Comments Anyone?

You have every right to disagree with me on this issue. After all this is America. We have been the land of the free for several hundred years and I think the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution has played a MAJOR role in that freedom. Want to stop these senseless shootings in schools, airports, nursing homes? Try placing a trained armed guard at strategic locations. If someone enters the building carrying a weapon, kill him or her.

Think of the jobs this would create. Of course there would have to be intense psychological profiles for potential armed employees in this line of work hence more jobs. This list can go on and on. It might not be a bad thing to make it mandatory that everyone wear a sidearm. Yes, I am definitely in agreement with Charleton Heston, R.I.P., and Ted Nugent. It's an old cliche, but get rid of the guns and only criminals will have them.

Red Dragon sent this to me and I am still laughing. It's a clip from Boston Legal. There are clips and full episodes on the internet and so you can watch more of this show. In the meantime you need to fight these ludicrous, silly, insane notions about taking away the right to bear arms. Let's face it. If someone broke into your house and killed your family you'd spend the rest of your life wishing you'd taken the training to learn firearm usage and safety. Then made the purchase to protect your loved ones.

As mentioned earlier, I don't expect everyone to agree. Nor do I care. I think my attitude reflects the vast majority of our citizens. After all I spent 2 years in Vietnam, was shot twice and I have never pulled a weapon on anyone since leaving the shore of the Gulf of Tonkin. But I will if I feel threatened. And you can be guaranteed in such a confrontation someone will die. Shatner's thing is funny, but if you ever are in such a situation don't shoot to wound.

Thanks Red Dragon, great friend and fellow Veteran.


"Courage is being scared to death... and saddling up anyway."
~John Wayne

EDIT: Thanks for the nice emails and calls about my recent dive off the ladder. The ear infection is still there and the scrape on my shoulder makes it difficult to use my right arm. Hey at least I am left handed, lol. Please have some patience. I am trying to work some in the field today. It may end up with my lardbutt sprawled on the couch. As Roseanne Roseannadanna said, "It's always something."

It's a Benchwork Kind of Day

Advice time. If you have an ear infection and it alters your sense of balance, stay off ladders.After a crash off an eight foot ladder the welt on my back and arm are very sore today. Finished the job without complaining and was alone so no one was handy to laugh at my big fat buffoon butt. Of course the ladder came down with me and I landed in the middle of several tool boxes and my roll around cart. After resting sporadically last night I am aching and the ear infection has not subsided. Things like this have to happen occasionally to remind me that the age of 18 is long gone. Thank goodness nothing was broken. Don't get me wrong it is even uncomfortable to wear a shirt. Hopefully, everything will return to normal after a day's rest. Didn't hurt so much last night, but it's not even possible to lean back in a chair today. Fellow worker that just built a cabinet for a cable, phone and network head-in that is my current field project said he had this mess over the weekend. He stayed off ladders. Sometimes I feel so stupid.

It's not a big deal, but this ear infection thangy is making rounds, so be careful. You might want to curb driving too. Have a casual day and I'll return to the grind tomorrow.

"We never really know what stupidity is until we have experimented on ourselves."
~Paul Gauguin

Late Post

Working on new template for site. This will help me permalink to sites I read on a daily basis. I still prefer the old way to post because you can manipulate HTML easier. I still have the new format tried months ago and will try and improve. Not a lot of breaking news presently so will map outta here and go do something casual after a very busy day.

Have fun this Tuesday evening!

I wish life was not so short, he thought. languages take such a time, and so do all the things one wants to know about.
~J. R. R. Tolkien

CSN Monday

This has to be the best cover of any Beatles song. Don't know if Mr. Crosby had gotten sober before this performance, but he does a great job. He's the one on the left. Thank God he found a way to overcome his addictions and is still with us. They are all awesome musicians. Graham Nash is truly a genius. His ability to harmonize is phenomenal. Stephen Stills may very well be the most underrated singer songwriter guitar player on earth. Take just a few minutes and listen to a great tune performed live at the peak of excellence. Also, thank you Mr. McCartney.



Now go face your Monday with the gusto of a hound dawg.

"I have no pleasure in any man who despises music. It is no invention of ours: it is a gift of God. I place it next to theology. Satan hates music: he knows how it drives the evil spirit out of us."
~Martin Luther

Window 7 News?

