No LAN Party This Weekend At The Beach House

I am sorry. We will quit trying to do this since it has been a constant cancellation for the past year. Was really looking forward to it, but no money, going through the process of changing a major medication, and need to start some projects that will catch up my -15 day cash flow problem - these are the reasons. If someone else wants to host and have a gathering I'll gladly announce it here. Time will be set aside to play Guild Wars this weekend. I should be able to play a few hours Saturday night. Once again, no more will be planned because I am tired of disappointing people.

"Never ruin an apology with an excuse."
~Kimberly Johnson

Old Virus With New Twists

The Postcard from Hallmark Warning or Postcard from 'a family member' and several variations are once again making the rounds. Don't even touch this email with your mouse. Delete it immediately. It is NOT a hoax and can harbor a virus ready to attack your machine. Take a look at Hoax-Slayer for more information. Stay away from snopes.com, they drop adware on your PC. Be sure and DO NOT click on any links in such an email, especially the snopes link. This is where you mess up. I repeat, do not even touch this email with your mouse. Delete it. Then delete it permanently. If you have been diligent and are sure you've done all Windows Updates then your PC should be safe. You might want to scroll down and read some of the comments on the Hoax-Slayer link. People that write this virus garbage deserve slow death. These creeps once again prove that Satan exists and is very active. Thanks MJR for the tip!

I'd like to thank the techs again for commenting about yesterday's post. Several angles to the predicament had me concerned. Mis-information just plain sucks. So glad further research was done or the wrong hardware might have been purchased. One really sad thing is an extended warranty that had never been used just expired a month or so ago. I'll keep you posted about how Hewlett Packard handles this problem.

"Falsehood is cowardice, the truth courage."
~Ballou

Advice Needed

Recently I worked on a computer that had video problems. It is a small form factor that is meant to take up less space on the desk top. The resident video card is a 128mb and proprietary due to the need for a narrow card. The client was warned beforehand that the video card might not be all the problem. They had to make the decision since the price from HP for the video card was extremely high. It was on my bench for 48 hours after installation of the new card and removal of malware. There were no glitches or errors. When it left the shop it worked perfectly. It failed within a week.

Okay, I know the first video card was bad. The fan would not even spin. The card is located at the bottom of the machine which sits maybe 1/8" off the desk or less. Rubber supports were installed to raise it to a substantial height to increase air flow. The operating system is Vista Home Premium and while on the bench updates were installed. Many hours of research were put into this project since I was trying to avoid the high price that Hewlett Packard wanted for this 128mb card. Finding the location to purchase the card on HP's site was VERY frustrating.

Then I get an email Friday from someone I don't know recommending a card found on a website for much less money. To start with the card is being sold by Tiger-Direct and I have had problems in the past with them and choose not to do business with this company. Then there is the replacement card recommended. Anyone ever heard of Galaxy video cards? I'm not putting them down, but being a gamer I have researched many, many video cards and just have not run across this manufacturer. The next problem is the size of the card. It's a 512mb card. That's great, but we have to realize that one of the smallest power supplies used in desktop computers will be powering it. Maybe the two work well together, I don't know. It's not gonna' happen at the beach house. On top of all this the 512mb card has a very small fan. Once again the small, narrow size creates limitations. The heat sink on the graphics chip in the picture shown looks nominal at best. Use the DVI connector as a point of reference and you'll realize the small size of the heat sink and fan.

This scares me. My plan is to refund what little money was paid and let the customer take it to this tech that's recommending the card or return it to Hewlett Packard for repair. Even though a warning was given on the front end that the video card might not be the only problem, I do not want to get involved in a situation where a tech I don't know is recommending the above "fix." If I need help there is a number of friends in the business that I know and trust. It's my suspicion that the present video card in the machine is good and the problem is elsewhere. It is just not presenting stable output to the monitor. Or is the monitor bad? Who knows?

Try not to purchase a small form factor computer. I was consulted about the hardware makeup, but the case was never discussed. You can bet there would have been a veto if it had been mentioned. You need the larger case to utilize aftermarket parts which many times are far superior to the original parts. Also, the size of a power supply has become critical in today's machines. The latest operating systems demand more advanced hardware therefore ample power is important. I am betting there is NO upgrade for this machine's small power supply. Also, air cooling needs space for circulation. Desktop PC form factor is quite different from a laptop. This is a predicament that has me thinking that the machine should be sent back to HP or replaced. The first words out of my mouth when consulted was, "Replace it." "That's too expensive," was the answer. I don't think so.

