Just wanted to jump in quickly here with some news.

Apparently the City of Orange, at least their computer filter, has labeled Blogger a ‘social networking’ site. Therefore I am unable to access it while on at my workstation. Since I rarely go online at home (as I like to be spending time with my wife) I can’t say how often I’ll be posting at either of my blogs.

I’m considering trying to find someplace else to post a webpage that I can get to on my breaks and at lunch. I’ll keep you informed.

On a political note, I WILL NOT vote for Hillary Clinton in November. FYI!!

I doubt that this will get much play in the mainstream U.S. press, but the former VP of the World Bank, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, had a few comments regarding the current U.S. economy. He doesn't give high marks to the Bush administration for their planning of the economic impact of the war.

Also, the other day the British government was ordered, under Freedom of Information requests, to release details on the minutes of meetings held by former PM Tony Blair on that governments planning for the Iraq war. We may discover some interesting tidbits there as well, again if the U.S. press decides to keep us informed.

While I don't think I'll ever find myself singing "I Love L.A." with honesty, I do find that I'm growing to love living in Southern California more & more. Donna and I have only been here for about eighteen months, but I find it harder all the time to remember what it was like NOT living here.

Even on those rainy and cold days we have had the past couple of months it doesn't compare to the weeks of bitter cold, ice & snow that we had to deal with every year. Growing up in New England, of course, it seemed that that was just the way it was and I couldn't envision living anywhere else. My first taste of California, back in the mid-70s, was pretty eye opening and each time I returned here I thought how wonderful it would be to actually put down roots.

When I'm asked now by folks if I miss living in New York I can say without hesitation that I don't. We do miss friends and family.

It's harder on Donna since she was so close to her family and she had so many close friends who are still back in Brooklyn. I, on the other hand, had only a few folks who I could call 'close friends', and even when Donna and I were living in Connecticut I rarely went back to see either my oldest friend, Gerry, or my sisters. I think a lot of that has to do with the years I spent in the Navy or living either in other states or other parts of Connecticut. Most of my life at this point has been spent away from where I grew up, so most of my ties have been severed long ago.

I hope this hasn't sounded like I'm complaining, since I'm not. I have never been happier than I am at this point. I enjoy my job, have a wonderful wife and a step-daughter of whom I couldn't be prouder. Oh, yeah, we have a cat and my affection for her depends upon the hour of the morning she feels is time for breakfast.

Yeah, things are pretty good! (By the way, that's a view from Lake Mission Viejo a few miles from us.)

Belated birthday love & wishes to my Bingo Bunny!

She knows why.

Priorities - John McCain VoteVets.org Ad

Nothing I can add to this!

As a vet myself I fully support this message.

Frozen Grand Central

Tell me this is NOT brilliant.

Sometimes I miss NYC!

Man, all this house hunting, or to be more accurate condo-hunting, is exhausting!

To be honest, Donna is really doing most of the work and I'm simply being called in when we actually go to visit these places. She's doing a lot on line which does make things a bit easier. I can't imagine the number of places we'd have to visit if so much information (and photographs) weren't available via the real estate sites.

We had placed an offer on one place we 'sort of' liked, although there would have been a bit of work to make it suitable. The bank even accepted the offer, but we began having second thoughts. I'm glad we did since we found a much nicer place (actually two in the same complex) for less money. We were told by a realtor that other bids had been submitted on the one we liked most, but you never know if they are telling the truth of trying to push you. What we did was to put in a bid higher than they had the place listed for, but equal to what they had listed the week before. Only a few thousand dollars different, but they took our bid over two others. (Again this was according to the realtor.) We have our fingers crossed!

I have to make some comment on the major story today:

I wish Fidel Castro had hung on until next year, just so G.W. left office before he did. Naturally, the unelected Prez had to make comments about 'phony elections' set up by the Castro Brothers. Hard for anybody other than the folks at Fox to take that with a straight face, considering what happened in Florida in 2000.

News Flash: Brit Humes accuses Michelle Obama of being an "arch-Liberal" who is ashamed of patriotism. Yada-yada-yada, film at eleven. (You can find the video over on You Tube or at the TPM website. Only the blonde, Fox News bimbo in the mini-skirt makes it even more absurd.

Happy Valentine's Day to my wife, Donna! You came into my life when I needed you most.

FYI: Apparently, here in Orange County, in at least some of the public schools they no longer celebrate this as Valentine's Day. As St. Valentine is a Catholic martyr, the day promotes religion. At the school it is celebrated as "Loved Ones Day".

I'm neither religious or overly P.C., but I think it is a bit silly, don't you?

I just had to get that out there once I heard about it earlier today.

There's an interesting article over on the SKEPTIC website, as part of the eSkeptic newsletter. I highly recommend you subscribe, if you don't already.

Writer Steve Salarno talks about how mainstream television news has become flawed, generally in trying to draw in ratings over content. In doing this they no longer educate us about what is 'really' going on but rather strive to entertain us between commercial advertisements.

"Stay tuned, we're going to talk about child predators stalking your kids. But first, here's a commercial on dealing with erectile dysfunction."

Not sure if I'm in total agreement with all of Salarno's arguments, but he does make a number of valid points. How can we trust the media if they twist the facts to make the story more interesting, rather than simply telling us what happened and allowing us to judge.

Star Wars Music Video

This is for The Child!

Donna and I spent part of Sunday going around the area with an Realtor checking out some places for sale. We looked at almost half a dozen places, not counting looking at a few places from the outside on Friday night after work. As Donna says, they would have to pay her to live in a couple of them!

We found one place which seems to have just about everything we want, so we are going to start looking into some of the financial stuff that has to be worked out. Some places will accept VA Loans and other places really try to talk you out of using them.

I'm working tomorrow night but Donna will be taking The Child and Michael over to see what they think.

Star Trek TAS Should've been a librarian

I often feel this way!

It appears as if the Anti-Christ is stepping away from his White House bid. Satan can't be happy about this and I'm sure the Romney boys will be signing up for military service now. After all, they are no longer serving their country by helping their father run for office. What better way to do their part then putting on the uniform and heading to Iraq for a year.

Damn! I did not see this coming at all. Guess that frees up all those delegates to move over to Ron Paul for the convention, huh?

I just caught the headline a few minutes ago and haven't even had a chance to see what the major bloggers and political sites have to say. OMG!!! What will Rush do?

It looks like the Democratic nomination could go all the way to the convention, in which case the SUPER DELEGATES will really make the difference. Maybe time for Obama to bring out the Kryptonite. :-)

I'm still convinced that Romney is the Anti-Christ so I can't say I'm saddened by his problems. Read somewhere last night, somebody making the joke that Romney only seems to win in states where he or his family own homes. Time to check with ReMax, Mitt!

