.

I tell the guy 'Dude, don't do it yet! My wife's gonna kill me!'. Too late. The guy is really nice, but he can't undo it.

So at the conclusion of the call, I go upstairs and have to explain what I've done to two irate females. They are trying to figure out how to get the channel to come back. I explain, and try to get the station in on the over the air antenna. I can't. I can get 3 other stations to come in fairly clear, but not the one with the Grammy's.

I am so dead.

Anyway, I go back to doing our taxes and I'm getting a bunch of cash back. That'll pay for the Malaysia trip later in the summer. (SCORE!)

I call my Dad to tell him the good news, and the phone goes dead. I try to call back and get "your device is not registered to make calls on the network". Glitch at our VOIP provider - nice. So I hear Bernie's cell phone ringing and it's Dad calling us back. I take her phone downstairs to talk, and after I get off the phone with Dad, I call Broadvoice to find out what's wrong, and the house phone is suddenly working properly again. Apparently, the glitch was only temporary.

Well, I start surfing the net again, and just a minute ago, Bernie's cell phone rings. I pick it up and she's calling from upstairs frantically searching for her phone, which she thinks she's left somewhere. She stomps downstairs and snatches it from me.

I am sooooooooo dead.

Reaction to Current Events

1. So UNC lost to State. We then go and whip dook at dook. I'll take that trade-off.

2. Butch Davis absolutely shocks the world with his National Signing Day haul of football players. "I told Dickie Baddour that if he wanted a coach to take them to the Peach Bowl, he had the wrong guy." I'm starting to believe it.

3. Anna Nicole Smith. I've got my money on Howard K. Stern killing both her and her son in order to get his hands on $88 million bucks. He's one rigged paternity test away.

4. Bernie's friend Fiona is here from Malaysia. Fio doesn't like pets, but Trouble has completely charmed her, like he does everyone. Bernie is incredulous, even though the same thing happened to her when she first got here.

$$$

Well, we couldn't put it off any longer. The couch and chair in the living room were looking like college dorm material, so we went out and bought new furniture today to the tune of about $1600. Thank God for 2 years no interest financing. We take delivery on Tuesday.

Then some drunk guy called my cell phone this evening and shouted something incomprehensible to my voice mail. No idea what that was about.

Tomorrow is the Super Bowl. We're going to watch it (mostly for the commercials) at the 'rents in front of the 65 inch HD and eat wings and chili.

Bernie's friend Fiona will be visiting us this week, all the way from Malaysia. My friend Andy and his wife and baby will also be visiting us over next weekend, all the way from Korea. It's the week for international visitors!

Follow Up to the Follow Up to the Follow Up

New belts arrived today and the tumbler is now tumbling again!

He Didn't Make It

Barbaro Euthanized

Poor Barbaro just couldn't do it. I doubt anyone will ever try to save a racehorse with a broken leg again, because the owners did everything possible to save him.

I've always had an affinity for this horse, for some reason. It saddens me that the poor guy's gone.

Follow up to the follow up

The brand-new rotary rock tumbler ran for 2 days. Belt broke. #$%^&*!!!
I have ordered 5 new belts from a guy on eBay that says his belts are 1000 times better than the original equipment ones on this tumbler. Grand total: $7.

For those of you familiar with my streaky luck: This is definitely a textbook example of Madam Fate deciding to mess with me personally once again. I've declared war. These gemstones will be smooth and shiny if I have to polish them personally with sandpaper following the end of the world.

Follow up

Bernie posted quite nicely regarding our Friday outing with my co-workers, so I'll just give you a quick follow up on the rock tumbler I won on eBay.

Ran for 1 hour, fell into pieces. Seller won't warrant or refund according to the auction. I went to Harbor Freight today and bought a regular tumbler, and our gems are tumbling as we speak.

Rocks In My Head

We went gem-hunting last weekend in Hiddenite, NC. This is a gem mine where a very rare mineral called hiddenite was found years ago. This mineral has only recently been found in Madagascar, but otherwise, it is unique to this particular place in North Carolina.

We sluiced for gemstones, and didn't find much, however, Papa Lau found a large garnet that the lapidarist on site said could be cut into two 3-carat stones. They had a 6-week backlog, so we told Papa to take it back to Malaysia and to get it cut there (Malaysia has a large gem-cutting industry and it could be done quite cheaply). Papa thought he wanted to keep the stone rough, but Mama got a look at an example of what it would look like when it was cut, and I think she'll win the argument. The Chinese believe that garnets cleanse the blood if worn as jewelry.