Besides, the tech recommending this may be far more knowledgeable about such things and may be a good choice. I have never heard of him and he is in Memphis, a place I try to avoid at all costs. But the tech seems like he is trying to help. It's sad to see this problem. I think Hewlett Packard is a great company, but they are asking a ridiculous price for this particular video card. Is my attitude proper? I am seeking help and/or verification. Please comment.

"Loyalty is still the same, whether it win or lose the game; true as a dial to the sun, although it be not shined upon."
~Samuel Butler

EDIT: After further research the Galaxy card is low profile only, not narrow. That's the reason for the small heat sink and fan. So this card will not fit because of width. Hmmmmmm, back to the factory I think.

EDIT2: After a very good conversation with the client the computer is going back to HP. I feel better.

Links Added

Added several new links. Just click on the one that interests you and off you go! This will eventually be a very long list. Links used to be a separate page, but there was some hosting confusion when MetroCast bought VistaMedia. It's good to have them back on the main page. Am working how to better define each link title and center things in the sidebar. Taking a few days off from trying position the Header. Arggghhh! New meds are taking some time to incorporate and tolerate. No surprises here. Everything is on schedule. Not much more to tell. The elephant will be riding the turtle late this evening (lawn mowing). What a great way to spend a Saturday evening, entertaining the community.

"Crabgrass can grow on bowling balls in airless rooms, and there is no known way to kill it that does not involve nuclear weapons."
~Dave Barry

PC Protection

Trying to keep up with various freeware antivirus programs is becoming an almost full time job. Downloaded and installed Comodo's Anti Virus and highly recommend that you don't waste your time. They make a great registry utility, but not so much the antivirus program. It will worry you to death. Windows constantly pop up and they have almost a constant stream of data from your computer that is being uploaded.

As always, I returned to AVG Free Edition. The long scan problem is being investigated and their problem with updates seems better. The scan problem does not always occur. It's a random thing. Most computers I see run AVG and maybe 5% of them have this problem. Hopefully this newer version, build 374, will correct the problem. Will keep you posted. It's just hard to find anything that has the power of AVG. The Grisoft (parent company) site has improved and they sponsor a forum about problems with the program. No way would I pay for ANYTHING Norton makes. They are so over-rated. If you are running McAfee then, IMHO, you might as well just take a gun and shoot your computer. They are worthless.

TGIF. Only 2 more days to work this week.

"Protection is not a principle but an expedient."
~Benjamin Disraeli

Night Note

Experiencing the side effects of a new drug which was prescribed with warnings of the problems. Very unproductive day. Everything is behind and tomorrow has to be better. I have many tasks to accomplish before the end of the month. This economy is worrisome. Good luck to people in business and please remember I campaigned and voted for McCain.

Since it's so late the Guild Wars Picture will not be changed until in the morning.

"I learned a long time ago that minor surgery is when they do the operation on someone else, not you."
~Bill Walton

Herr Doktor and new Pix in the Guild Wars area

Had a visit with the doctor this morning. Returning July 6th for further tests. Things went well with one more med being added. Think it will help a lot. We will see. The people at Access in Tupelo are so nice and most helpful. I have to contact some other folks about benefits so today is the marked beginning of a long struggle with VA. Damn it all, it will involve one more trip to Memphis (YUCK!). Trish, please go with me. You kept me from getting into a fist fight last time and probably kept my hot tempered ass outta' de jailhouse. If I am hearing the truth, they've cleaned up the act in Memphis VA. Had to - to keep it open! Wished they'd closed it and we all had to go to VA Hospital Jackson, MS. Nice folks there.

Check out a Ranger with a beautiful bow in today's Guild Wars picture. Scroll down some and he's in the right column. That beautiful bow is a Celestial Bow. Good job Ty. Now the rest of you get busy! Want all my Guild Wars friends to have their turn. I will post a brief description if you send me info. BTW use the jpeg format no bitmaps. And don't worry if you think the pix is too large. That can be handled. Much better than a small pix.