Interesting that the pundents are all pointing out that Huckabee only seems to be winning in southern or border states. They say it as if it is a weakness. Hell, hasn't the South been the big strength of the Republicans since Nixon? McCain seems to be the only 'national' candidate the GOP is fielding and he is hated almost as Hillary in some circles. (And who of us doesn't love that?)

On the other hand, I believe that John McCain would be the hardest GOP candidate for the Dems to run against, especially if the nominee is Hillary. Between the number of folks who consider her Satan's bride and the attraction conservative Dems & moderate Republicans have for McCain I don't think she could overcome either factor. Who would have thought that folks would find a Black man less scary than a white female wife & mother?

I know I'll catch flack for that last remark.

Update: I forgot to mention that Donna told me last night that she had voted for Obama. She changed her mind after talking to friends back east. Caught me totally off guard! Have I said how much I love this woman?

I voted before coming into work today. One of my neighbors works at the polls and told me that there were over a hundred people coming in to cast their ballot in the first hour. It slowed down a bit after, but I had to wait a few minutes to get to the Democratic machine.

Donna and I cancelled each other out with our votes for the Democratic nominee, but were in agreement for most of the propositions on the ballot. It will be interesting to read and listen (when I can) to the results coming west as the day progresses. I get out at 9:00pm tonight and will be curious to see how long it will take for California to be called. I don't plan on sitting up all night, either.

An interesting thing out here, which may effect things in the Democratic race.

I was listening to the local NPR station and the show's host was taking calls. At least three people called in, during the 30 minute segment, reporting the same thing. Apparently all the callers had thought they had registered as 'independents' but had in face been signed up as members of the American Independent Party. They didn't know this until they attempted to vote in the Democratic primary (where you don't have to be registered Democrat to vote) and were told they could not.

The host didn't follow through on this but I was left to wonder two things.

First - Didn't these people look at the registration card which you receive in the mail shortly after you register? It states the Party in which you are registered, if you did pick one.

Second - I was wondering if these folks registered on their own, or happened upon one of the tables you'll find in malls & shopping plazas where folks get you to register to vote. Don't want to point fingers or accuse anybody of anything, but could members of the AIP have manned such a table and played around with the registration paperwork? If this turns out to be a major state-wide problem there should be some investigation.

The only 'result' I heard before coming in was that Mike Huckabee was announced as the winner of the West Virginia Republican caucus. Probably not unexpected, but a demonstration that the GOP nomination might not be wrapped up today as some folks predict.

Not the final I was hoping for yesterday, but certainly a great game. What the hell happened to the Patriot defense? I think they finally began believing the hype and thought they could coast through the game. Oh, well....

Some fun commercials, but everybody is talking about them and you can view them over on YouTube until you can't stand them anymore. By the way, anybody reading this actualy go to the GoDaddy.com site for the 'Exposure' video? Am I even supposed to know who that woman was?

I think my personal fave was the Coke commercial with Stewie, Underdog and Charlie Brown. Hope I didn't give it away!

I was halfway joking about going with a Third Party candidate come the general election, so I decided to take a look at some of my options.

As of December 2007 the California Secretary of State lists the following political parties as ‘qualified’ for places on the ballot: American Independent; Democratic; Green; Libertarian; Peace & Freedom; Republican. There are a few ‘non-qualified’ parties trying to get enough signatures to earn a spot but I am not going to concern myself with those until later this year if I am still looking.

I’m sure I don’t have to talk about the Dems and GOP; those folks get plenty of airtime and space in the print media. I also think that folks reading this are familiar enough with the Libertarian Party positions on government non-interference and personal liberty. You do have folks both on the Left & Right who call themselves ‘libertarian’ but they seem to agree on certain fundamental issues. I’ll be honest and admit that I’ve voted Libertarian before, back in New York, where it was more a protest vote against an incumbent when there wasn’t an alternative. I think I have too much of that one time ‘socialist’ remaining in me to totally accept the Libertarian Party idea of little or no government in certain areas of society.

A lot of us were probably hoping that the Green Party would have made more of an impact on the national scene than it has. I think part of this has to with Ralph Nader, which I actually feel badly about saying. I have a lot of respect for Nader and always have, but I think that he has become more of a block to Green goals politically than he has helped them. Frankly, when you mention the Green Party folks immediately think of Nader and not always in a positive way. If you go to the Green website you’ll find that Ralph is once again named as a possible candidate for the Presidential spot. If someone else besides him gets their endorsement, I might very well vote for the Green candidate this November.

The Peace & Freedom Party seems less a party then an assortment of groups on the far left of the progressive movement. You’ll find Nader being considered there and at least one other person also seeking the Green Party spot. I probably have more in common philosophically with these folks and the Greens, than I do with the Democratic Party as it is now situated. It seems that I’m not one of the folks the DLC really wants hanging around anymore. At this rate, I’ll soon be sharing attic space with the Rockefeller-wing of the GOP.

If you want to see where the American Terribly Silly Party is located, you might want to check out the American Independent Party website. I’m sure that there are slander laws even for bloggers, so I’m going to refrain from making any comments about the folks seeking the Presidential spot. “Mad” Max Reiske is one of those, and he dubbed himself that so don’t look at me that way!

So okay, maybe this whole Third Party thing isn’t going to work out after all.

The population of Westover, West Virginia has disappeared from the face of the Earth as of a few days ago. Westover is located in Monongalia County and was incorporated in 1911. We regret the loss of the 3,941 fine folks of this small, community and offer our condolences to their families.

Well, that might not exactly be true, but the equivalent of the town has lost their lives in a war we seldom seem to hear about anymore.

As of Jan. 28, 2008 the Department of Defense holds the number of U.S. casualties at 3,941 in Iraq. It's still going on, folks!

Man, we are down to only two choices apparently and neither was among my Top Three picks. To be honest, John Edwards was barely my fourth choice among the original candidates. With him dropping out I can either skip the whole thing next week or vote for Obama. Actually, if Mike Gravel is still on the ballot in California I may just vote for him to show that I’m not happy with the non-choice.

I have some disagreements with Peter David’s scenario, but overall I think he may be correct. McCain can bring in enough moderates, independents and even some conservative Democrats to make him a strong candidate during a general election. Obama, on the other hand, may bring in some independents and a few liberal Republicans (if there are any to be had), but his votes will have to come from the base of the party.

I’m one of those folks convinced that Hillary Clinton brings way too much baggage that can’t be overcome. There are folks who hate both Clintons and there are some who don’t mind Bill but would never vote for Hillary no matter what the other choice may be. Those folks might be able to live with a President McCain and vote for Democrats on the rest of the ballot. Their hope being a Dem majority in Congress could keep John from pushing the more Rightist positions on the GOP agenda.