There is so much buzz about Windows 7 it's hard to sort it out. Will they include a feature that makes it emulate XP or not? Who knows? That's just one rumor traveling the net. Just finished an article at ZDNet which has left me more confused. Okay, first things first. There will be a 32 bit version. It is not exclusively 64 bit. The 32 bit 'platform' is what most PCs use. Somehow I think this might be good news. The article is written in a question and answer format and there's a lot of "more on that later" responses from the author, Ed Bott. If you are following the Windows 7 saga you might find this post interesting.

My take on the situation? Stick with XP or upgrade to Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate. Don't EVEN buy Vista Home Basic or Vista Business. Home Basic is a joke and there are still many bugs in Vista business. Mainstream support stopped officially for XP a few weeks ago, but security issues are still addressed. That stoppage basically means you won't be able to upgrade certain features, i.e. Windows Media Player, the IE browser, etc. So what!?!?!? I still use Windows 2000 on two machines and they haven't offered mainstream support for years. Those machines run just fine.

Anyway, Microsoft needs to stop all this hooey and nail down a viable operating system. Of course they could blatantly steal FreeBSD, go in and monkey with the code to make it proprietary, then act like they created it and make millions. No, wait. That's been done. It's called Apple OSX (aka operating system ten). Well, at least Apple realized no one in their company was intelligent enough to write good code...

"Legends of prediction are common throughout the whole Household of Man. Gods speak, spirits speak, computers speak. Oracular ambiguity or statistical probability provides loopholes, and discrepancies are expunged by Faith."
~Ursula K. Le Guin

Tomorrow

Got a new belt for the mower, but ended up working all afternoon. The belt will have to wait until tomorrow. Should be in the high 80s Sunday afternoon so the grass won't be wet.

It's late and I am tired. Night all.

"Procrastination is opportunity's natural assassin."
~Victor Kiam

Ahhh, Friday

TGIF. Only two more days to work this week. Our weather has finally settled down and we are experiencing spring days and nights. It's neat to see everything come alive and all the activity. Birds are singing, dogs and cats are howling, and there is the smell of roast beast in the air. It would be wonderful to kick back and enjoy a weekend of leisure. Won't happen at the beach house. The list is too long and it may make me lapse into warp whine so I'll pass on posting the "list."

Tech news is slow today. Time to prepare for a Friday that's full. Have a casual weekend.

"Employ thy time well, if thou meanest to gain leisure."
~Benjamin Franklin

EDIT: Mower belt broke. Grass was too deep and wet. New belt tomorrow and then the dishes.

Two Activities I Abhor

Two things I despise. Washing dishes and mowing the yard. I certainly hope that in heaven dishes are self cleaning and there is no grass. It's my true belief that the finest lawn mower made in the solar system could be purchased for beach house use and it'd find a way to fail and void the warranty the very first time it cranked. I want one of those electrical dishwashers too. We'd probably get it installed and when the water entered it fire would probably burn through the door. There I'm through bitching about house and yard work. All this frustration has made me tired. Ahhhhh, it's naptime. Later.

"I hate housework! You make the beds, you do the dishes -- and six months later you have to start all over again."
~Joan Rivers

Don't Just Hug That Tree, Smooch It!

Today is Earth Day. Do you know why it is celebrated on the 22nd of April? Seems that John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, was born on this day. So was Julius Sterling Morton, the founder of Arbor Day. Lenin, the Communist celebrity long dead, was also born on this day. Something tells me Lenin was probably not a big fan of things environmental.Yet the best tie in with the birthday factor to my Methodist self is Aprill 22nd also happens to be the birthday of a well known Roman Catholic Saint, St. Francis of Assisi. He's considered by many the first environmentalist on the planet. That connection just feels better to me. You can read much more at Wikipedia. If you don't plant a tree today at least stop and admire the beauty of our planet. I will attempt to improve planet earth by mowing the jungle around the beach house. This holiday is somehow in a strange weird way connected with liberal Democrats. Don't believe this media goofiness. Many conservative Republicans are concerned about the well being of our earth. I am one of them. So take a good look around today and count your blessings that our stupidity has not laid waste to this sphere of land and water, yet. BTW, the ice cap in Antarctica is growing contrary to the rubbish being espoused by the nutjobs. Check out the article at American Thinker. If that is not enough proof then Google it and read the thousands of sites that endorse this finding.

