Ramblings, opinions, and general meanderings from the Deep South

Monday, November 17, 2008

Ignore This Post, It's Worthless

Spent the day in bed yesterday. Have an appointment with the doctor this morning. All this coughing hurts each and every time. Did sleep though. Waiting on clothes to dry then it'll be time to hit the road. The all-over ache is annoying. It hurts to breathe. I am living the lifestyle of the poor and pitiful. Enough whining.

Later.

"To avoid sickness eat less; to prolong life worry less."
~Chu Hui Weng

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Misery Doesn't Love Company

This will be an attempt to keep my whine factor at a minimum. It's also a warning. I am sick. My throat hurts, my feet stink and I don't love Elvis today. Every time I cough it feels like someone is cutting my throat. I anxiously await the next fix of Alka Selzter Cold Plus. It's mixed in warm water. The cold water hurts too much. The best thing to do when I am ill is stay away. My whining would grate on your last nerve. Wussie boy and wimp only begin to describe.

While on the subject, don't ever visit while I am hospitalized. Leave me to my misery. Please don't send flowers. They piss me off. Think about all that money you are spending to have beautiful plants murdered and sent to "cheer" someone up. Hell, send the money. I'll hang on to it. If survival is in the future we'll take the money and have a party. Believe me, the nurses, attendants, doctors, priests, rabbis and ministers will be in agony on my floor so if visiting someone else in the hospital stay away from my floor.

Now I am going to take my morning meds that should have been ingested 4 hours ago. Couldn't tolerate the swallowing at that time. Courage is not an operable word at the beach house today. May the Good Lord help me get down the medicines, keep them down, then lead me to bathroom salvation. Whine out.

“My illness is due to my doctor's insistence that I drink milk, a whitish fluid they force down helpless babies.”
W.C Fields

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Faux Woes and Real Woes.

Sometime between 6:45AM and 10:12AM this morning Google News reverted back to it's original form. No settings were changed. It just happened. In the words of that great Vulcan philosopher Spock, "Interesting." Soon, this temporary Windows 2000 machine will be replaced by a Vista machine. That may clear up a lot of these tech heebee jeebees. It would still be interesting to know why these weird things have happened. My curiosity is not satisfied. But then, there's nothing like a little mystery in your relationship with a PC.

Solution for possible gas price increases; Pull out of Iraq and go next door to Iran. There's an interesting article about these jerks at BBC News. This country is horrible. They are responsible for many of the woes of the world. Seems we should deport every Iranian in our country and say to hell with them. If they work on atomics then bomb their facilities. Of course our administration to be will probably kiss their asses and this cowardice will go a long way to destroy the USA. Do I think Obama is the Anti-Christ? To answer this latest email...NO. Satan will have a more intelligent minion to fulfill this venue. On that subject - Nancy Pelosi is not the Anti-Christ either.

"The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is very easy to say yes."
~Tony Blair

Friday, November 14, 2008

What the Hell? Has Google Gone Insane?

First they crowded the iGoogle homepage with a nasty sidebar that took up a lot of space. Thankfully, enough people were upset that tools showed up to return it to the original layout...almost. Now they've taken their News page and screwed it up. Are they trying to run us off? If so just tell me. Quit dropping bombs!

You have to spend time scrolling down to view different areas of the news now. Before, you could view all sections when the page opened. They also took time to add extra sections not chosen by the beach house. Hey, Google? Those were promptly deleted. I am sure there will be a fix for this in a few days, but in the meantime I have a message for the people at Google. Quit being horses' asses and leave that which works alone!

One more bomb like this and I'll get anti-Google on their butts! Haven't their stocks fallen enough? Several weeks ago they were at $360.00. Yesterday they closed at $312.00 and change. Spending hours redoing Google is not my forte. Netvibes still works like a champ!

"Insanity is often the logic of an accurate mind overtasked."
~Oliver W. Holmes, Sr.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Short Visit

Traveled to northwest Mississippi and visited with Mother and brother Dan (EDIT: he has a new fearsome boxer watch puppy named Hoss). A great bonus was that I was able to spend the whole day with Verdana and Mal. They are visiting from Baton Rouge. Nice to see my daughter and grand-daughter for sure. Hopefully, both of my daughters and grand-daughters will visit this weekend. The trip was uneventful and relaxing. Needed to rest and this was a great way to do it.

It's late and I am headed for bed. Later.

"When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses."
~Joyce Brothers

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Google VideoChat

Google now offers a video chat add-on. Drag out that webcam and hook it back up. If this follows their normal standards it will be good initially and great in a few weeks. It's refreshing to see major providers using GMail in their technology. I still don't like that sidebar in iGoogle, but a Firefox extension solved the problem beautifully. If you want info on how to rid your screen of the sidebar let me know. I'll GMail you the links with brief explanation about how to install the extension and script.

