Star Wars according to a 3 year old.

This is pretty much how I remember it, too!

Pretty warm here in the OC, as I'm sure folks have heard. Easily in the 90s the past few days and perfect for shorts, even for chubby, middle-aged white guys. The Child and her friend Christine were brave enough to hit the beach, but I'll keep my tasty bits in the pool while that Great White is cruising off shore.

On the medical front, Donna seems to be getting her sugar under control, but she still needs to see a specialist about other things. I will be discussing unpleasant matters with my own doctor in a couple of weeks and then a decision will have to be made. The big one is not IF, but rather WHEN the operation will have to take place. Personally, I'd like to hold off until after our Alaska cruise in late August, but we have to see what the doctor says. Our trip back to New York is in about a month and I really want to get to the San Diego con this year, so I want to put things off until September.

This is a Bladder Diverticulum. You have your normal bladder there in the center and unnatural growth of the diverticulum on the sides. Basically like squeezing a balloon until smaller projections appear.

They can only be removed by surgery.

One guess who has two of these?

Not my best year!

Will I vote for Hillary Clinton? No!

Will I change my mind come November? Probably not.

Will vote for McCain? Definetly not!

Will I vote Third Party? Maybe.

Will I simply not vote for President? Likely.

The longer it goes the more uncomfortable I feel about her. I believe that she would rather destroy the Democratic Party's chance of taking the White House than allow anyone but herself to be at the top of the ticket. I really do feel that she would rather have John McCain win this November, allowing her to run again in 2012.

You disagree?

Donna and I are both awaiting results from medical tests we have taken. Her situation is more serious than mine, so we are both concerned. I'm hoping to get my results tomorrow and we'll see if I need to undergo any surgery later this year. Same may hold true for Donna, but we won't know until she has discussed things with her specialist. Not our best year healthwise, although everything else seems to be going okay.

On a lighter note, I was talking to a friend from Brooklyn last night and he said he had a good time at the New York Comic Con. He reports that it was much better than last year. There is a possiblity that he may fly out for the San Diego Con, so that should prove interesting (even if his female companion doesn't join him). Dan has never been to the SD convention, while it has been a decade since my last trip. It should be fun for both of us!

Leaked: ABC's Stephanopoulos interviews John McCain

You can only wish George S. would ask some of these!

Sadly, this is exactly what happened to me!
It took a couple of months, but I'm growing it back.

Good to see ABC doing Fox News' job last night.

I'm sure if there is a Hell I'm going to burn for passing this along.

For fans of LOLCats, here is the LOLCat Bible

Interesting article in today's New York Times on the housing bill proposed by the Senate. Should come as no surprise that it will NOT be the family trying to stay in their home that will be getting the biggest benefit.

Politics as usual, no matter what, especially in an Election Year.

So who wouldn't be bitter? I grew up in a very, small town (less then 2,000 people when I was a kid lived in Taftville, CT) The entire city of Norwich, where my parents later moved was around 45,000 in the l960s.

Even then we felt abandoned by government, badly treated to the companies which were closing the factories in which most folks worked and found things like fishing, hunting, sports and church major parts of our lives. Maybe Hillary forgets what others in her hometown have not, since she put down her rifle and got her law degree. People in rural areas have every right to feel bitter and forgotten by those who do not share our experience.

Frankly, when I look to see who I think has a better understanding of being a 'have not', it seems to me it's Obama. Hillary just seems desperate to be President and McCain seems to feel it is his right.

I personally don't see this as being a major stumble for Obama, but another example of the Clinton campaign grasping at whatever they can find to keep folks from realizing she is sliding.

Personally, I try to sign every post I make on other websites or blogs. If I don't actually use my name, the screen name I use will usually link to my e-mail and isn't meant to disguise who I am. SChaput, Sachaput or Stevec50 are pretty easy to figure out!

If you want to reply anonymously please send me an e-mail, with your real name, and let me know before hand or immediately after you post at either of my blogs. If you have a good reason not to reveal who you are I am willing to hear you out. I make it a rule to delete posts that are spam or not signed.