It seems that I’m constantly repeating myself here, but will say again that should Senator Clinton be the Democratic nominee, I will be seriously looking for a Third Party candidate that I can support. I don’t think I’ll be the only one, either.

I mentioned it last week, but figured I would again.

Happy Blogger-versary, to me!! Have I really been wasting time and bandwidth for five years?

Thanks to Donna for letting me continue, all you folks who read and sometimes reply to what I have written. To my ex, Elayne for urging me to give it a try.

Donna and I aren't going to let the Kennedy endorsement change our votes next week, but it was certainly interesting.

I don't pretend to know about the relationship between the Kennedys and the Clintons, but I've never gotten the feeling that it was any more than cordial. I don't think it's even going to be that friendly after today's announced endorsement of Barack Obama by the Senator and Caroline Kennedy.

I expect to be hearing and reading lots more about it later today, so I'll just have a few uninformed comments to throw in for the time being.

It seems to me that what we have here is a public division between two factions within the Democratic Party. The Clintons represent the more centrist views of the Democratic Leadership Council, for which Bill Clinton is the poster boy. Since the mid-1980s, when it was formed, the DLC has pushed the Democratic Party away from 'progressive' agendas and more towards a corporation-friendly, cut social programs route. The Kennedys and their allies are still of the older faction which did not perceive 'liberal' as a bad thing. The rise of Obama and other more progressive types in the party threaten the balance in the Democratic National Committee and I think we'll be seeing more in-fighting over the next few months leading up to the convention.

Of course, I could be way off base on all this and expect those of you more knowing in the ways of the world to set me straight.

Am I totally wrong here, Joe?

A Navy vet pal sent this editorial cartoon along. While we don't always agree politically I thought this was funny.

If you don't always check out Shot's Shack, I wanted to point out that I have become obsessed with the new movie, CLOVERFIELD. I have posted some links to related websites & reviews and will be posting my own review (having seen the film yesterday) later today.

Just to let folks know, Donna and I are way south of all that snow so don't be concerned. We are however pretty drenched and I really do not like driving to and from work in the rain almost every day.

On the other hand, the arroyo is absolutely blooming with new growth after months of recovering from the fires last summer. It's nice to stand out on the balcony and watch life (along with bunnies & birds) return to the area.

I can not begin to tell you how sorry I was to read that Dennis Kucinich is ending his bid for the Democratic nomination.

While it has been apparent almost from the beginning that he had little or no chance of succeeding, at least he was in there bringing up subjects some of the others would not. I found myself in agreement with him on almost every single issue, and once Chris Dodd dropped from the race I felt that Kuchinich would be my choice in the upcoming primary.

I have to be honest in saying that I'm not thrilled, but will probably be voting for John Edwards on that Tuesday. He is by no means the ideal candidate, but that person probably doesn't exist.

The Horse's Mouth blog yesterday ran an item saying that a majority of Americans feel that one of the people currently running in the two major parties would be acceptable. According to those same polls it is felt that there really is no need for a Third Party in this country. We're all happy just the way things are.

Guess those thousands of folks voting Green, Independent, Constitution, Freedom, Libertarian, etc. should just fold up their card tables, put away those petitions to get candidates on the ballot and shut up. Two political parties were just fine for George Washington so they should be...what? Oh..that's right.

I may forget next week, since Elayne tends to keep better track of these things, but on the 29th I'll actually be celebrating five years of this blog. Man, how many wasted man-hours can my current and previous employers deduct?

When I started this it was at Elayne's urging, which may seem odd to some folks considering how many have major problems with their ex-whatever. Although we never see each other we have moved past a lot of stuff and I can still consider a friend. Maybe Donna's close relationship with her ex Michael has made this all easier for me. Who knows?

Anyway, I hope all of you I consider my friends will continue to check in here when you can. Heck, even if you consider me the enemy you're welcome to take a peek.

And you KNOW who you are!

The Center for Public Integrity went back over statements made by the Bush Administration leading up to our invasion of Iraq. Not exactly looking for a needle in a haystack, but it is amazing to see how many lies and fudges of the truth the Bushites made.

I know that the Mainstream Media seems to have forgotten that there is a war going on. I mean, an actor died and the market lost some points which are more important than the deaths of 3,929 or 3,931 (as of yesterday and which DOD figures you look at) American service people. Still, I found the article interesting and felt I should pass it along.

Thanks to TPM for bringing it to my attention.

Gorilla Librarian

I ws tempted to try this at one point.

Are we still keeping track of all this? Do we really have to vote for any of them?

Among the Repugnacons McCain has won two states, The Mittster two, and Huckabee one. Or have I miscounted some caucus or something? Didn't Satan's candidate win some tiny primary somewhere else? Does that give him three?

On the Demoralcratic side we have some nonsense about delegate count versus vote count or something. Who knew there was some kind of Electoral College numbers thing going on before the actual election? The two big whiners continue to debate about which one is more "changier" than the other, or who MLK would like best if he was around.

Yes, I will be voting for Dennis Kucinich in the February primary out here. I have to admit that Mike Gravel does have a few good points, but even I think voting for him wouldn't really amount to much. My hope is that between all the various primaries that Dennis gets enough delegates to make a difference. I've been hearing that about Edwards at this point from several on-air radio hosts. It's possible that between the two of them they can drag the platform away from the center (Vote Clinton '08) and into a more progressive agenda (Vote Anybody But Hillary 'o8).

I'm still considering doing that Third Party thing come next November, but you've heard me say that before. Lets see how this all turns out in the meantime.

Mark Evanier put this link up and said we would pass it along. He's right!

I have no clue what this place sells and it is a bit loud. Still it is fun!

If Romney had NOT won in Michigan, where his father was governor and he had other ties that would have been a big story. Since he did win this does nothing but make the GOP race more interesting to media types and political junkies. Face it, while all this stuff fills the airwaves and gets lots of ink, most Americans really do not pay a lot of attention to politics until later in the year. Hell, we haven’t even had the Super Bowl yet!!

Just as an aside, I have been trying to figure out what it was about Mitt that gave me the creeps and last night watching him glory in the win, I figured it out. Mitt Romney is Gregory Ammas Stillson! Google that one if you don’t know.

The other day I posted a link to a USA TODAY poll that supposedly matches you with the Presidential candidate that best matches your views. If you scroll down the page you'll find it and as of today it was still active.

Today I'm adding another similar poll developed by Minnesota Public Radio that Mark Evanier posted over on his site.

According to this one I'm further from John Edwards than I was in the previous poll, although both Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel are still nearest to me. The thing I found surprising was that Bill Richardson came so close. I think it has more to do with the fact that the questions here are a bit different than those in the USA TODAY poll. They are actually more specific and less general in nature.