Bernie and I both have fascination for gemstones, so we have been to three different gem mines now over the summer and here's what we have found:


| View Show | Create Your Own


I like the black tourmalines best, and Bernie likes the quartz and amethysts. I won an auction on ebay to get a vibratory polisher, so I'm going to try to polish these guys and see what they look like then. The pictures don't do them justice color-wise, and they look best when they are wet. Most of them have bits of granite attached to them, so polishing them will get rid of that and let the color come through.

Whew! Long Week!

Despite it being only 4 days, this week seemed like a LONG work week. We're in-between releases at work and there simply isn't a lot to do at the moment. Our team lead has been doling out work equally between the team members, but I think that the items I got were simple and quick to finish, while some of the others got tougher assignments that took more time. I wish I had gotten some of those instead, as I'm getting tired of fixing text errors in test scripts to fill up the days.

On the plus side, I'm getting to know my co-workers better and I like them a lot.

I'll be going to a couple of classes starting next week on Tues and Thurs nights and continuing for a month. It'll suck to be at work so long, but I'll learn SQL inside and out for my efforts, and it's worth it.

Tomorrow, we are going to Hiddenite, NC to do some gem mining.

Been a Long Time, Been a Long Time, Been a Long...

Whew! Seems like I've been off-line forever!

Mucho apologies for you fictional readers of this blog. I would normally post at least once in a week, but there have been extenuating circumstances lately, consisting of:

• Food Poisoning, which may have been a stomach virus, taking me out for 2 days
• Dead Computer, which had two on-site service calls and finally had to be sent back to Sony for repair, taking a week to return
• The Head Cold, which threatened to become strep throat, which I valiantly fought off for two days and now have forced back to the threat level of "Nuisance"
• And somewhere in there, there was Christmas and the festivities thereof

I may have mentioned that my family's version of Christmas is embarassingly extravagant. I will detail only the highlights of the Holiday Haul to illustrate:

Jason:

• Kitchen Aid Food Processor
• 4 appropriate for the office Shirts
• 3 appropriate for the office Pair of Slacks
• Stone Mortar and Pestle (for grinding fresh herbs)
• Computer Game (The Movies)
• Cast Iron Pot
• Waffle Iron
  
• 3 Books
• Calendar (with pics of my wife so I won't miss her so much when I'm at work)
• Bottle of Stoli Vanil Vodka
• Umbrella
• Money
  

Bernie:

• 2GB memory card for her camera
• Radar Detector (she doesn't appreciate it...yet)
• Gift card for the Glo Spa
• Hair Straightening Iron
• Jeans
• Blouse
• Pajamas from Victoria's Secret
• Desk Fountain
• Scrapbooking Kit
• Stepstool (for getting into bed)
  
• Money

Trust me, there was more, but these are only the highlights. We couldn't fit it all in my truck to get home. That's Christmas in my family. Everybody shops year-round for gifts and hoards them in secret until Dec 25. The result is a Christmas tree that looks like this:
Not that I'm complaining.

Since Christmas, I've been back to work. Bernie's been off all week. Is that fair?

Hopefully, now that I've paid off the Visa card (oy, vey!), we'll be able to start saving again so we can afford our trip to Malaysia later this summer.

Totally Exhausted

My company has asked that each corporate employee spend one working day in one of our stores during the Christmas rush. This helps out the stores that need help the most. Today was my day.

I spent the day condensing the Christmas merchandise on the shelves and filling in the blanks with new merchandise. Then I spent the afternoon getting boxes of toilet paper unloaded and on the shelf. (I suggested to the manager that since the store had so much TP that we could make a display of it in the front of the store with a sign saying "This year, give your kids something they can REALLY use.")

Anyway, this is the hardest day's work I've had in a looooooong time. I am so sore, it actually hurts to sit and type. All that bending and lifting wears you out. I must say that I enjoyed it, though I certainly wouldn't want to work that hard every day (for $7.50 an hour!). Thank God for a college education.

Bad Mood

I have caught a bad mood that I'm having a hard time shaking. Maybe it's a leftover from the food poisoning. I am grouchy and surly, and I am having to be very careful not to let it out on my family, who certainly don't deserve it.

