« October 2005 | Main | December 2005 »
November 30, 2005
Charging Rove?
"A liberal can be found standing over a dead body with a smoking gun in his hand and the media will remind us that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. But the same media have for months been hyping insinuations that Karl Rove is guilty of something he has not even been charged with."
-from the latest "Random Thoughts" column by Thomas Sowell.
A couple other grabbers:
"Who would have dreamed that 'Merry Christmas' would become a controversial phrase? But increasingly schools and other institutions avoid it like the plague, in order to be politically correct."
(Merry Christmas, everybody.)
"Someone once said that the most important knowledge is knowledge of our own ignorance. Our schools are depriving millions of students of that kind of knowledge by promoting 'self-esteem' and encouraging them to have opinions on things of which they are grossly ignorant, if not misinformed."
(Anyone trying to hire someone with actual skills these days can, I suppose, sympathize with this one...)
Posted by colrus at 04:13 PM | TrackBack
November 29, 2005
Oh, Beautiful DVD Recorder
How I love thee!
Thou have so many features, yet thou are so easy to use. What whilst I do without all those VHS tapes once thou convert them to DVD? Tears of high tech, space-saving joy are now upon me.
Posted by colrus at 11:08 AM | TrackBack
November 26, 2005
November 26, 2005
I turn 32 tomorrow. It feels old now, but it will feel young ten years from now.
Despite prolonged frustration as we attempted to procure our new-phone rebates from Sprint, we will soon get our new phones. Mine will have a camera. We also opted for 300 additional minutes for $4 per month. As a result of the recent Sprint/Nextel merger, coverage for users of both companies will soon see increased coverage. This is good, as leaves and errant bits of dust have been known to disconnect my calls.
Went to both Wal-Mart and Target yesterday on "Black Friday." Target was a breeze. It was clean, organized and I found a space close to the door. I also found a $5 bill on the ground. Yay! Wal-Mart, on the other hand, looked like a crime scene. Among the many reasons I can sympathise with the anti-Wal Mart crowd is the fact that, after shopping there, I often want to kill somebody. A broom would be nice for starters. I'm going back to Target today to try snag a DVD recorder/VCR combo. I've narrowed my search down to one model, and since Thanksgiving is also the time I receive birthday money, I'll be quite armed today.
I hate the Vols. Their fans have always driven me nuts, and, not being a huge college football fan to begin with (I LOVE college basketball, however), it was easy to form a dislike for the team. I have to admit to feeling a LITTLE sorry for them this season, however. I watched about 90 seconds of today's game and saw their punt returner fumble the ball away on his own 5 yard line and then watched Eric Ainge throw a ball to, well, nobody, about ten yards from scrimmage. Sad.
The Red Sox acquired Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell and Guillermo Mota from The Marlins for three minor leaguers. Hanley Ramirez was the only one of the three I was KINDA sad to see go, but I'll get over it. If even just one of the players the Sox got has a decent season, they will have pulled off a steal. Now, if they can just KEEP Damon and Manny. I guess the addition of Lowell means Bill Mueller won't re-signed. Dang. It'll be a shame to see him go.
...more junk later.
Posted by colrus at 02:49 PM | TrackBack
November 24, 2005
Getting Caught Up in The BlogLand
Well, I had 5 free seconds and a blog to update...
The last thing I posted -- over on The PulseBlog -- elicited a nice thank you E-mail from the aunt of the victim discussed in the post. It's nice to know that, once in awhile, the profession I've chosen (and the work I'm able to do) can mean something to somebody. It's amazing how a simple "thank you" from someone who really means it can recharge your batteries and give you a renewed sense of purpose.
The legendary Tony Campbell left me another voicemail. During an impassioned bash, he accused me of never printing any letters to editor critical of the paper. A paper that Tony, evidently, is not reading.
While I wasn't watching, Sudoku evidently swept the globe. Curious, and into puzzles, I bought a book of these number-based crosswords and now find myself hooked. The book I bought is #49 on USA Today's Top 50 book chart. I guess my purchase helped push it over the edge.
Albums: The new Mars Volta live disc is very disappointing. Trey Anastasio's new solo disc is the first Phish-related thing I've actually liked since about 1995. King's X's new album is the best thing they've done since leaving Atlantic records. The Fruit Bats' latest is dull. The new Actress disc might be the best CD I've ever heard from a local band. Heypenny's disc is a CLOSE second. (Where did these people come from?)