Great day to cook out, sit on the veranda watching the birds and bees, or admiring the gifts of nature both flora and fauna. If you are of a mind a prayer of thanks is certainly appropriate. Now I must go kiss my oak tree. Later.

"Above all the grace and the gifts that Christ gives to his beloved is that of overcoming self."
~St. Francis of Assisi

Woe Factor (DANGER! Will Robinson - Whine Below)

Just knew Monday was too good. Am home sick with stomach virus from hell and that's all the details you'll need or get. Have managed to make some improvements to one of the beach house web servers. Was working on the wifi system too. So far I've managed to reduce the signal from excellent to good. Backed away from that project for now. Beagle, Verdana's looking for a local kennel so call her if y'all haven't talked. Verdana, Uncle Snake and the girls are in the throes of moving and I don't envy them.

Wish I could go pick up some chicken soup and crackers, but afraid to tarry too far away from the smallest room in the house. Enough. Whine out. Have a casual day.

"Illness of any kind is hardly a thing to be encouraged in others."
~Oscar Wilde

EDIT: A mad dash to the grocer resulted in chicken soup and crackers without incident. If I had been one minute later returning home there would have been an extremely unhappy boy at the beach house. Later.

Enduring Stormy Seas

Mondays tend to be tough at times. Up since before 4:00AM. Worrying about completing work today. Had to do laundry first thing, am out of Pepcid and am running on 3-4 hours sleep. Facing a phone line problem today that has been a nightmare and it is going to work if I don't die in the process,lol. Beagle twittered something about 'eww Monday' so I thought what would make the day go better? Why of course, an inspirational song by Celtic Woman. This is definitely one of my favorites. Take a few minutes and listen to a moving version of You Raise Me Up.

It fills my heart with joy, peace and hope. T.S. Eliot once said,"You are the music while the music lasts." Keep this tune with you today and let its inspiration guide you. Once again the Grace of one of God's gifts magically touched me and I am happier. Monday will be okay.

"Music is the movement of sound to reach the soul for the education of its virtue."
~Plato

Shifting Sunday

Service call was scheduled this afternoon, but one of my limitations has kicked into high gear. What limitation? Do not handle live voltage while standing on wet ground. It's raining. This matter concerns a phone line and there is no way to turn off the ring and tip voltage on an outside phone connection. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and I'll be there first thing in the morning. This is denting my time schedule, but priorities can be rearranged. Being stupid and not safe can't be rearranged. Well, maybe with the possible exception of a funeral. So, darn it all, tomorrow will start several hours earlier.

Since last night, I have joined several groups on Twitter to protest the termination of Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles . Really like this show. People that program TV networks must be a strange lot. It looks like a lot of big business bought ads and Sci-Fi seems to be in vogue. FOX has been the ONLY network I watched for news and has been my favorite over the others for many years. This will be a great disappointment if they do cancel TSCC. FOX made a very bad programming mistake several years ago after they canceled Firefly after 14 episodes. It went on to be a blockbuster movie and probably would have lasted on TV for years if given a chance. Yes, it was Sci-Fi too. Folks, it's the age of the nerd and nerds like science fiction, especially great science fiction. The picture is a character name Cameron from TSCC. She is a cyborg from the future and is played by Texas native Summer Glau. Ms. Glau also was a member of the cast of Firefly. She appeared as a regular in all the series episodes and the movie. Yes, she's easy on the eyes and does a fantastic job with the Cameron character portrayal.

Need to rest the back and repair some items at the beach house. The shop bench is full of projects and I may spend some time there. That is if I can find my way to the shop door. Lawn looks like a jungle. Got a riding lawn mower running perfectly, but don't mow in the rain. Besides, I'm lazy. With my luck the lightning factor is as much a probability for negative results as handling phone lines on wet ground. Have a casual Sunday.

"Man is only truly great when he acts from his passions."
~Disraeli

EDIT: Not dissing Hulu because they are awesome, but fox.com has the last few episodes of TSCC for full viewing with a small media player that's an add-on for Firefox and the picture in full screen is unbelievable! Check it out!

Don't Cancel Sarah Connor Chronicles!