We are just beginning to get political ads here in SoCal, but so far I have not seen a single one for a candidate. Out here the big issue is a bill that the Governor has signed which would cut a deal with some of the casino-owning tribes. The tribes would be able to expand their casinos and the state would get increased revenues from the additional slot machines. With the way things work out here the voters have to approve the deal before it can go into effect. As you can imagine lots of money is being spent on both sides of the issue. While the tribes are paying for the "Vote Yes" ads (one actually features Da Arnold talking to the camera urging a Yes vote), the "Vote No" group is getting much of its funds from two California race track owners and one of the Vegas casino groups. While I lean towards favoring the thing myself, I plan on reading up on both sides of the issue before next month's primary.

I'll keep you updated on all this political stuff as it comes to my attention. Even if you aren't fascinated, I am!

Well, one of us at Chez Chaput was pretty happy with the results from New Hampshire last night. Donna really likes Hillary.

Personally, I'm not losing sleep over it as neither of the two front runners are even my third choice at this point. Seems I'm out of step with the majority of my fellow Dems, as my post yesterday pointed out. Speaking of which, ex-wife Elayne was wondering if Mike Gravel was still running. According to his website he still was as of yesterday. In fact, he had even asked for an on-air retraction from Keith Olbermann, who had said Gravel had dropped out along with Dodd & Biden.

The two people most effected by yesterday were probably John Edwards and Mitt Romney. Neither of them have a win under their belts (not counting a few delegates the Mittster got in Wyoming) so it's an uphill battle at this point. I still prefer Edwards more than Obama and Clinton, but again I'm out of step with the majority voters so far. To be honest, the only two Democratic candidates I've liked from early in their campaigns were George McGovern and Jimmy Carter. History will have to be my judge on both of those, probably after it judges Bush II.

I moved some of the links around over on The Left and eliminated a couple. There are also a few more that I plan to add sooner rather than later, since they are political in nature and this is the year for that sort of thing.

Speaking of politics, if you get a chance you might want to take a swing over to USA TODAY and try the "Candidate Match Game" they have up. You are asked eleven questions on various issues (Iraq, health care, etc.) and the results will supposedly find the candidate closest to how you feel. It was a nice surprise, if rather sad, to find that one of the three was Senator Chris Dodd, who I had been supporting, but who has since dropped out of the race.

The two remaining are Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel. I have always liked Kucinich, but never really have thought of him having any chance. As for Gravel (former Democratic Senator from Alaska) I honestly forget he's running, since the guy gets no mention at all. Checking out his website & blog I found that I'd have no problem voting for the guy! Hell, Noam Chomsky even has some nice things to say about him.

As things stand now it will be either Kucinich or Gravel who get my vote in the February primary out here.

This is reprinted from the CBS News site:

In what U.S. officials called a serious provocation, Iranian boats harassed and provoked three U.S. Navy ships in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, threatening to explode the American vessels.

U.S. forces were on the verge of firing on the Iranian boats in the early Sunday incident, when the boats - believed to be from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's navy - turned and moved away, a Pentagon official said. "It is the most serious provocation of this sort that we've seen yet," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record. Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman called it a "serious incident. This is something that deserves an explanation."

I don't know the entire situation, but I also don't doubt this may have happened. It seems to me a stupid provocation by the IRG, but who knows what was going on in their heads at the time. On the other hand, if it was the U.S. doing something and getting caught than the situation is equally stupid.

I can only speak for myself, when I imagine what was going on in the minds of the sailors aboard these three Navy ships.

In a situation very close to this, back in the mid-1980s, the ship on which I was serving was approached in the dead of night by at least two small, fast moving craft. This was off the coast of Lebanon, where the U.S.S. Butte was part of a small, task force. At between 1:00-2:00am our radar picked up the small craft, running without lights and failing to respond to either radio or other signals. General Quarters was sounded and it didn't take long for all of us to be made aware of the situation. When the craft got to within several hundred yards of the ship they were shot at and destroyed by our gun mounts. The next morning, after sunrise, aircraft found debris from what appeared to be one or two boats and several oil slicks. Speculation was that it was a suicide bombing mission by one terrorist organization or another.

You do not want to threaten American warships if you know what's good for you.

I really don't have anything else to add or say on the situation, unless or until something more is known.

Well, the rain here wasn’t quite as bad as last time, but it was still enough to make driving a mess. On a positive note the ten plus acres of the arroyo that burned last year is beginning to grow back. Lots of grass and small bushes are beginning to bloom.

Donna and I stayed cocooned most of Saturday, but I did run out to get a haircut, go to the bank and hit Burger King for a late breakfast for the two of us. Dinner came to us from Pick Up Stix, a decent Chinese take-out franchise that delivers. Their stuff is pretty decent and made fresh, unlike Panda Express, their big competitor here, where everything sits in buffet style trays for hours. The one thing you learn pretty quickly out here in SoCal is that most places DO NOT deliver, unlike back in New York. We all drive, don’t you know?

We hit a marathon Bingo session at the Mission Viejo Elks Lodge on Sunday. The forty dollar buy-in gets you the morning & afternoon sessions, plus tickets for the door prize and the Bonus Bingo played later in the day. They have coffee, tea or hot cocoa, juice, muffins, Danishes in the morning, then after lunch (sandwiches, chips & cookies) they add popcorn to the menu of free stuff available for snacking. All this is part of your buy-in, but they also have soda for sale and even a cash bar if you like. This is the second time we’ve done this and already have the April marathon circled on our calendar. Sadly, the Bingo gods weren’t as giving this time out for either of us.

I’ll probably post a bit later on political stuff and my reaction to the Iranian/U.S. Navy incident.

Just wanted to share a few of the photos from the Tournament of Roses Parade. I'll try to post a few more when I have a chance.

I’m sure we all stayed up late last night waiting for the results from Iowa, huh?

Perhaps not, since I heard the Air America coverage while driving home at 6:00pm. Still it was interesting listening and later watching folks spin, explain and interpret the results for us poor unwashed.

There is certainly nothing I can say that smarter folks haven’t already. Still I wanted to share some of the results of the latest Pew Research Center surveys. This was sent to in the Pew newsletter which I receive and was compiled from interviews conducted in December of last year. It will be really interesting to see the next round of surveys which should reflect yesterday’s wins in Iowa.

The latest nationwide survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press finds about equal levels of support for John McCain (22%), Rudy Giuliani (20%), and Mike Huckabee (17%).

The Democratic contest has remained largely stable nationwide. Despite state polls that show very close races in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, Hillary Clinton maintains a 20-point lead over Barack Obama among registered Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters nationwide (46% to 26%), with John Edwards holding at 14%.