"The doctor sees all the weakness of mankind; the lawyer all the wickedness, the theologian all the stupidity."
~Arthur Schopenhauer

Pictures Needed and Hot June

If you have a nice shot of Guild Wars content please attach and email it to me. Space is limited and shots that have greater vertical height are more desirable. The pix of Maskull Tor (over on the right hand side and down a bit) is actually an old one, but it is a good example of the size needed. That's Colonel Reb, Guild Wars Version, in this paragraph. You can click on the Maskull Tor pix and check properties. Please send some info about what is in the picture. Not only are Kudzu Dragons encouraged to submit images of their characters. Any Guild Wars player will be considered. Please send the name and call sign of your guild. Hey, it's free publicity and you can tell your guildmates! Both Pre and Post Searing are fine and any campaign is okay too. Brag a little bit and tell us about your achievements!

The site is still buggy and changes will continue. I welcome all opinions and suggestions. Even though I can use HTML at times, the layout format requires several languages including XML and CSS knowledge. "Slowly, step by step, inch by inch, he cluttered his feeble mind with geekiness and nerdling knowledge," said the one that is so old he remembers raptor farming for real. It's new and a sweeping change to me. Just trying to make things more interesting. More features are planned.

Now for the never ending chatter about the weather. It's HOT in Mississippi and neighboring states. Summertime came with the breath of a dragon and we love to talk about it down here. Needless to say it looks like a long, hot summer. Remember back when we had so much rain and I said we'd all be wishing for it come July or August? My prediction was right, but the time schedule was all wrong. The month of June is relatively mild compared to July and August. Certainly hope this is not the shape of things to come. Catfish are coming to the door wanting iced sweet tea and lemonade. Think I saw an alligator with a beer can in his mouth the other day. Of course I had been trying to work in this inferno so these things might be illusions brought on by brain fry from the sun. Then it could be the flashbacks they warned us about.

Enjoy Tuesday. You'll never be able to relive it so have fun. And do something nice for a fellow human being.

"When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute -- then it's longer than any hour. That's relativity!"
~Albert Einstein

Tweet Tweet, Yawn

Just did my first block on Twitter. Looked innocent enough, but the associated URL was a porn site and Twitter spam scares me. Nothing against sex, but certainly don't want it in my face every time the computer boots! I need to post more. Or is it tweet more? My life is just not that interesting. You can growl about the weather and it gets old quickly. Still, it's fun to see what people are doing. Only the computer is used. As a matter of fact, I abhor sending anything from the phone. My keyboard is too small and my fingers too big. Thank the good Lord for the 'recent calls' feature. Okay, is this boring or just me? Mondays have a way of throwing me off balance. Then there is that possibility that boring may be an inherent trait...

As is obvious there is still construction here. The larger banner (aka header) may come back if the "float issue" can be resolved in my tiny HTML mind. I believe the overall look is easier on the eyes. Opinions?

"The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity."
~Dorothy Parker

It's a Beautiful Morning in the Neighborhood...and Hot!

Up early to avoid heat. Waiting on sun to rise. Did my twitter post for the morning. Was enjoying a session of Guild Wars last night that was interrupted by an everlasting phone call that had no purpose, accomplished nothing and rambled on and on with many 'don't hang up yet' interjections. The alcohol finally took over and they fell asleep. Hey, sometimes you just have to sit and listen. Grin and bear it. Made taking evening meds late and that's always frustrating. You have to wait until later the next morning to take the next round. Really a small problem though. Sometime friends need help and a kind ear can mean a lot of comfort.

Working on a ladder today. This is the first time since I fell and ripped my shoulder open. At least it's just a 5' ladder today. Redoing a head-in. It's in a home!! The enclosure was rebuilt and John H did a nice job. Plenty of room to mount all the devices. I'll work on it until the heat is not tolerable then move inside. I hope this can be finished quickly. It was originally scheduled before the ladder crashing incident. At least all the devices are working. There's also a door to air conditioned space 10' away. This was planned for yesterday afternoon, but 100 degrees called that appointment off. We'll see how it goes this morning. While in church please say a prayer for me.