Just caught up on Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles at Hulu Then I found out they are canceling it! Granted, when this show first hit the airwaves I thought it was just another knock off that would be unpolished, underwritten and last minute filler for a new season. Try 180 degrees of that description and you have this show. It's great. It's awesome. It's stupendous. Of course the theme is Sarah Connor protecting her son John, who is now in his late teens, from the evil SkyNet. It very much follows a lot of the storyline setup by the three blockbuster movies. The plots are grand and very well written. The acting is superb. The person responsible for casting the characters deserves an Emmy hands down.

Fox had this show on opposite The Big Bang Theory (CBS) and Chuck (NBC) on Mondays. They moved it to Friday which is a great night for it. Remember, the original Star Trek was moved to Friday nights. There has to be a way to stop this silly notion to end a great Sci-Fi series. TV doesn't have that much to offer and it certainly airs a bunch of garbage concerning Sci-Fi. I grew up reading Science Fiction and it played a major part in sparking my interest in all things technical. Had my math skills been stronger (or if my concentration had been on said studies) there's no doubt I'd probably work for NASA or one of their cohorts. Yes, my childhood dream was to be a real rocket scientist.

Anyway things didn't turn out that way. Still, it is great fun to follow this genre. It gives me enormous escape for a precious few minutes and it has been a stress relief to have a few programs that spark my interest and imagination. My sole purpose to buy an HDTV antenna has been to enable reception for FoxTV. If they cancel this show I may not even waste the money. Many things have been done to cut back on spending the past few months and downgrading cable service to just internet was one of them. Really a cruncher after having digital cable for 6 years. So there is pursuit to find ways to voice an opinion or opinions about this show staying on the air.

It may not mean much to you, but I am passionate about it. I agree with Dave Barry when he said, "What I look forward to is continued immaturity followed by death."

"My problem with chess was that all my pieces wanted to end the game as soon as possible."
~Dave Barry

Stop Piracy in Its Tracks. Today!!!

This pirate thing is ridiculous. I can only tolerate so much stupidity. The answer to the problem is so obvious. Give the merchant marines guns!! Mount 50 caliber machine guns fore, amidships and aft. Port and Starboard. Arm each individual crewman and have rocket launchers at the ready. If a shoulder launched SAM can take out a high speed warbird at 50,000 feet, shooting their sorry pirate asses will be a piece of cake. Real simple. If a boat approaches you and engages your ship in a hostile way, sink the bastards and leave them to die. Kill 'em all and let God sort it out. I can't believe this blatantly obvious solution hasn't been implemented. Should have happened years ago. Declare a "safe" lane in the area and if unauthorized boats enter that area have aircraft standing by to kill them. Let the rotten, foul excuses for humans see an A-10 Warthog sink some of their rogue brethren and this evil abuse of human rights will stop. They will be deterred or suffer in pirate hell. They are dumbasses for practicing piracy and our government officials are even bigger dumbasses for not following the simple plan mentioned here. Grow some big ones Washington and put an end to this embarrassing situation! It is hard to comprehend why these upgrades are not in place. They've had problems in this area for years! On the way home from Iraq, let our aircraft make strategic passes over the pirate bases with intent to harm. And then get some type of government in that region that can control these minions of Satan. They've declared war on America. War my ass! What's the more appropriate word? Suicide. Sheesh! Think about this the next time you vote and elect a Representative, Senator, President, Governor, etc. You can bet your sweet bippy Ronald Reagan would have had this under control in a matter of days. Maybe even hours. But, that's what we get when we have a ruling government made up of gun control idiots and fraidy-cats. Yep they can kill unborn children, but are too scared to whack a bunch of sea thugs. Go figure. I certainly can't. Wish they'd drop Nancy Pelosi right in the middle of the gnarly bunch!



"I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me remind you also that moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue."
~Barry Goldwater

Forgotten Anniversary

So wrapped up in Microsoft's halting of mainstream XP support on Tuesday, it was forgotten that Cybersouth-from the Saltillo Beach House turned 6 years old. Quite a milestone for someone that started this as a personal log, lol. Hopefully, down through the years we've helped with anti-spyware programs and warnings about the yahoos (pun intended) that are the creeps behind such garbage. Still putting together a different format and hope it will be in place soon. It amazes me that if you search for the word Cybersouth on Google this site has been the #1 hit for over 2 years. Bet the ISP in Georgia named Cybersouth is not happy about it, lol. The ongoing debates about different platforms, OSs, etc., have been fun for the most part. Sure do miss Anonymous Apple Dude, even if he was a bit foul mouthed.