Religion has become a larger factor in GOP voter preference, as Huckabee has become better known. He currently holds a slim edge among white evangelical Protestants (with 28%, compared with 21% for McCain, 16% for Thompson and 12% for Giuliani). McCain and Giuliani are virtually tied for the lead among white mainline Protestants, while Giuliani continues to lead among white Catholics.

On a non-political note. Has Britney become the ‘new’ Anna Nicole?

Haven’t had much time to blog or read other folks the past couple of days. I’m hoping to have some time this week to update both here and Shot’s Shack with something or other. I also want to catch up on what others have been up to and to check out the political/news blogs.

Donna and I loved the Rose Parade yesterday. Of course, we both grew up watching it on television, but it is amazing to actually sit there in Pasadena and see these huge floats moving by you. I don’t care how good your HDTV is you cannot imagine how absolutely beautiful and detailed these floats are until you are within feet of them. We probably won’t go next year, but you never know. Right now we are thinking about doing something else next New Year’s Eve & Day, depending on a number of things taking place. The idea is to get a hotel room next time we do the parade so that we can spend the next day actually viewing the floats close up.

I definitely recommend going if there is any way you can get out here. I’ve seen the Macy’s Parade several times in person and even went the night before once to watch them inflated. I’ll still put the Rose Parade over that in terms of enjoyment and the feel of the place is totally different, if you know what I mean. Kristina and her friend Christine joined us at the parade and we all loved it, even though The Child seems to have indulged a bit too much the previous evening.

The picture of the City of Anaheim float is from the OC Registger. I plan to post some personal photos I took as soon as I get a chance, probably in a couple of days.

Even with various family activities and things you can’t totally escape the political news. I’ve noticed some news shows are now running segments saying that the Iowa Caucuses really DO NOT represent the American public. “Hey, we have built this up to be THE story for the past six months, but it really isn’t as important or relevant as we’ve made it out to be.”

Let’s be honest and mention that the citizens of neither Iowa nor New Hampshire, for that matter, represent much more than a tiny percent of the U.S. voting population. Statistically NH is a better sampling than those politically active folks in Iowa. The mainstream media and political types are the ones who have made these two events into such an important symbol of viability. Now with so many other states jumping on the ‘early primary’ bandwagon those candidates ending up in first or even second place are going to have a huge advantage. In some ways it almost makes you sentimental for the days when the conventions would be held and it was still uncertain who the nominee would be. Unless something significant happens we’ll probably know by April who has been chosen as the Presidential nominees. By June we’ll all have to look for Third Party alternatives!

There is certainly little I can add to what has already been said about the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. It was the very first news story I heard upon waking yesterday morning and I've been keeping tabs on what has been said on news sites and political blogs.

Apparently the most important thing is how this effects the upcoming Iowa caucus, at least from what you would think on reading most political sites. All the candidates, or their spokes people, appeared to take the opportunity (after briefly sending their condolences) to spin the event in a way favorable towards them or negatively towards one of their opponents.

I personally think that it very well might have been some radical element in Pakistan, not necessarily affiliated with the government. However, I also think that if (and I should underline that) the Pakistani military or intelligence services were aware of the possibility of such an incident they did little to prevent it.

I don't know enough about the entire situation in that country to even hazard a guess as to what will happen. On the other hand, I don't think you have to be an expert to foresee that things are going to get much worse and unstable in the near future. I think we can also safely bet that the Administration will blow any chance of aiding the democratic elements in that country.

Hope you all had a nice holiday the past few days. Donna and I sure did!

We did some last minute shopping and such on Saturday, and then drove up to the San Manuel Bingo & Casino on Sunday. We both had some ‘slot cash’ to play and while I had my usual luck, Donna hit for over three hundred dollars on the nickel Monopoly slots. Then later she won a jackpot at Bingo, but so did three other folks. She still came away with another three hundred plus, so our day was certainly not a loss by any means.
Donna had to work part of the day on Monday, so didn’t get home until after 1:00pm. Kristina drove over and after grabbing lunch at El Polo Loco, we traveled down to San Diego. Surprisingly the traffic was very good on the 5 Freeway, once we got pass an accident just beyond San Juan Capistrano. We got to Michael’s before 4:00 and all went to dinner together. I’d definitely recommend C Level over on Harbor Drive to anybody, but would suggest you stay away from Deborah’s Flaming Skirt Steak (it was called something like that), which was way too hot even for Kristina. She did eat most of it, but when Michael mentioned how hot it was to one of the supervisors she actually took it off the check. Everybody else enjoyed his or her orders and the view from the deck of the San Diego skyline was fabulous. Then it was back to Michael’s for the night.

We had a nice day on Christmas, the weather being clear and in the upper 60s. Michael’s friend Rod came over, as did Kristina’s gal pal Christine. The six of us had a very pleasant dinner of anti-pasta, salad, fresh raviolis, with the meatball & pork sauce Donna had brought. Later we had coffee and a wonderful cheesecake, also made by my lovely & talented wife. While Christine & Kristina stayed the night, Donna and I headed back home with our presents. We had a wonderful time, although there were some sad moments when we thought of Donna’s mother and this being the first Christmas without her.

Among other goodies, I got a JEOPARDY calendar, which lets you bet on each day’s answers and accumulate for the Final Jeopardy round. Donna also got me the latest edition of Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide, which will certainly get a lot of use since we are always trying to figure out this or that actor or film credit. Kristina, among other things, got me THE SIMPSON’S MOVIE on DVD, which Donna & I are both looking forward to seeing, probably this weekend. Both of us are also enjoying the tasty Starbuck’s Christmas Blend my step-daughter gave her mother and me.

I only got to see a couple of parts of A CHRISTMAS STORY during the marathon the other day. Caught the last half hour before we went out to dinner and then the first half a few hours later. Of course, I do have it on DVD and just watched it a few weeks ago anyway. Mostly we were listening to carols and just catching up on things with everyone.

That sums up Christmas with the Chaput & Chiara households. How was yours?

Santa and the Reindeer sing White Christmas

I know Mark Evanier links to this but just in case you don't visit his blog I wanted to put it here.

There's a reason Mark puts it up each year.

In order to 'reorganize' Bear Stearns has laid off over 600 employees. This should allow them to give that Christmas bonus to the executives who did the firing. No doubt it wasn't their fault for all those bad loans and financial problems the past year.

Sadly, among the most recent 135 folks given the boot here in SoCal was Kristina. Her severance package will last for a couple of months, but this isn't the way we hoped to be spending the holidays.

Donna is going up to Los Angeles today for some medical tests. With a family history of thyroid cancer we don't want to take a chance, so she is seeing another specialist who we hope will get definite results from the biopsies. Michael is taking some time off to go up with her, since I can't take the day off. Again, we are crossing our fingers hoping that the results will be negative.