Have had several good suggestions about the new page layout. I will rid us all of that aggravating trackback nuisance. Working on making the nice Chyna Moon header move to a center position over the page. If anyone has a clue about how to center the header please, please let me know. Several hours of research have produced zilch! Due to people using various resolutions it can't be expanded to go completely across the top. Well, I can't do such a thing as of now. That may change. Will try to embolden the comments and move them down at least one line. Eventually the sidebar to the right will see better style and organization. Plan on having a Dock's Daily Read List and move most of the blogs out of the links into this area. Links will be various. Most of them will be tech help that involves freeware. The posting background needs to move one step lighter on the gray scale. Everyone seems to dislike white or black backgrounds so trying to avoid both extremes.

Enough. Dawn is breaking and I have miles to go before I sleep. Fortunately none are very far from the beach house. Enjoy Sunday and stay kewl. A scorcher is predicted for today. You can mow that yard when it cools off. Today would be a great day to take in a movie. Theater and home will both work. Peace out!

"Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen."
~Winston Churchill

Update on Updates

As is obvious the beach house format is changing. I especially want to thank Chyna Moon for the wonderful makeover of the header. Gosh, she does such great work. Aren't the iguanas kewl? Her ability and creativity never cease to amaze everyone. Since Google/Blogger has finally given me the ability to write my own HTML for this site, these ongoing changes should stay in this layout. By no means am I through, LOL. For instance, the Speedtest.net link is not working...yet. Absolutely hate the trackback part of the comments. It will die. May have to walk through code hell to kill it, but it is going away.

I am open to suggestions. Email cybersouth@gmail.com or use the comments. Still a lot of work to do and you can be sure more links will appear. I am not real happy with the archives layout, but that's a minor problem. I will develop a Favorite List and move the sites I read every day to it, eventually. I have to import the actual photo of the beach house too. The header will be centered one of these days. Ahhhhh, the speed test button is now working! All will resolve in good time.

"Continuity gives us roots; change gives us branches, letting us stretch and grow and reach new heights."
~Pauline R. Kezer

Inspiration

For many years an old friend, EdC, and I have shared various data concerning many areas. Ed has been politically active and testified on various matters in Washington, D.C. He sent the following video of Rep. Randy Forbes (Republican Virginia). It speaks a loud message we all should hear:

The quote today is by a Jesuit Priest, born 1881 deceased 1955. He was involved in the discovery of Peking Man. His life was controversial due to his interpretation of the book of Genesis. He has been the basis of many characters in books and films. Wikipedia has a very good article about him. Thanks David G for the wonderful photos and the insight gained through study they inspired. Thanks EdC for letting us know there are some of our leaders that still have faith in Truth, Justice and the American Way.

"We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a human experience."
~Pierre Tielhard de Chardin

Same Song

Rarely do I post something from the same site two days in a row. If you'd like to see the original post that inspired this one please click this link: Kim Komando's Video of the Day. Really wanted to link through her site, but it required the password to my Cybersouth GMail account. As said before this is one of my favorite sites and I read it daily. Still, my password is NOT going out on the web except where it is needed to read my mail. So, please forgive my outright plagiarism.

This was just too good to pass up. I went to YouTube and shared/embedded to this page through my Google account. The first is an a capella choir from Slovenia. Don't let the beginning confuse you, it'll become very clear. This is an amazing treatment of a classic rock tune. In case you weren't a fan of early MTV the original video is posted below it. Check 'em both out. If you even care for music at all the comparison is fun.

Hmmmm, I've posted about music twice in the last 7 days and Kim Komando two days in a row. What the heck! Hope this helps your day.

"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

Finding Lost Windows CD-keys

Kim Komando has a great download of the day. It will help you find your Windows operating system CD-key as well as keys for Microsoft Office products. This is a great download and very useful if that CD case is missing or the tag has mysteriously disappeared from your computer case. It is opensource and freeware. Crazy about the name too - Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder. Please, please do not be distracted by the ads flashing on the right side of this page. The actual download is just a few lines down from the page header on the left and is in a green bar. Click on it and follow instructions. Remember you download at your own risk. The beach house won't be responsible if you screw up. This utility has been around for years so it has seen the test of time. This is perfectly legal. You certainly have a right to your product codes. Might be a good idea to print it out and put it in a safe place. Mine is printed and stored. You'll need it if you have to recover from a case of hard drive mass destruction. Kim Komando has a great site that I visit daily. If you forget her addy there is a permalink at the bottom of this page.