Arnold, the possum, has come and gone. His antics while hanging out were hysterical at times. The Good Lord knows this has been an exercise in patience. Almost shut down the first of this year, but have since decided that attitude was derived from a medication change. BTW, thanks to EVERYONE for the support. Won't even try to list all the names. Hope to continue the tradition of butchering the English language and raising hell with the Bozos of the world. Any suggestions are always well met. Many times outside influence have made things better (except for that med change mentioned earlier). Y'all are the bombdiggity.

"Friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life; and thanks to a benevolent arrangement of things, the greater part of life is sunshine."
~Thomas Jefferson

Like,TBBT

After an extended search a site has been found that has The Big Bang Theory full episodes. It's MegaVideo. Be sure and register to take stuff off the screen. Not the best videos, but watchable. There are some that have annoying Spanish subtitles. Hopefully this junk can be turned off. I don't even like English subtitles. Anyway if you are a geek or nerd be sure and catch this show. It's about physicists, rocket scientists, etc. They are hilarious. It's on CBS Monday at 7:00PM Central.

Ever find yourself using the word "like" excessively? Check out WikiHow. Very concise, informative article. WikiHow is a great site to browse. Amazing stuff there in many categories. Like, most of us have been guilty of this, like, over usage. This is a great site to bookmark.

Got to get moving. Long day today. Everyone hang in there and to all my CPA friends - midnight will be here before you know it!

"Whether a person shows themselves to be a genius in science or in writing a song, the only point is, whether the thought, the discovery, or the deed, is living and can live on."
~Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Microsoft Shooting Itself In the Foot? No, Try a Little Higher, Say Groin Level

New data shows that the vast majority of corporate IT departments won't touch Microsoft's next OS until at least 2011. Yes this tag line is a link to an article at InformationWeek. I find this VERY interesting since mainstream support for Microsoft XP ends today. Let me repeat that, MAINSTREAM SUPPORT FOR MICROSOFT XP ENDS TODAY!!!!! Businesses are predicting that 83% will not switch to Windows 7 until 2011. This info is the result of a survey taken that included over 1100 IT techs. Looks like an initial official release of Windows 7 might occur next month. The FINAL release will be sometime this fall. Head Bozo Steve Ballmer and company, aka Microsoft, are possibly committing operating system suicide? No doubt there will be champagne corks flying over at the orchard. Apple Nazis have to be turning backflips about this news. It scares me. Really.

As I have said before, Vista, XP's replacement OS, is a fine operating system. It will eat your current operating system whole if using an upgrade. This was mo' bad Ballmer marketing. A lot of people won't upgrade to Vista due to this fact. Yes, there are ways around it, but the legality is questionable. No doubt the morality is not. I am NOT going to upgrade a machine if I cannot roll it back. What if they had done this 'no roll back eat your installed operating system' with that horrible Windows ME (Millennium)? Can we say Microsoft would have gone out of business and we'd all be using $5000.00 Apple clunkers? PCWorld called Windows ME the Mistake Edition, lol. I know there are possibly 5 or 6 people in the world who disagree. Of course the Ballmer buffoons probably should be included in the group since they are all suck ups.

I've run Vista for a while and like it with two exceptions. Vista Home Basic is useless (try running Quick Books on it for a big giggle) and Vista Business has issues. You'd think they'd try to make the Business edition the frontrunner. If you are going to buy Vista Business go on and spend a few more dollars and purchase Vista Ultimate. Also, and this is important, install Service Pack 1 immediately. Make that second on your installation procedure list. Hopefully, Windows 7 will come out of the chute in much better form. Fellow Tech 'Hoppa has good reports about Windows 7. Read his take on it over at TechandLife. It is well written and easy to understand. Good site, recently upgraded, that should go places. Several more tech friends are swaying positive about Windows 7 too. But the above linked article (first sentence of this post) concerns us all. Be sure and read page two.

Let's look at the "big" picture. This is another ploy by Microsoft to force people to upgrade. Since XP is stable most people in the business world are leaving well enough alone. A lot of businesses just recently upgraded to XP from Windows 2000. Ballmer and his gang need to put all their barnyard material in one sock then lose it. Yeppers, that's court jester Ballmer with his tongue waggling in the pix. Can we say large doses of Thorazine? I look forward to Windows 7, but worry about its market penetration in the realm of business. They MUST have a better launch of 7 than they did with Vista. Thankfully, they recovered quickly from the Vista rollout fiasco and issued SP1. Service Pack 1 corrected many mistakes inherent with the initial version.