On the positive side, the rain is supposed to end this afternoon and things aren't as bad as in the previous period. More accidents and mudslides that time. It was still nasty driving in today, as well as driving home last night. Folks out here just do not know how to drive in anything but clear and sunny days.

Update: Donna got a call from the doctor's office saying the doctor will be leaving early. Needless to say she is pissed since Michael left work early and Donna has just called the office on Monday to verify the appointment. Unbelievable!

We had dinner last night with Kristina and her friend, Christine (yeah, it is confusing), again at our favorite Italian restaurant. It was a nice surprise when Donna gave me with another b-day gift (or early Christmas gift depending) earlier in the day. Kristina gave me a present at dinner.

My wife, who knows me very well, gave me the "Cowboy Ralphie" ornament, which goes great with my Lone Ranger ornaments. Kristina delighted me even more with "A Christmas Story" Monopoly game, that I hadn't even known about. This step-parent gig is working out swell!

The Fugs - Wide, Wide River

There may be some words, images or ideas in here that will offend you. Please move on to another post if you think you'll be upset.

Donna gave me some wonderful presents for my birthday, a few of which are edible and I'll enjoy this weekend. She also bought me a really nice, cigar torch-flame lighter from Xikar. This is no Bic, trust me!

She mad me breaded chicken cutlets for dinner on Thursday, one of my favorites. Then we went to an Italian restaurant we both like last evening, so it was kind of like two b-day dinners for me. We may also be having lunch or dinner with Kristina tomorrow, which is always a pleasure. I consider myself very lucky!

In case anybody is keeping track, I've shaved off my mustache again. I was trying to trim it yesterday morning, without wearing my glasses and things did not turn out well. It was pretty obvious though and when Donna joked about it I decided to go for it. As usual, this morning I regretted it but will learn to live with it. For those who don't know, I have had a mustache for most of the time since I was nineteen years old. I think this may be only the third or fourth time I've shaved it off.

It's odd, since I now see my father staring back at me from the mirror, rather than my Uncle Charlie. He doesn't look happy about it either!

It goes without saying that I’m not a fan of the Damned Yankees. Add to that the fact that I’ve never cared for Roger Clemens, even when he pitched for Boston. Still I was surprised to find that he and fellow Yankee star Andy Pettitte have been named in the MLB steroids report released today. Say it ain’t so, guys!

Looks like the Dems can’t even get enough support in the House to override Bush’s veto of money to give health insurance to kids not already covered. Remind me why we voted for these losers again? I’m leaning more and more towards voting against every single incumbent politician next year no matter what party.

Poor Donna had to stay out of work because of her cold, fortunately (?) she was able to do some work from home via computer and having the office calls routed to our home phone. The antibiotics they gave her really don’t seem to be working so she’s going to ask for something else. I recommended something with morphine, but was voted down.

On an other front, Kristina will be going in for a second interview and we remain hopeful. In the meantime, she continues at her current job and it looks like things may settle down enough to keep her employed into the early part of the New Year.

Finally, I know what today is so they’ll be nothing more said on that subject. Okay?

Poor Donna had to go in for some medical tests on Saturday, but things seem positive from the results so far. On the other hand, she has a bad cold and we had to go to the 'walk-in' clinic yesterday to get her checked out. She's not feeling much better today, but still had to go into work. We are hoping she can sneak out early. I took her some soup and tea before I came into work today.

Just a heads up that our holiday cards went in the mail this morning, so hopefully many of you will be receiving them in the next week or so. A few of you have moved since last year, so we hope the new addresses we have for you are accurate.

Despite everything we went to Bingo on Saturday but neither of us hit. We plan on going up to San Manuel the weekend before Christmas for some bingo and slot play. They sent me a card for my b-day that entitles me to one free buy-in at the regular bingo and some slot credit. We both got cards for free slots play and figure we might as well use it up before they expire.

Yeah, we're totally addicted. What of it? :-)

I’m old enough to have some memories of my parents and their friends talking about JFK. My parents were split, with my father supporting Nixon and my mom Kennedy. As we were Roman Catholic that was a big reason for my mother liking JFK so much, but she also said she didn’t trust Nixon even back then. I also recall the nuns at Catechism and even some mention at mass about how proud we should be to have someone of our faith running for the office of President. It’s hard to believe that all these years later the matter of religion is still so important in an election.

I’ve only read excerpts of Mitt Romney’s speech as well as the reactions of various columnists, bloggers and some talking heads. To me it is a non-issue since I put all religions in the same category as belief in the Greek and Norse gods. Dude, if you pray to Odin or Buddha it makes no difference to me. Just tell me what you are going to do about the economy, the situation in Iraq and the environment. Those are the things that matter most folks and certainly to me. Your beliefs are or should be a personal and private thing between you and your family. As long as you’re not sacrificing goats in the Rose Garden who cares?

Romney’s speech reminds me more of Reagan’s remark that the Constitution promises “freedom of religion not freedom FROM religion”, rather than Kennedy’s comments. In fact, I’ll reprint the closing remarks from the late President's speech on the topic below:
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Finally, I believe in an America where religious intolerance will someday end–where all men and all churches are treated as equal–where every man has the same right to attend or not attend the church of his choice–where there is no Catholic vote, no anti-Catholic vote, no bloc voting of any kind–and where Catholics, Protestants and Jews, at both the lay and pastoral level, will refrain from those attitudes of disdain and division which have so often marred their works in the past, and promote instead the American ideal of brotherhood.

That is the kind of America in which I believe. And it represents the kind of Presidency in which I believe–a great office that must neither be humbled by making it the instrument of any one religious group nor tarnished by arbitrarily withholding its occupancy from the members of any one religious group. I believe in a President whose religious views are his own private affair, neither imposed by him upon the nation or imposed by the nation upon him as a condition to holding that office.
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‘Nuff said!

We have just begun putting up some decorations and still aren't sure how much we'll do. The new entertainment unit doesn't have the space the old one did for Donna's Christmas village.

I picked up holiday stamps yesterday, but we still have to decide on the card we're sending out. Fortunately, we have some holiday stationary from last year (thanks to a great post-holiday sale at Staples).

I don't have anything to add on the various political goings on, but like most folks am growing pretty tired of the Dems bashing each other rather than taking aim at the GOP. Guess you have to do something to get that 30-second soundbite on the news.

Surfs up here in the SoCal and we have already had one boarder swept out to sea. While I do sympathize with his family you have to admit that he did know what he was getting himself into. This wasn't a hot shot kid, but a 40+ yr old experienced surfer. Guess he found the Big One, huh?