Now, I will grant you that the British version of The Office is probably hilarious. I don't know. I've never seen it. I DO know, however, that the American version (just picked up by NBC for the full 22-episode run this season) is getting more and more hilarious each week. It is the only show that I tape every week and I've already watched the Season One DVD 10 times. If the show continues to work as an ensemble, and uses Steve Carell a tad more sparingly, they have a chance to be outstanding. I like Steve Carell, but there are MUCH more interesting characters surrounding him that could be mined for comedy gold. We just need a little balance, is all. Click here to read Dwight Schrute's blog.
...more junk tomorrow, folks.
Posted by colrus at 01:02 AM | TrackBack
November 19, 2005
Please Pray for the Mendonsa family
I have never met the Mendonsa family, but feel like I have through regular visits to their blog. The blog was started in May to track the recovery of Asher Mendonsa, who was injured in a fall from Parkway Towers.
Since then, their house was damaged by a storm and tonight, the Mendonsa's other child (Asher's sister), Hadrienne, passed away from injuries sustained in an automobile accident late Friday night.
I can't imagine the pain felt by Mendonsa's and those close to them. All I can do is ask, if you are the praying kind, to please pray for them.
Here are some pictures of Asher and Hadrienne.
Posted by colrus at 11:33 PM | TrackBack
November 14, 2005
In Response to Stevie B.'s Question
Photo/video genius Stephen Boatright asked the following question on the HamDems blog:
"Other than the fact that Republicans are so far off course, why should I consider becoming a Democrat?
I'm looking for a well reasoned, articulate answer."
While I detect a hint of sarcasm in his question, it reminded me of a recent conversation I had with Joe. I'm pretty sure Stephen would agree with me, so this doesn't really address his question, but...
I'm all for people's right to claim party affiliation, but I wish people (as our poor recent local election turnouts indicate) would simply think of becoming voters first without worrying so much about which party they are going to join.
The current party system breeds annoyingly superficial conflict and chasms in this country and its communities, while each voter acting as a single conscientious voter -- voting for the PERSON that most closely matches their convictions -- reinforces an "everybody doing their part" mindset with the goal of all of us working together to be part of the political process. The major political parties in this country are now up to their necks in a desperate, "he said, she said" game with power for their party being placed ahead of the overall health of our country.
As an interesting aside, an animosity-laden thread about the recent Stuart James vs. John Wolfe volley was completely deleted from the site. The argument, obstensibly about power (something that local party members could ACTUALLY and directly act upon and resolve) was dropped in favor of other issues (Bush, Iraq, etc.) that were, I guess, easier to rail about, yet ones (in this blogger's opinion) that party members have little or no actual control of/influence over.
While I know the staunchest members of the HamDems, the local Republicans and the other parties are (thankfully) going to participate in any and all local elections, this kind of behavior sends a bad message about priorities to fence-sitters like Mr. Boatright.
I honestly don't know of a party to recommend to you, Stephen. Most of them just get in the way of the voting...
Posted by colrus at 11:30 AM | TrackBack
November 10, 2005
To My Liberal Brethren: An all-purpose political statement
Dear liberal friends:
In light of current domestic and international tumult, I hereby offer my sincere hopes that all of your most favoritest political candidates win their future elections. Heck, I might even vote for a few of them.
It is my sincere hope that they all win so that they can then ultimately disappoint you, too -- the same way that conservative politicians have disappointed me and others.
If this disappointment (betrayal?) is firmly felt across ideological lines, then perhaps maybe -- just maybe -- we can start appreciating and building upon our common bonds and realize that, yes, for politicians of all stripes, Election Day was never about us.
For honesty and integrity to be such a foreign, outmoded concept in modern policy and discourse is damned disturbing.
When the next scandal comes about and you're wondering what I think about it, read this post again.
Posted by colrus at 01:35 AM | TrackBack
November 05, 2005
If Wikipedia is to be believed, Andy Milonakis is almost 30...
Sorry for such a random post, but during some routine web surfing I happened upon the (supposed?) fact that Andy Milonakis -- who I could swear is no more than 15 -- is actually almost 30 and suffers from a disease that makes him appear much younger. Does anybody have any information about this disease or is this information a huge Internet hoax?
Posted by colrus at 02:05 AM | TrackBack
November 01, 2005
Softball Stats 2005
2005 Softball
Summer Hitting Stats:
AB: 36
R: 8
H: 20
2B: 3
3B: 1
HR: 0
RBI: 11
BB: 0
SO: 0
AVG:.556
Fall Hitting Stats:
AB: 30
R: 12
H: 19
2B: 5
3B: 3
HR: 0
RBI: 11
BB: 1
SO: 0
AVG:.633
Posted by colrus at 09:26 AM | TrackBack