It's all a mess for sure. I wish Bill Gates would come out of retirement and force Ballmer into it. Microsoft desperately needs him at the helm. Please Mr. Gates, I wanna continue to be a Windows Nazi.

"As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." `
~Weisert

EDIT: Please check the comments and read the first one. Mudslingr linked a very good article on Microsoft's site about support time frames. TYVM

2nd EDIT: Ashy informed me that as long as the Windows.old file is retained you can roll back. Sorry, my bad.

Half Full Cup

Mondays are adaptive. Full plate today and the weather is doing that roaring lion thing. Grabbed a cup of Ashy specialty roasted coffee and checked email then decided to treat myself to a tune. There are legends in this video. Lee Ritenour, my favorite jazz guitarist, Jimmy Johnson, be sure and catch his bass solo (reminds me a little of Jaco Pastorius, God rest his Soul), plus Carlos Vega on drums, God rest his Soul too, all combine to play an awesome upbeat tune. Great stuff for sure and listen all the way to the end so you can hear a little bit of Phil Perry singing Rock Steady. It's awesome. Turn the speakers up or put on the headphones. If you don't like music you won't like this video!

For some reason I feel that Monday will be a better day now...

"Music is spiritual. The music business is not."
~Van Morrison

Easter is Kewl

Celebrate. It is a time for gladness, good tidings. Let those you love know it. That's what I am doing now. God have mercy on us, protect us, forgive us. No one should cast stones. We've no right to such profanities. Yet, all over the world people war for ridiculous reasons. No, my mind has not been lost to liberal rhetoric. I meekly fought for this country and would be less timid if it happened again. God loves our country. We are blessed in so many ways.

Watch your leaders and react accordingly. Honor their good deeds and admonish the bad. Our founding fathers set forth many proclamations that our nation was founded as a land of the free, home of the brave and our form of worship is still a personal choice. Throughout American history references to God and scripture constantly remind us of this freedom. So, we Christians worship the resurrection of Christ as did our founding fathers. It is our right. Stand up and be counted. If you choose another faith our laws permit you that privilege. If you are an atheist then go your own way. But leave my way alone. You don't have the power to contest me. As a matter of fact...you have no power. I thank the Good Lord that He still loves you even though you deny and doubt.

Hunt those Easter eggs with your children and know the little ones are your blessings from above. Embrace them and help get the chocolate off their faces. Smile while you do it. Gosh, wish I had a big chocolate bunny right now. Know what? It'd be nice to get the beach house clean this afternoon! Wonder if that Easter bunny will stop and help? Probably not. Hope is eternal, but false hope won't get the beach house in order. Enjoy the day!

"The stone was not rolled away from the tomb so Jesus could get out. He was able to walk through walls (John 20:19) in His resurrected body. The stone was rolled away so that everyone could see that He was risen."
~About.com: Christianity

Weather, Socialist TV and a Dog Sporting a Ponderosa Name

If you try to find the second part of the Soundstage Stevie Nicks concert on Socialist TV (aka PBS, MPB, etc.) tonight, well, good luck. Why would someone show part one and not follow with part two on the next show? Nevermind. Forget the question. Trying to understand that bunch in Jackson that schedule Socialist TV will lead one's mind to the edge of utter chaos. Next thing you know local weatherhog stormtrooper reporter Dick Rice will be interrupting PBS every 5 minutes to tell us about the bad weather in Texas. Poor old fellow, he may not even have a clue he's in the northeast corner of Mississippi. Why the local affiliates feel it necessary to let him run rampant spoiling the few good programs on TV is beyond me. Probably aren't aware that The Weather Channel, computers and windows (those that are placed strategically in walls) exist. Life is just full of the mysterious.

I am following an interesting family development on the internet. It involves a dog named Hoss and his humans. Hoss has about 8 months on this planet and resides with my brother and family. Best I've done in the pet department in the past 20 years or so was follow the antics of Arnold the Possum as he rampaged through the neighborhood performing terror strikes on local animals. Anyway, Arnold is gone. He lived a long life for a possum.



see more dog and puppy pictures

Now I sometimes enjoy sitting on the veranda watching my neighbor's dog, Duke. He's a cool boxer. Duke is a good looking fellow, well mannered and protecting all of us. Hoss is a boxer too. Haven't met him in person. Read about him at Shadow Ridge Boxers. Nice website with a plethora of boxer information.