Have you opened Spybot S&D, updated, immunized and scanned today? Take a few minutes, have a cup of coffee and let this great utility protect your PC from the garbage. It's one of my all time favorite utilities. Again, you download at your own risk. Also, it certainly helps the developers if you donate. So get up off that hip pocket or open that purse and send these nice folks a few dollars.

"Technology does not drive change; it enables change."
~Couch

Heat Kills and Wine not Whine

Summer Solstice, which marks the actual beginning of summer, is still a few days off. Hah! Tell that to someone that lives in the Deep South. High 90s here today and it will be sweltering. Finally leaving AC 24/7. Too hot to sleep with fans and windows open. Still think air conditioning was the number one breakthrough invention of the 20th century. We sure couldn't have computers without it. Those huge mainframe rooms are also cold rooms. The local Comcast head-in is a huge block building with stack of various computer modules. Many are SCSI technology. They tend to run hotter than other hard drives. It's nicknamed the refrigerator. The techs that work in there wear long sleeves year round. There are jackets hanging beside the door. Several other "cold" rooms exist throughout the community at various commercial opeations. Well, you can put the beach house on that list too. With two web servers running 24/7, various workstations operational and my big, fat, sweatin' like a pig lardbutt, it has to be cool.

Researching Wine. No, not the grape stuff. Wine is an ancronym for Wine-Is-Not-an-Emulator. This allows you to run Windows applications inside of some non-Windows operating systems like Linux. It's opensource and free. There are other apps like Crossover, Cedega, etc., but they will cost money. Ran into Wine in the late 90s and wasn't real impressed with it. Ashy and I fooled around with it and after several frustrating hours it was shelved. Seems to be a different story today. Got to put a different video card in my Linux Kubuntu machine, but want to install Wine then Guild Wars. Have a Guild Mate, Ty Roneus, that has had some success with this procedure and am anxious to try it.

This project is lower down on the list. Increasing income, cleaning - as in housework, yard work, building a resident uber gaming machine (yes that project is over 6 months old and I have had ALL the parts that long too!), doing further work on the beach house truck...let's just stop this list. It'll go on and on. Still, it's interesting technology that is studied in those moments when drives are formatting, applications are installing, tests are being run or a general hammer throwing session needs avoiding. May be old and fat, but put a 4 lb. shop hammer in my hand and I can still be hell on something for 30 seconds or so, lol!

Stay casual out there. Please be careful. Watch that temperature gauge on your vehicle. Peace out.

"Summer has set in with its usual severity."
~Samuel Taylor Coleridge

DHL Delivery Sucks

Weird weekend. The weather created a constant barrage of brown outs and short black outs. The power was never down for long, but I finally got disgusted and gave up trying to post. It was all ramblings so you really didn't miss anything. Was gonna' whine about the DHL shipping company, but that's today's main theme, lol.

When ordering from NewEgg I think everyone should specify they prefer anyone, including the USPS, over DHL. This company has home offices on another planet. DHL actually ships out of their Memphis warehouse after picking up at NewEgg's warehouse and sends your purchased product to Hebron, Ky. I've seen this 3 time now. Then the USPS somehow gets involved and sends it right back to Memphis. Then they ship to the beach house or other local customers. Who came up with this load of barnyard material? NewEgg has always been dependable and I know they are trying to save money like the rest of us. They need to drop the screwballs at DHL. I'll gladly pay a dollar or two more to stop using DHL. Besides, their trucks are butt-ugly.

Did take some time out yesterday PM and enjoyed a few minutes of Guild Wars partnering with my son-in-law Mudslingr. We slayed 'em north of the wall in pre-searing. Great fun. I needed it. Later.

"Quality is not expensive; it's priceless."
~O'Guinn

Standing Ovation

During these times of national concerns it is refreshing to hear someone call out to our great country and let us know they support us. While listening to this song or reading the lyrcis if you are a patriot your heart will be moved. So may those tears. The is overwhelming for me. I pray to God it affects all readers in the same beautiful, emotional way. It has touched my very soul. Yes, when the woman in the audience with the ring on her thumb was wiping away the tears, she had a companion (sometimes I feel like a big ole girlyman, lol). This is awesome in HQ and full screen, even on a 32" monitor. The sound quality is spectacular. Hey, it just doesn't get much better than this:









O, America you’re calling,
I can hear you calling me:
You are calling me to be true to thee,
True to thee… I will be.