Maybe I need to go out and get in a bar fight or something.

Why I haven't been posting much

Well, my computer is dying, and persists in dying despite two on-site service calls. The darn thing keeps rebooting after a few minutes. Sony has replaced the power supply and the motherboard, and it stubbornly persists in continuing to reboot. Now I have to pack the thing up and send it to the repair depot and I won't see it again until after Christmas.

And the news of the day is that I had a bout of food poisoning last night and am still sweating and shivering today. Hopefully, I'll recover to go to work tomorrow. It's been a long week.

Stream of Consciousness

Sometimes, I get a brainwave with a nice piece of philosophy.

Ever wonder why people get depressed when they are in college? It's the sudden realization that a gap is opening between the way you want your life to be, and how it really is - and that the gap is getting bigger every day.

You don't realize it until this point in your life because up until then, you don't have the freedom to really steer your life off course. Suddenly, the road you are on has no lane markers and very little signage, and you don't have a map. You can either decide to explore your new horizons and end up off course, or you can lock the steering wheel straight ahead, get where you're going, and miss out on all the fun in the process. As we get older, we learn to navigate better (or get used to being lost).

***

I haven't given a work update in a while. My new job is still fun and interesting. I don't dread getting up in the morning any more. The days fly by quite quickly now, and I think I'm bringing a lot to the team.

Every day I realize how bad my previous job was, with the CEO slinking around looking for people to criticize, an absentee boss, total jerks for co-workers, etc etc. I work with genuinely nice people now, and I don't fear for my job every day like I used to. I think for the last 5 years, I have lived in constant fear of losing my job (at IBM, at Arcatech, and at my previous employer). Not any more. And without that constant fear, I can be myself and do what I do best - be creative and think outside the box.

I've got love, I've got financial security, I've got ambition. Now I just need to do something about my fat body, and life will be perfect.

(sound of frantic knocking on wood)

On My Own...

Well, I'm all alone this week. Mama, Papa, Bernie, and my Mom and Dad are all living it up in Williamsburg, Va this week, and poor, vacation-less me had to stay home.

So, I'm a bachelor again. You know, this seemed like a good idea at the time, but I think I've gotten used to being married. I've never been alone in this house before, and I've gotten used to having a whole family around since Mama and Papa arrived back in October. At least I've got the cat.

To top it off, my computer has been acting up - rebooting itself, thowing dll errors on startup, etc. I couldn't figure out whether it was hardware or software, so I restored it back to October 31, and still had problems. So I did a complete factory restore. Still had problems. So I called Sony and told them it had to be hardware and they are coming on-site to replace the power supply.

Of course, as soon as the computer heard that, it decided to straighten up and fly right. Don't tell me that computers aren't intelligent and emotional. This one got well as soon as it heard that surgery was in the works. I don't care, though. The power supply is going to be replaced just as a precaution.

Now I have to decide whether to watch Heroes or the Panthers tonight. If I watch the Panthers, Heroes gets DVRed. If I watch Heroes, I join the Panthers at halftime. Hmmm...decisions, decisions.

Update on the Imams

The Washington Times has this article today.

These guys need to spend some time in jail.

1. They were SHOUTING their prayers in the concourse.

2. They shunned their assigned seats and one of them sat at each of the exits of the plane (TERRORIST-LIKE BEHAVIOR), including two of them in first class, which they did not have tickets for.

3. All 6 asked for seatbelt extenders, despite not needing them, and they placed the extenders on the floor at their feet instead of buckling them. (TERRORIST-LIKE BEHAVIOR)

4. Then they refused to explain or get off the plane when directed.

Put 'em all in prison or ship them off to the Middle East. This was a planned, deliberate, and possibly a real terror operation. Even if they were doing this simply to provoke a fearful response, I consider that to be terrorism as well.

If Only We Could Draft An Australian for US President

I stumbled upon this article on the web today. Gosh, if only we had such sensible people in US politics, with the guts to stand up and say these sort of things. What a shame that sensible attitudes regarding Islam and immigration seem to only exist in Australia.