Time to continue battling with the beach house. Moving furniture and cleaning house sucks.

"If you are a dog and your owner suggests that you wear a sweater suggest that he wear a tail."
~Fran Lebowitz

In My Opinion

Today has many names: Holy Friday, Great Friday, Black Friday, Royal Hours, Good Friday and more. In these United States Good Friday is generally accepted as the term describing a day that plays a major part in the Christian Rites of Easter. Some choose to call this Sunday Passover instead of Easter. The spirit of your heart determines the separation of devotion and paganism, not words or re-enactments or rituals. I choose the word Easter and encourage egg hunts, Easter baskets, chocolate rabbits or anything else that will light passion and joy in the eyes of a child. If you don't agree that's fine with me. To me this day is one of the darkest that ever occurred, yet it also marks the beginning of the greatest gift God has bestowed upon humankind, Salvation. For God so loves the world that He gave His only Son and those that believe in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. So use your interpretations and rituals. Leave me to mine. My Salvation is between God and me. Attend to your relationship with Him and leave ultimate judgment to the Judge. Prayer will be ongoing throughout the day. God has blessed us and we don't deserve it. I am thankful for His Grace. For I am saved by the Grace of His love.

God knows I am not the most devout person. Last paragraph, yesterday's post...good example. Sometimes my emotions get the best of me. Since that statement I have prayed for the grieving family AND the nitwits at Bluehost. Also asked for forgiveness for my harsh, shrew-like conclusion jump. Not a day goes by without sin. But, I believe. My prayer anthem today is a plea to Heaven. God, please help us all; God, please forgive us.



"I believe in Christianity as I believe in the rising sun; not because I see it, but by it I can see all else."
~C. S. Lewis

My Heart is Heavy

Rarely do I post twice during the day. Time just won't permit. So, you know this is important to me. I just read my daughter's (Beagle) latest post and sit here with tears rolling down my face. I cannot even begin to describe this calamity. Just please go read what she has to say:

Beagle's Live Journal, Post titled "I know one web hosting company I will never use."

Kudos and props to everyone that is aiding this family experiencing such tremendous grief. NOTHING, NOTHING in the world can be worse than the loss of a child. God help this family and Bluehost can go straight to hell!!!!!!! It's a crying shame that dueling has been outlawed.

A Short Whine, Browsers and Portals

The doctor's office called and rescheduled my appointment. Bummer! Yet, MY rescheduling has been tolerated a few times by them so this complaint can't be too loud. I changed a medication on my own a few months ago because the one taken at the time kept me groggy and grouchy. Prior permission was given to change if my response to the other medication was not good. This constant back pain and lack of energy has to go away. Somehow it seems connected. Well, losing weight will probably help the back pain quite a bit, lol! Heck, it certainly could be much worse. Enough whining.

When in a hurry Firefox is used at the beach house. Still using Chrome some and liking it more. It's hard to force myself to use Internet Explorer. IE8 seems faster and more secure, but the ability to navigate with Firefox comes natural. No doubt this is due partially to usage and prejudice.

Getting people to switch from Internet Explorer is like trying to make some folks understand that Yahoo is truly evil. You warn them, show them proof of Yahoo's certain intent to infect your machine with spyware (they call it adware and IMHO there is no difference). After warning people not to use it they will come to me with a slow computer. No quarter is ever given to a machine running Yahoo doodoo. Several users that keep up to date are telling me that their instant messenger and email are still clean. It's your computer and your roll of the dice. The beach house has not yahooed in years! So sad that greed has taken over a portal that has such potential. Get a GMail account and find another instant messenger service (there's only a gazillion of them out there). Perhaps GoogleTalk? Their voice chat is awesome.

No slack for this silly goofiness. Would you rub radioactive material on your face? Using Yahoo makes about as much sense. So, stop it! If you'd like a long list of proof they are doing this please email me and I'll gladly send you the links to various articles about the problem.