This Movie is About Cats Flying

Please do not ask me to explain this. Cats flying!
'nuff said!

Sleeping with the Devil by Robert Baer

Even though this book came out in 2003 the information the author provides and some of his conclusions are still very relevant today. Robert Baer was a former CIA operative/analyst who looks at U.S. policy from a unique perspective. He actually had contact with a number of individuals involved in the events that he discusses, much of his information coming first hand.

Beginning with events then current, Baer goes back to look at just how the U.S. government became involved and in fact helped to ensure the reign of the Saudi royal family. Starting with the a meeting that FDR had with the then king, following WWII (at the behest of SoCal and representatives of American oil companies at the time), and continuing through the Bush II Presidency, Baer follows the money. For, in fact, it does come down to money and lots of it. Great sums which line the pockets of too many Washington insiders, including some who may be running for President and hundreds of others over the past fifty plus years.

It may have started, either as rumor or fact, with a briefcase filled with money left in the home of Richard Nixon, shortly after he had been elected to the office of President. Even if not true, word seemed to leak out that it was okay to do business with the Saudi family and their various businesses, legit or otherwise. Baer does not play favorites and just about every administration since Nixon’s seems to have either openly or behind closed doors done business with the Saudi regime. It is also clear, from the history that Baer discusses, that the Washington elite have not only closed their eyes to that country’s involvement with Islamic radicals, but also knowingly allowed them to cover when things got too hot for some individuals.

The author, naturally, talks about the bin Laden family, still very powerful and doing business with many U.S. firms, but also lesser known individuals in the royal family who are funding the Taliban and Al Quida. Baer really did his research, and spends several chapters discussing the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamic radical groups from their creation in the 19th and early 20th century. He also looks at how other countries like Syria dealt with them in ways very different from how the Saudi government pays them off in hopes they will turn their anger outward rather than at the royal family. His examination of just how corrupt the Sauds are and have been is amazing, although it really hasn't been a secret, just not widely discussed by U.S. media.

I can agree with Baer’s conclusions that the American government has to cut its ties with the Saudi royals and other Arab countries, equally guilty of the same sort of corruption. He also makes the point that the U.S. public might have to face the possibility of changing their addiction to cheap Arab oil and look for alternatives. However, I can’t agree with one of the author’s proposals. That is to militarily take over the oil fields of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and others via air strikes and commando raids. The idea is to take them over, rebuild what is necessary and allow the governments to fall around them.

I think that Baer is dead on when he says that it is only a matter of time before what the Saudi royals have allowed comes back to slit their throats. I just hope that he isn’t right that the idea he presents is actually being considered (despite the fact that such a plan was presented to Congress over twenty years ago by the Pentagon). Let’s hope there is another alternative.

All that said, I recommend the book to anybody who wants to know how we got to where we are and why certain Presidential candidates probably won’t change things very much. It does look like every past Democratic as well as Republican resident of 1600 Pennsylvannia Avenue has oil, if not blood, on their hands.

We are getting a bit nervous out here, concerned as we are about Kristina. Seems the company for which she works has been adversely affected by the housing & mortgage crunch. This has hurt them and as large companies always do in these situations, they begin chopping employees. Naturally, not those who made the bad deals and approved them, but lower level ones who had nothing at all to do with the situation.

Sadly, Kristina is one of those employees who may be looking for a job. The only bright side is that she has not been called into HR yet, while seeing several of her friends and more senior folks shown the door. Also, her company has been giving a small severance package that would continue health benefits until the end of the year and pay through February.

We are crossing our fingers, but aren’t feeling too positive as more cuts are likely. My stepdaughter is a wizard with computers and has worked in non-financial industries before. It’s likely that she can find something else should the need arise.

I’ll let you know as things progress.

It’s Monday evening and I feel totally exhausted. Unfortunately, I’m working until 9:00pm tonight and have to get through the next few hours. I wish now that I had taken today as a Vacation Day and been able to get some sleep as Donna has. Oh, well….

Speaking of my wife I want to wish a very, Happy 8th Anniversary to my love & life, Donna Lee! It is not a figure of speech to say that I would not be here (and I don’t mean California) if this woman had not come into my life when she did. I will always be thankful that we met and fell in love.
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The Carnival Paradise is one of the lines older and smaller ships, but it was perfect for our weekend voyage.

To give you an idea of how the cruise was you should know that within an hour of checking aboard I ordered my first drink and had my last around 11:30pm last night in the ship’s casino. The first was the ‘welcome aboard’ special, the name of which I can’t remember but it had rum, pineapple & orange juice in it. The great thing about these ‘specials’ is that they come in plastic cups that allow you to get discounts on each daily special, simply by returning the empty to the waitress. The drinks themselves tend towards the fruity/frosted variety and with the cup come to around $3.00 each. Yum!

Donna, Fran (Donna’s long-time friend) and I had a great time over the three days. The ladies got to catch up on things and I enjoyed the food, drinks, pool and casino. There was some shopping along the way as well; including some things we’ll be giving for Christmas.

One new thing was attending the art auction presented by Park West Gallery, with Fran. She almost always attends these, but for me it was a whole new experience. It was a lot of fun, plus Donna and I have a couple of nice pieces of artwork for the apartment. We both love a small, Thomas Kincaid work called “Winter Memories”, which will go well in the living room. I picked up a terrific “Speed Racer” print with the entire cast of the old show, including Racer X and the Mach 5. No idea where that will go, but I plan to have it framed as soon as we receive it. The bidding part of the auction is certainly the most exciting, even with many of the pieces already requested and having a set price in place before hand. (That’s how we got the Kincaid for much less than you’d expect.) There were also some amazing works by Picasso, Dali and Peter Max that went for prices that make my head hurt. As a treat at the end of the auction they ran the Dali/Disney short film, “Destino.” Amazing if you haven’t had the opportunity to see it.

The cruise was way too short and we spent the trip back from the terminal talking about which cruise we’d like to take next year. Right now it seems like we’ll be going to Alaska for a week, but all of us would like to take the Panama Canal crossing one of these days. (Something I actually did while in the Navy, but the experience was a bit different as you can imagine.)

I probably won't have a chance to post until next Monday. It's also doubtful that I'll be reading other folks or anything besides, perhaps, my e-mail if I get a chance tomorrow.

I just wanted to take a moment to wish you all a very, Happy Thanksgiving. Even if you don't make a big deal out of it I hope you enjoy whatever you'll be doing the next few days.

I'll fill you in on what we did and didn't do during the three-night cruise on Monday evening, since I'm scheduled to work. Hopefully, we won't have a repeat of our last Carnival experience and spend half a day looking for someone who has jumped overboard.

Take care!

Did you see on the news that Mission Viejo (which Ladera Ranch is considered part of) has been named the 'safest city' in the U.S. ? Strange after living for years in Brooklyn, huh?