The Video chat should increase the number of GMail users. They have partnered with Logitech to offer webcams at a discounted price too. Logitech is one of my favorite manufacturers of tech gear. There's been a Logitech webcam at the beach house for many years. And I own two of the G5 gaming meeses, which are absolutely outstanding pieces. IMHO, GMail is the best email service in the solar system, bar none! Here's the link to the new service: VideoChat. You must use XP or Vista. It won't run on Windows 2000. Think there's a version available for Macs too.

“Anyone who thinks the art of conversation is dead ought to tell a child to go to bed.”
~Gallagher

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Bury Me With the US Flag Pin

It's Veterans Day. Several local activities are scheduled to honor those lost, retired and serving. Saltillo High School has a program scheduled for this afternoon at 1:30PM, there's a parade in Okolona sometime today, Veteran's Park in Tupelo will have speakers at 2:00PM, and Ole Miss will have a service at 4:00PM. Contact the Daily Journal for more information. It's raining so I wish for the fine folks in Okolona a brief respite while the parade is underway. Thank you for the recognition and the efforts to actually celebrate this great day with a parade.

If you know a veteran it certainly won't hurt to thank them for their service to keep you free from the evils of the world. Don't know what to do? Pick up the phone and tell them thanks for their service to our great nation. Then pray for our country. We need to ask God to help us survive the next 4 years. No doubt the Iranians, terrorist groups and other renegade factions are busy laughing at us. Pray for Senators Wicker and Cochran to be able to stave off the goofiness suggested by the next administration concerning foreign policy.

Today I'll wear my flag pin. I may wear it every day for the rest of my life in protest to our President-elect choosing not to honor our nation by putting his hand over his heart or saying the Pledge of Allegiance. I also protest his painting out the flag of the USA on his campaign jet. This list could ramble on, but real Americans know about all this negative, liberal swaggering too well. God help us all.

"In the beginning of a change, the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot."
~Mark Twain

Monday, November 10, 2008

Goodbye to a Decent Bunch

It's sad, but true. Circuit City has filed for bankruptcy. It looks like they will honor gift certificates that have been issued. I've always preferred CC over BestBuy locally since they have a more congenial approach to helping customers. They also carry several product lines preferred at the beach house. Even if they recover the Tupelo outlet is scheduled to close no later than December 31st.

Sometimes the BestBuy crew can get downright hostile with their 'tudes. I'll never forget needing five 19" LCD monitors for a customer and even though they had them in stock the didn't want to sell five. They wanted to sell us three. "It wouldn't be fair to the other customers," quipped the sales person manager type. Well, my customer was an out of town owner visiting his local branch for a day and wanted this done before he left. We were paying cash. Credit was not needed. And Circuit City did not carry the model he desired.

After announcing the "other customers" needed to bring their asses down to the store and purchase said monitors now or they should take the money and deliver the product. After all, it is a RETAIL outlet and this is America. Further mention of open market, fair trade, capitalism, etc., helped them relent. They sold us the units. Sheesh! You'd have thought we were asking for their first born or something. The sales person contacted initially just couldn't believe they copped this attitude at the counter.

Although I will still shop at BestBuy on rare occasions (they do have good prices on Guild Wars) most of my tech buying is done via internet. Mudslingr n I collaborate a lot and make purchases from reputable companies online. Anyway, hate to see Circuit City close. They are only discounting most items 5-10% now, but that should change as door locking time approaches. Will try to keep you posted.

"I went to a general store but they wouldn't let me buy anything specific."
~Steven Wright

Sunday, November 09, 2008

FYI, Y'all


Does anyone else find it interesting how much "red" is on this map? Click anywhere on the map for a large, more detailed look. Did you notice the murder capitals of this country (Memphis and Chicago) are dark blue? Thank God Mississippi was a pro McCain state. Helps reinforce the belief there are intelligent people around me. Count on it, I'll avoid the blue areas of the map like the plague. Hmmmm, no trips to the delta for a while. Everyone does realize that Mississippi is the state with the highest percentage of Afro-American (or Black if you prefer) population? Okay, there is the District of Columbia, but is that really a state? It'll be a massive state of confusion for the next 4 years or so...

"I think there is one higher office than president and I would call that patriot."
~Hart

NOTE: The Taylor Swift and Def Leppard Crossroads will air again today at 1:00PM CST on Country Music Television (CMT on yo dial).

Saturday, November 08, 2008

Solution for Liberal TV News? Stop Watching!