"They that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils."
~Francis Bacon

Browser Speed

Tomorrow will be busy. I am playing catch up on several projects and need to turn in early tonight. Today was spent trying to regroup after an extended round of back pain. My doctor's appointment is at 2:30PM tomorrow. Just a short note to thank Mudslingr for the help with the broken peacekeeper link included in yesterday's post. Now you can go see how fast your browser is running. Also, after some extensive speedtest.net work it was discovered that Chrome seems to travel slower on the internet than Firefox, the fastest, or Internet Explorer. Yet it doesn't seem any slower while browsing. Don't let the liars at AT&T or COMCAST fool you. Speedtest.net is accurate. We've tested it on several different ISPs and you can bet your speed is being reflected properly. Local surfers need to use the Atlanta server since it is included in the beginning of most inquiries originating from our area.

"If ever we hear a case of lying, we must look for a severe parents. A lie would have no sense unless the truth were felt as dangerous."
~Alfred Alder

Liking Some Chrome Speed

This is my first post inside Google's browser, Chrome. The reason for the sudden switch is it benchmarked by (Link is repaired, TY Mudslingr) Peacekeeper Browser Benchmark as the fastest. It scored 572, Firefox scored 373 and Internet Explorer 8 did a miserable 178. I am also working on a way to rid Chrome of that annoying sidebar to the left. Greasemonkey will work as an add-on in Chrome so I will look around and keep you posted if I come up with something that will make your homepage use the whole screen and eliminate that worrisome bar.

Google's Chrome is different. It's fast!! Just keep using and tuning it. Navigation becomes easier with time. Certainly haven't given up on Firefox and will always leave Internet Explorer as the default browser. Believe me you want IE as the default browser for many reasons. Just make it so then use your preferred browser. Thanks goes out to Ashy for the great tip about Peacekeeper.

"The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind."
~William Blake

Power Network Card

Yes my geek, nerd and techie friends, here's an item you shall all lust over and it will enter your dreamscape. I really need two of them. Shucks, at $249.95 it's so far out of my reach The BPMJ Bank will soon have a branch and deposit of checks are now accepted. There are plans to expand in the next few weeks and the next location will be on the table in the patio area. Just got to empty another Blue Plate Mayonnaise Jar. Love the stuff, but don't eat a lot of it because it is fattening. So, if you use Blue Plate please save the jar. You can click on the picture of the Killer Network Card and it will enlarge. BTW, that is the real name of the card. One more thing, withdrawals are still non-negotiable. Confusing? Look back at the April 1st post.









"If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments."
~Earl Wilson

Running in the Shadows

Just finished watching the Soundstage Stevie Nicks special for the second time tonight. She is so smooth. At times she rocks and then, like the video below, there's almost a mystic quality about her well produced performances. This is not a new tune by any means. It has certainly held up through the years. So has Stevie. Still a doll. Your time will be well spent if you grab a cup of coffee, tea, etc. Kick back, watch and listen to 10 minutes of ear and eye candy that is pure magic. If you have headphones use them and crank it up. Take the phone off the hook, put your feet up, and become steeped in an almost surreal experience. BTW, this song will be in Part II which is scheduled to air on Soundstage next Saturday.

FYI, the great guitar player is a veteran named "Waddy" Watchel. He's been with Stevie's solo performance group for many years. He is also featured on several Warren Zevon tunes, God rest his Soul. The people that put this together did a great job and thank goodness they didn't stop every 5 minutes to beg for money.

Enjoy Sunday, The beach house needs your prayers. My constant struggle to improve needs all the help available. Yet, this is so very very small compared to that which circles around us. Pray for our country...

"Beauty is a harmonious relation between something in our nature and the quality of the object which delights us."
~Blaise Pascal

Stevie Nicks on the Tube Tonight

Local Info: At 11:00PM on Socialist TV (sometimes called PBS or MPB) Soundstage will feature Stevie Nicks. I've seen it and will watch again tonight. She's tremendous. She actually does a Led Zeppelin song! Of course they will probably interrupt begging for money. Sorry, when they scrambled their satellite signal back in the '80s they killed the concept of public TV. If they are so wonderful and trying to reach everyone, why is that signal still scrambled? Anyway, if you like Stevie this was recorded just last year and she is great! There are some surprise guests too. This is Part One and here's hoping Part Two airs next Saturday.

Enjoy the local weather. It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Good day to do some type of roast beast on the grill!

"I love to hear a choir. I love the humanity to see the faces of real people devoting themselves to a piece of MUSIC. I like the teamwork. It makes me feel optimistic about the human race when I see them cooperating like that."
~Paul McCartney