Finally, I want to apologize to folks who may have come upon Spam or other links embedded in replies to my blogs. I try to get rid of them as soon as I become aware that they are here.

While I am not a long-time friend of Mark Evanier, I am a fan and have spoken to him on occasion. I will not allow my blogs to become a place where he can be defamed or ridiculed behind his back!

Just a couple of things about Blogger lately.


If you click on that 'Next Blog' link above I would say you have about a 50/50 chance of getting something in another language. About two years ago you would have to click three or four times to get that first non-English posting. There also seem to be more for schools, sports fans and people posting their art & photos then previously. In quiet moments I'll spend ten or fifteen minutes just going from one blog to another to see what is out there.

Oh! Be warned that you might hit one that is NOT 'all ages' suitable, so you might not want to play this game at work. :-)

Not that I'm losing sleep over all this, but I will admit to mixed feelings.

I think having the Olympics in China sends a signal to that government that they can get away with just about anything. I'm not naive enough not to know that economically they hold sway over corporations and governments, none of whom dare to stand up to them.

I realize that there are athletes who train for years for the one chance to go to these games, even if they only see the possible dollar signs from endorsement deals rather than national pride. They should probably be allowed that opportunity.

Probably be a good idea though, at this point, to pack up the torch and fly it directly to Beijing. The problems in Paris & London were unfortunate, and I only see similar if not worse events should the relay continue. Fortunately, nobody has been seriously hurt, but these things escalate and it may only be a matter of time.

Finally, we all know that His Smugness will be all smiles at the opening ceremony, since he and his cronies probably already have business deals worked out for '09 and beyond. Only time will tell how any of the competing athletes may make their feelings known.

I'm sure Matt, Ann & Meredith will tell us all how great things are! At least we can be grateful that Katie isn't going to be there. :-)

Centralia

A fellow vet passed this along. Whatever your political bent, this is an amazing story. Watch the entire video, after the song is finished.

I was tempted to reproduce the guy shrugging again, but I'll hold off on that for the time being. Needless to say things remain status quo here at Chez Chaput and at our jobs. We also are expecting really nice weather this week, so unless we get hit by an earthquake everythings pretty good. :-)

Speaking of tremblers, we are averaging about 20+ per week here in SoCal, but only one was measured at over 3.0. Most have actually been located south of San Diego, out in the desert and a few minor ones west & north of us.

We are making some plans to take a couple short trips, since the condo-hunting is put off. One of Donna's long time friends from New York is going to be in Las Vegas for a week, so we are looking into getting a room for one weekend. Our plan is to drive down Friday night and back on Sunday, unless one of us loses the pink slip in the casino.

It's possible, depending on if I can get some vacation time, that we'll be flying back to New York for Memorial Day weekend. We haven't been back since the funeral last year and Donna really misses her family. Me, I miss Dunkin' Donuts!

I'm not going to go into the whole thing, but as matters stand right now Donna and I aren't going to be going through with the condo. We've talked about it and found that we are not comfortable with a few things. One of the things has to do with the place that holds the mortgage at this point, but that's not the only thing.

Anyway, no need to update your address book for the next half of the year or change your speed dial. We're still here in Ladera Ranch and will finally get that Thomas Kincaid up over the love seat. Still not sure where my Speed Racer poster will go?

Maybe it's time for another cruise! :-)

Just really quickly I wanted to point out that I have added a link to the American Empire Project

Using the books and lectures of Howard Zinn as a spring board these folks are producing books & graphic novels in hopes of showing Americans just what has been done 'in their name' for the last hundred plus years or more. Browse through the site when you have a chance.

Just paid $3.63 per gallon for Regular this morning. Twenty bucks barely got me from a quarter tank to over three quarters. Yet, the Oil companies are crying they need those tax breaks!

The worst part is that you know that Congress will give it to them after some meaningless camera time. "See, we held hearings? Could you please re-elect me this November? I really need a few more years before I can get a seat on the board of a multi-national and that lobbyist job."

On a personal note, Donna will be meeting with our agent and the appraiser tonight. They'll probably be finished by the time I get out of work, so I won't know the situation until later. We have our fingers crossed and plan to apply for a VA loan if everything looks good.

Have a good day!