I know Gov. Palin is sincere in this video, but I've solved my problem with the TV news media. Slowly but surely I will change my TV viewing drastically. I want to see the last episodes of Battlestar Galactica. Then I am going to select viewing over the internet. To hell with ABC, CBS and NBC.




That's my story n Ima stickin' to it!

“The Liberals talk about a stable government but we don't know how bad the stable is going to smell.”
~Douglas

Friday, November 07, 2008

She's Hot! And Def Leppard Ain't Too Shabby Either!

Taylor Swift and Def Leppard? Together? Oh yes, this works. The video loads somewhat slowly, but is well worth the wait. Put the headphones on and/or crank up the volume.





There's more stuff out there. Crossroads is an awesome show.

"He who sings scares away his woes."
~Cervantes

Thursday, November 06, 2008

"Open Source" & DVR News

ARE you using WINE to run Windows inside Linux? Is it unstable? Having other problems? HowToGeek recommends Crossover. The article is written by Syed Abbas of TNerd.com and is very good. He goes through the steps of installing and utilizing the program. There are graphics too. Nice piece of work.

Crossover is not free. It will cost around 70 bucks the first year and then 40 bucks for an annual license. Hey, I WILL keep looking for a free alternative. Codeweavers, the parent company of Crossover, apparently does NOT embrace the spirit of open source and is grubbing money from the public. Gee dudes, thought Linux utilities were all about being for the public? Greed is a horrible thing. Sad.

There is not a DVR, aka TiVo, at the beach house. Shucks, there's not even a 1080 HDTV. Just an old analog 27" that's been going strong for about 12-13 years now with one minor glitch. I inherited it (thanks David and Michelle) and had a friend repair a known defect by replacing a board. All this will possibly change, soon. I have a particular TV in mind. It's the Toshiba 31.6" REZGA with Cinespeed. It will also double as a gaming monitor. And I am researching how to record from the internet onto a DVR. I've decided to stop watching TV in the normal cable mode since the networks news fiasco with the last election. Yes, the prejudice, liberal, wussie news media came out of the closet.

Here's a great link discovered during researching this expensive upgrade. If you own a DVR/TiVo you might want to look at PC Magazine's TiVo: 10 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do. About all I know about these devices is that they utilize a Linux OS plus a hard drive to manipulate programming. If someone finds out something real clever from this article let us know about it. Use the comments.

BTW, Guild Wars will run in Linux using Crossover. It also will play nice with both GNOME and KDE.

"Definition of Open Source - A program in which the source code is available to the general public for use and/or modification from its original design free of charge."
~Calgary ECommerce Services

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

My Prayer Regimen Has Changed

Well the liberal news media and the Hollywood halfwits are happy. As this nightmare unfolds over the next 4 years I just hope our country survives. This may prove to be the worst thing that has ever happened to the USA or we may survive and then elect some honorable person that has a real love of country. If (or should I say when?) taxes rise and the national debt swells, please remember how you voted.

I will support the President as an American citizen. I will pray for him and our country. I am duty bound never to commit treason or be a traitor. After two horrifying tours of Vietnam plus many years of reflection I have come to understand some things. Our great nation has made huge strides to keep the world at peace. Great men like President Reagan helped us survive the onslaught of those that would tear us down internally and externally.

Good Lord knows my hope is that these concerns are proven wrong and we escape unharmed as a nation. A really bad feeling about the direction in which we are headed haunts me. This negative attitude will be replaced with one of hope and prayer very soon. I fought in Vietnam to ensure the safety of our nation. It was a rough time returning home to all the negative criticism. Yet, our efforts in that "police action" slowed down some of the war mongers that have tried to hurt our country. Enemies of the USA suck. Liberals suck.

I pray that we are all safe for the next 4 years. The election results have to be accepted, but I don't have to like what has happened. Please remember, this is NOT a forum. These are my opinions and if you don't like them then leave this site and don't return. Hopefully, there will be no more negative posts published by the beach house. God help us all.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Go McCain/Palin!



Certainly hope this leaves no doubt about the beach house political stance. My prayers are for my country all day, today. God help us all.

"God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home."

~Irving Berlin

Monday, November 03, 2008

Tina Fey, Keep the Costume.




The truth shall set you free! Go tomorrow and vote McCain/Palin. Vote for change that will raise the quality of life in our country. In the local election please be intelligent enough not to listen to the lies of Ronnie Musgrove and vote for Roger Wicker. Musgrove was such a disappointment as Mississippi's governor that he couldn't be re-elected. Vote Wicker!



Gosh, just think. Only one more day of this hoopla. Get out and vote!

