New Blog

It seems kinda silly to continue this here, so this is the new spot.

Settling

We've begun to settle in here at casa de in-laws. CP is enjoying all of the extra attention and the change of pace. We still have two cousins for her to see, but she's sick now and we don't want to pass her cough and fever on if we can help it. Maybe this weekend she'll be cleared up and I know she'll be ready to go. There's a bit of family stuff with a great grandmother coming into town this weekend in addition to the candy coated festivities, so we'll be squeezing things in.

Today was a nice break because the folks I work with decided to cut me loose for a few days so that I can get some things unpacked finally and get a preschool set up. We looked at the local Y today and they have a nice full time program for $660/month. That'll be almost 2 weeks of work going for child care. We'll be looking at other secular alternatives and decide some time in the next two weeks...I hope.

The power glitched the other day during a rain and it screwed up MS Money+ so badly that it took me about 5 hours to figure out how to get it running again. MS isn't supporting it anymore, so a lot of the troubleshooting links are dead - it was fun. Note to self: get a UPS for the computer soon...it actually rains here ....often.

It's been a rough adjustment, but seeing CP with all of the family confirmed what we though about this being a good move. We miss the T-town peeps, but it was the right thing.

Runnin'

Sorry for the lack of updates folks.

Made it to KC.

Planning on having 8 hours of OT by the end of the day tomorrow.

Trying desperately to get settled and find a preschool, but can't do that because of work. (same situation with trying to find a house)

CP's coming down with some sort of malady. Not happy, making everyone unhappy.

The LW and I are on fumes and hoping for a break by some time this weekend...hoping.

Goin' To Kansas City..

We made it to Santa Rosa today. The cats did ok and so did Cady. Almost 12 hours on the road. We had a nice lunch in Alamogordo and I got a call to say that I start work on Monday morning. The drive up through there on 54 is really one of my favorites. I think that if I won a million dollars, I'd buy the entire town of Duran, NM. We'll be out of here early and headed for Pratt, KS or further East.

SJC

Off tomorrow morning early for a run to San Juan Capistrano to see the fabulous Martins. It'll be a good trip and I've got my camera and lighting gear all packed in case there's a sunset on the beach. We rented a Dodge pickup from Enterprise so I can bring back a couple of motorcycles - one running for a friend in KC and one in a box for me. I can't wait to see the happy couple and the little ones. Can't believe that it's been 10 years. We'll come back and have two days of packing before we throw it all in the truck and haul it back to Coldville.

Obama Bin Laden?

The other day I was in the electrical isle of our local Ace Hardware talking to a chap there about what I needed to do about a lame "Tyrone" (previous owner of the house - name synonymous with all things done in half-assed) fix. Well, we were talking about the military and he mentioned "Obama Bin Laden" and how the military wouldn't take him after I asked him if he'd been in. I returned with the fact that it was chicken-hawks and an Ivy Leaguer from...wait for it....an Ivory Tower...that helped get us into all of this mess. I don't know if it registered or not though.....

I'm reading Fiasco right now and this sort of chickenhawkishness really chaps my ass. People are doggin' on Obama for this or that.... which I guess is ok - he's the pres - but step back from that and look what it took for him to make it then compare that to the previous 20 years' worth of presidents. A black guy (not enough for some, I know) from a past, that doesn't carry with it previous presidential "ins", made it. Now...look back at what we've had slide us into wars of one sort or another for the past 20 years. Lackeys and deferment junkies from administrations that most would consider failures (Cheney), a connected tobacco governor, one who can't keep it in his pants, or folks from the CIA who then helped their inept kid(s) along. It's just sickening....and when one guy comes along and makes it at a time when the toll of deregulation hits the fan...he's the damned problem? I'll call bullshit on that.

I guess knowing your history isn't needed to get into the military, but it might help this chap from the hardware store. It wasn't required for me when I went in - 18 and dumb. It's only years later that I really looked back and could see the folly in what the US was doing.

National Parks

Ken Burns has hit another one....out of the park. I don't see how anyone with at least half a brain could see this show's content and execution as anything but great. I guess that it's proof of how low the expectations for TV have become and how doltishness permeates our society when terms like "sluggish" are used to describe documentaries about U.S. history.

Only in the United States of Amnesia......

There are historical bright spots in this show and one living star in the form of a Ranger. Shelton Johnson is great.