O, America no weeping,
Let me heal your wounded heart:
I will keep you in my keeping,
Till there be… a new start.

And I will answer you, and I will take your hand,
And lead you… to the sun:
And I will stand by you…do all that I can do,
And we will be… as one.

O, America I hear you,
From your prairies to the sea,
From your mountains grand, and all through this land,
You are beautiful to me.

And… O, America you’re calling,
I can hear you calling me:
You are calling me to be true to thee,
True to thee… I will be.

And I will answer you, and I will take your hand,
And lead you… to the sun:
And I will stand by you… do all that I can do,
And we will be…as one.

O, America you’re calling…
I will ever answer thee.

The official site is Celtic Woman, O America!. You can learn more here about how it came about, who wrote it, the inspiration behind it, when and where to order it, etc.

"If I keep a green bough in my heart, the singing bird will come."
~Proverb

Important Updates Issued Two Days Ago

I hope everyone realizes that this past Tuesday several important updates were issued by Microsoft for various Windows products. "Patch" Tuesday has been quiet for the past few months, but no less than 31 issues were addressed in various versions of Windows, Office and Internet Explorer. Uncertain about your machine getting the updates? Go to Windows Update. Don't be surprised if you receive an error message consisting of unintelligible gobbledegook. That's just Microsoft's way of saying that their servers are swamped and you should try later. Usually the wee hours of the morning are the best time to contact them. You can read more about "Patch" Tuesday in the security section of ComputerWorld.

While on the subject of computer maintenance questions come to mind. Have you backed up your precious data? Have you defragmented your hard drive? Do you have a battery backup unit on your PC? Does your anti-virus do a complete scan on a daily basis? Checked for malware lately? When was the last time you saved your data and wiped the hard drive in order to do a clean installation of your operating system? Okay, okay. This list can go on and on so I'll shut up now.

"One of the best things to come out of the home computer revolution could be the general and widespread understanding of how severely limited logic really is."
~Frank Herbert

Short, but Good Quote

Just a note to say it's late, I am tired and hope everyone has a pleasant night. Running behind with everything and will whine if this post goes any further. Time for Flexiril and sleep. Later.

"When action grows unprofitable, gather information; when information grows unprofitable, sleep."
~Ursula K. Le Guin

Phone Calls Marked Private

Why do people make phone calls private? Does anyone ever answer a call that is marked private? It's ridiculous. I owe no one money except the USA (VA for last round of meds) and they always identify when calling. Come to think of it they only call if an appointment is rescheduled. Their collection department bills you then threatens a US Treasury investigation if you don't pay in a timely fashion. Yes, I was irresponsible and found out the hard way. You can bet they got money the next day from me that one time though, lol. I absolutely will not answer a call marked private. I have put my number on the "no call" list, but I bet it's telemarketers. They have nothing I'd purchase.

Bottom line - if you don't want me to know who is calling then you have no business talking to me. Opinions?

"Well, if I called the wrong number, why did you answer the phone?"
~James Thurber

Links and Mail

Found a really neat utility for Firefox. Actually it's an add-on. Found it at Kim Komando's site. There's a link to Kim's site at the bottom of the page. The add-on is called Interclue and should be available for Internet Explorer, Safari, etc., soon. It gives you the ability to hover over a link and find out all about it before clicking on it and traveling to the site. The beach house has it installed and will be reviewing it over the next few weeks. Here's the Firefox link - Mozilla.org.

Now for a subject near and dear to my heart, email manners. The HowTo site has a very good article about How to Improve Your E-mail Etiquette. As said many times before using GMail will cure what ails you concerning email. The spam filter in GMail is super. I also like the way it has an internal search engine. Since I have every GMail received since 2005, with the exception of reported spam, it's nice to be able to search with an engine as powerful as Google.

Speaking of email, thanks to everyone for the nice cards and letters about yesterday's post. Apparently I am not alone in my opinion about how rude some children AND their parents have become circa 2009.

"Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use."
~Emily Post

The Wallyworld Trip

Yesterday's Walmart Safari was survived. After parking halfway down an inner lane in the parking lot (the exercise is needed) I approached the main doors. While passing by a young man returning shopping carts to the store he spoke to me. "How are you, sir?" It almost scared me. Earlier the decision was made not to take anti-anxiety medication and be brave. After composing myself I replied, "Fine sir, and you?" He smiled and said, "It's great to be outside on this beautiful day." I continued on into the store holding the door for a couple carrying small infants. No politeness here. They seemed very unhappy and rushed in without a word. I stood just inside the entrance glad to see they turned left. A right turn headed me towards the pharmacy. Down the aisle I met a middle aged lady that had her head in the stratosphere or was doing heavy drugs. Literally I had to step into an side corridor to avoid being run down by a cart. Slightly shaken I looked up and spotted them. The evil children were not partaking of their evening meal as previously hoped.

The toy section is very close to the pharmacy. To me that just doesn't make sense. Seems the very back of the store or on the OTHER side of the gardening supplies would be a better location. After watching for several seconds they went absolutely berserk. They started screaming, yelling, growling, snarling, fighting with toy swords taken from the rack and they certainly had not been rung up at the checkout. My paranoia made me turn and go down the corridor and come out the back way to the window at the pharmacy. The pretty young woman that waited on me had trouble finding my order. I inquired if there was a problem. She said, "Oh no sir. We put the larger orders in a different place." She retrieved my life sustaining package, I paid, said thank you and Hotty Toddy. She answered the same smiling. The Ole Miss shirt sorta' gave her college allegiance away. Turning around the toy section was scouted, then a quick paced jaunt down the main aisle quickly put me close the exit. As I passed by the huge checkout line I spied the evil sword fighting beasties screaming, yelling, crying with their parents ignoring them. I also noticed they did not have toy swords in the cart.

All in all, a pleasant safe visit. But here's a warning: If you go to buy a toy sword at Walmart be sure and check for wear and tear. It was so nice to arrive home without any wounds, bite marks, broken limbs, deep gashes made by plastic swords, etc.

"What a child doesn't receive he can seldom later give."
~James

Guild Wars Fun and the Dreaded Trip to WallyWorld

What great fun was had in Guild Wars last night. We ran a total of 6 missions needed by Cyndane Eloise with various Guild members. She was keyed up and ready to take on a variety of enemies. Several members of the Kudzu Dragons Guild, which has an abbreviation symbol of [YALL], showed up to aid and abet. We were all on TeamSpeak so the chat and laughter were great. This was wonderful because Cyndane has not had the opportunity to play of late and her husband took care of their 2 year and 3 month old daughters while she enjoyed some time in the virtual world. Both daughters have wonderful children and I love them all! And wow, all fathers in law should have my good fortune. Not just a single good marriage choice but two! I can't choose a favorite either. No sucking up, just the facts, ma'am. They are both good to my daughters and me too! Back to the gameplay last night: To sum it up, a good time was had by all! BTW, clicking on the pix will give u a large view of a Necro Prime.

Gotta make a medication run at Walmart. Trying to time it when people may be eating their evening meal. Maybe the powers that be feed all those evil children that live at Walmart around the same time. I hope so. The mean little devils don't like me and I don't care for them either. All that running, screaming and yelling just didn't happen when I was a young lad. You could get clubbed to death with a dinosaur bone or mammoth tusk. Therefore, we behaved. Nowadays they just run into you acting like wild animals and their stupid ass parents just laugh. I despise going to Walmart, but you can't beat their drug prices. So I suffer a trip every 3 months in order to purchase that which keeps me alive. Shucks, I shouldn't complain. I spent 2 years in a war zone and was only shot twice. I don't think the Vietnamese were quite as mean as Walmart's evil children though...

"Those who educate their children well are more to be honoured than they who only produce them; for these only gave them life, those teaching parents bestowed the art of living well."
~Aristotle

Twitter is Not a New Step in the Hokey Pokey

One site I read on a daily basis is Kim Komando. She is very active in the world of things techno and very web wise. This site is a plethora of information. It's also well constructed and very easy to navigate. One of the first things I read is her Daily News which is email in the early morning hours. She also has a radio show. Possibly the best article explaining Twitter is on her site today, What the heck is Twitter about?. If you forget the addy to her site there is a permalink at the bottom of this page. Good job Kim! Keep up the great work!

Now I must head over to Twitter and say something that is probably of no interest to anyone.

"I find that a great part of the INFORMATION I have, was acquired by looking up something and finding something else on the way."
~Franklin P. Adams