Some exerpts:

On Islamic law being practiced inside democratic countries:
Peter Costello: "What I've said is that this is a country, which is founded on a democracy. According to our Constitution, we have a secular state. Our laws are made by the Australian Parliament. If those are not your values, if you want a country which has Sharia law or a theocratic state, then Australia is not for you. This is not the kind of country where you would feel comfortable if you were opposed to democracy, parliamentary law, independent courts and so I would say to people who don't feel comfortable with those values there might be other countries where they'd feel more comfortable with their own values or beliefs."

On whether Iraq is the cause of the anti-America attitude in the Arab world:
TONY JONES: Right. Given that the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq is probably the leading cause of anti-Americanism in the Arab world, does that make us, as an ally of the Americans, a greater target for terrorists?

PETER COSTELLO: I don't think it's the principle cause at all. I think if you want to look for perceived areas of anti-Americanism in the Arab world, it was around a lot before Iraq. It's been around for a very long time, Tony, and most of it, I believe -

TONY JONES: I'm talking about what's happening right now. We're seeing it even in the lead-up to the Islamic summit we've been having in Canberra. What we are hearing is young Australian Muslims are particularly angry with the
American-led invasion and occupation of Iraq.

PETER COSTELLO: No, I couldn't disagree with you more profoundly. There was substantial hostility to the US in the Arab world long before Iraq. Whether it's over perceived injustices to Islam, whether it's over the Palestinian issue, whether it's over support for Israel. Most of these things, and I don't believe justify hostility at all, but it's been there long before Iraq. Let me tell you this, Tony - you are profoundly wrong if you thought hostility to the United States started in 2003. It was around long before that.

I was also led to this article, which has quotes from Australian Prime Minister John Howard.

John Howard:
"Immigrants, not Australians, must adapt. I'm tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. I am not against immigration, nor do I hold a grudge against anyone who is seeking a better life by coming to Australia. However there are a few things that those who have come to our country, and apparently some born here, need to understand. This idea of Australia being a multi-cultural community has served only to dilute our sovereignty and our national identity. As Australians, we have our own culture, our own society, our language, and our own lifestyle.

"This culture has been developed over two centuries of struggles, trials, and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom.

"We speak ENGLISH; not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society, learn the language!

"We will accept your beliefs; all we ask is that you accept ours and live in harmony and peaceful enjoyment with us. We are happy with our culture and have no desire to change, and we really don't care how you did things where you came from. By all means, keep your culture, but do not force it on others."

Man, do I wish we had politicians like these guys here in the USA.

Then you hear about things happening in the US like this.

6 Muslim Imams on a commercial flight, decide to kneel in front of the gate and chant in Arabic before takeoff. What did they think was going to happen, I wonder? I don't care if it was that time of day, have some common sense! There are prayer rooms in the terminal for that! Even in Muslim countries, they don't pray in the terminal at the airport. And furthermore, they have the unmitigated gall to blame the rest of the passengers and the airline for "ignorance of Islam". Hey, dudes, maybe you should think about how ignorant you are of other beliefs. I call this a total lack of respect for others. Would you want to be on a plane with these guys after seeing them have a group chant to Allah outside the gate before takeoff? This was either complete and total ignorance on the part of the Imams, or it was a premeditated attempt to provoke an incident.

Hey, Imams - the guys who hijacked the airliners and crashed them into the WTC, the guys who blow themselves up in Iraq killing hundreds of innocent people at a time, the people who talk about "wiping Israel off the map", the people in Pakistan that sentence women to be raped because of some imagined insult by their families, they are praying to the exact same god that you do and using the exact same book you worship to justify their deeds. Some of them proudly call themselves "Imams" as well. Don't go around pointing fingers at other faiths and belief systems and accusing us of "ignorance", OK?

There's a saying from the Christian Bible:
"Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast the mote out of thy brother's eye."

Have A Nice Day!

23-9

Not Much To Say

Well, folks, we made it back from the beach OK. Charleston was disappointing, Myrtle Beach was nice. We went to the Ripley's Aquarium and I thought it was a solid B+.

Butch belongs to the Tar Heels, and the clown in Raleigh is shaking in his red booties.

I'm going to have to diet until Thanksgiving. I can't stand myself at the moment.

We're having dinner with the LeFebvres (Sophie's folks - and I hope I'm spelling that right) this weekend and I'm quite excited about it.

That's all for now. Maybe later I'll have more to say.

Butch Davis to UNC!!!

You heard it here first...