A very, busy weekend here between moving furniture and shopping for Thanksgiving.

We decided to rearrange our living room and even purchased a new TV stand. Unfortunately, once we got it put together it was obvious that it would fall forward at the least touch. Having had more than a couple of tremblors we felt we shouldn't take chances. It was returned and we have the set temporarily on one of our old end tables, which we took from the spare room. We'll probably go shopping for something sturdier after we get back from the cruise.

At least we were able to move the second rocker/recliner from the bedroom to the living room, move the love seat around and put the lower half of the entertainment unit in the bedroom where we can use the drawers and shelves for storage. The shifting makes the place look less cramped and will give us space for everybody on Thursday.

Hard to believe that we spent over two hundred bucks on groceries for six people! Of course, we also picked up some things we can use before and after the holiday so it wasn't all for stuff to go with the turkey :-)

Can it really be only three days until our cruise? Or only a week until our 8th anniversary? Wow, the time has flown.

Kristina will be taking care of Babie for us, which we appreciate. Just hope she doesn't sneak Wilbur over to visit!

Enjoyed a pleasant three-day weekend and stayed away from the blogoverse pretty much. Going to try and catch up at least somewhat tonight while on desk.

Donna and I played Bingo again on Saturday, using my last winnings for the buy-in and then Donna winning on the very first 'warm up'. We're having more luck at the Irvine bingo than we have at the other places, although I did have a small win in Orange. Also, got a 'birthday' certificate for free Bingo at the San Manuel Bingo & Casino, plus free slot money. I have until 30-days after my b-day so we may head there sometime around the holidays.

Hard to believe that it's only a little more than a week until our cruise. We picked up some of the stuff for our Thanksgiving dinner and are going to start getting our clothes ready. We have promised ourselves we won't over pack as we usually do, which works since there will only be one night, Saturday, that we are expected to dress formally. Donna, Fran and I have already done that plenty of times, so I'm skipping the tux or suit this time out and will only grab a sports jacket.

We've also received our tickets for the Rose Bowl Parade and are looking forward to that come New Years.

The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it emotionally."—Flannery O'Connor

Came across this quote while reading this morning and it struck a cord. Perhaps with a rapidly approaching birthday and looking back over the events of the past year I am becoming more reflective. We all have uncomfortable things we don't like to recall or think about. Still they are part of our makeup and can't be ignored.

About a week ago I received an e-mail from my cousin George, who sent along a scan of a photograph taken back in the late '50s. I must have been around 8 or 9 years of age in the picture. The group included our cousin Ernie and George's sister, Donna, both of whom have already passed away. Donna was fifty-seven, which I will turn come next month and Ernie was only in his late 30s when he died from kidney failure.

Sorry, to turn all morbid on you but it was just something which has been on my mind for the past week or so. The quote from O'Connor just brought it to the surface.

I hope to have something lighter to blog about here or over on Shot's Shack later.

I’ve been spending a lot of time (both at home and during breaks at work) checking out new sites, posting in forums and generally ruining my eyesight on the Internet. You can see some of the new sites that I’ve linked to on both my blogs and you should expect more.

I added one to the new “official” Mystery Science Theatre 3000 site over on SHOT’S SHACK and will be adding a ‘religious satire’ site, the Wittenburg Door, over here later today if I have the chance. Joe Bob Briggs is writing for them and if you enjoy his essays on other things you might enjoy this as well. It’s like The Onion aimed at Christians.

I get so many e-mails from the various forums and groups I belong to that I rarely get to many of them more than once a week. If it wasn’t for the daily chance to win free cigars, I’d probably only get over to Cigar World on a monthly basis, as I do with Beer Advocate. Hmmm, is there a vice I don’t read about?

I have also started posting and taking part in the CBGXtra forums, those at Twisted Kaiju Theatre and Comic Collector Live. If you happen to see stuff from ‘Stevec50’ in any of those you can be sure I’ve come in from lurking mode.

You can’t ignore the Shelfari Shelf here and I’m having fun adding my books. Anything listed by Amazon can be placed on the shelf, along with cover photos in many cases. I don’t have nearly as many books as you would think, but since some aren’t listed on Amazon I can’t add them. Frankly, if anything that seems to be my major gripe. Plus, there is this weird glitch where it won’t let me input certain books since they are considered just another version of one I already have listed. For example, I have the Classics Illustrated version of MOBY DICK that was illustrated by Bill Sienkiewicz that I added. However, I also have the NBM edition of Melville’s novel that was produced by Will Eisner in my collection as well. According to Shelfari they are different editions of the same work, rather than totally separate works, and I can’t place both onto My Shelf. This problem also comes up with some multi-volume works, especially TPB collections. Again you have to decide which volume/edition to show on your shelf.

After all the excitement of the past couple of weeks it's nice to get back normality here in Ladera Ranch. The fires are still burning in some areas, but are all but completely contained. Most folks have been allowed to return to their homes, and those who have lost theirs are trying to get their lives back together. Doing the day to day stuff actually is nice for a change, given what could be.

Poor Donna is having problems with her left leg and we are discussing with doctors the eventually replacement of both knees. It will be months away, if not a year, but it's something we have to think about. Other procedures may be necessary before then, but we will take one thing at a time.

Given the leg/knees problems we are looking to rent a wheelchair for the up-coming cruise. We think it will make things easier, and even if she decides not to use it all the time we'll have it if she needs it.

I don't know about the rest of the country but the big story out here in SoCal is the strike by the SGA against the networks and film studios. After the damage caused by the fires, the economic impact of a prolonged strike will cause some real damage out here. To most folks it only means that Jay, Dave, and The Daily Show & Cobert Report will be heading to reruns. Out here we may see some restaurants, small delivery companies and other businesses severely effected and possibly closing. It will be interesting to see how things ripple out here.

Only 17 days until our cruise and despite Donna's physical problems we still both excited. We are seriously trying to the Alaskan cruise next year and in between we have a couple of other things we hope to do. More on that as our plans gel. :-)

A Hard Day's Night of the Living Dead

Because I'm in one of those moods!

BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAINSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

If you go over to http://www.halloween-nyc.com/ you'll find some great photos of last night's Greenwich Village Halloween Parade.

I have some nice memories of going there several years and of watching it live on TV on several others. It was always fun, no matter how you experienced it. The photo hear is from last night's festivities.

Seeing the photos there and the ones on the KCBS-2/KCAL-9 site of the West Hollywood parade made me recall the Halloween that Elayne & I experienced the Castro in San Francisco.

Elayne, how long was I holding that guy's hand before I realized it wasn't you? I remember you, Matt & Candy had a good laugh at my expense. :-(