“I think we finally have a poll without a margin of error, ... We have sent a powerful message to Washington: Change is coming.”
~John McCain

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Tick Tock

Did you set your clocks back one hour? We are now on Standard Time. I favor moving the clocks forward and leaving them ahead one hour permanently. We'd enjoy more daylight hours in the evening. Anyway, go to time.gov, click on your state and the correct time will be displayed. I like the way the map displays where daylight and dark begins and ends. You can find out more about DST, etc. here.

Enjoy the extra hour today and remember it will be dark early.

"But what minutes! Count them by sensation, and not by calendars, and each moment is a day."
~Disraeli

Saturday, November 01, 2008

Saturday PM


Halloween was uneventful. Pulled the truck up next to the bedroom window turned out the lights and was asleep by 8:00PM. Woke up around midnight checked on everything then played Guild Wars with Verdana for two hours. She couldn't sleep either. Guess pregnancy will do that to ya. Our gameplay was in different areas, but we enjoyed a lengthy conversation on TeamSpeak.

Dad just has to talk to his daughters on occasion. Also heard from Beagle earlier and they were assembling a group to go trick or treat in their neighborhood. Nice area. I am sure the Purple Giraffe was awesome and gathered a ton of candy. Can't wait to see the pictures. Verdana sent pictures of Mal carving pumpkins with Dad. Nice easy evening and talking to both my daughters ALWAYS makes me feel good.

Weather here is awesome and now I must go clean house, yard, garage, etc. I am preoccupied with home maintenance because it never seems to be done. Honestly, I really don't like living in lower Slobbovia. Later.

"Three-fourths of the Earth's surface is water, and one-fourth is land. It is quite clear that the good Lord intended us to spend triple the amount of time fishing as taking care of the lawn."
~Clark

Friday, October 31, 2008

Such a Night

Everyone please be careful tonight. DON'T DRIVE DRUNK!!!! Many children will be out gathering trick or treat goodies and they tend to get excited about it. You never know when one might get away from a parent and run out in the street. Parents, please accompany you children. They do not need to be out prowling the streets without supervision.

If you are at a party and someone is too drunk to drive stop him or her at all costs. If you can't wrestle him or her down and take the keys then get help. Remember, many people carry spare car keys in their wallet or purse. I do. So make sure one of your friends doesn't put himself or anyone else in harm's way. The life you save may be your own. Won't affect me unless they run into the house. It's stay home and behave night for me. I do not like this holiday, but it used to be fun watching my daughters dress up and do the candy dance.

Outta here and:




"'Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out
Contagion to this world."

~William Shakespeare

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Sergeant at Arms, You Say?

The market is recovering and the Phillies won the World Series. They defeated a team from Florida, the Tampa Bay Rays. The yellow dog media is going all out to get that junior senator from Illinois of questionable background elected President. Thank the Good Lord for Fox News. God bless Senator McCain and Gov Palin. Nothing would delight me more than for them to win. If Matt Lauer, Regis Philbin, Oprah, that usual gaggle of Hollywood Halfwits, Mr. Susan Sarandon, the Good Morning America crew, the New York Times and others in the media have anything to do with it the election will be a disaster.

October 28, 2008, at 7:06.07PM CDT this site was visited by the United States Senate Sergeant at Arms office. The IP used was 156.33.100.#. The operating system was XP and Firefox was the browser used. The visit was to the front page. The "good" Sergeant was here for about 1 minute. Yep, it's true. The old senate.gov in all its "glory." This fed found this site via MississippiPolitical. This is a site I often link and will put back in the links list now that I've discovered how to republish my links page. I am not always in agreement with MississippiPolitical, but it is a well written site that has a plethora of good information. They are pro-Obama and that's their right as U.S. Citizens. Still, you can read a variety of articles and the links page (Cybersouth is on it) is awesome. Keep up the good work, please. Just like the feds to snoop around. I could give a rat's ass less what they think. Remember, we have a Democratic Congress. Just thought I'd mention it in case I suddenly disappear. Haven't seen any black helicopters yet, LOL.

My morning start is way behind schedule so I'll cut this short and hit the dusty trail. Hang in there and remember tomorrow we can TGIF.

"The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment."
~Robert M. Hutchins, circa 1954

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

ISP is Down, Up, Wait...Down. No Up!

My apologies out to everyone. The internet connection has been down most of the afternoon and still seems to be experiencing problems. I am trying to reconfigure the TeamSpeak server with the proper #s. Do a search if you cannot connect. No passwords or user names have changed. Hopefully they will resolve their issues soon. It is somewhat aggravating.

"A man's gotta know his limitations."
~Clint Eastwood