Ready or Not, It's Here

It's been twelve years. Twelve years since I could look out my window at home or at work and see snow. Twelve years since I've had to drive home from work in snow. Twelve years since I've had a White Christmas. And if you think that's a long time, theWife and other members of theFamily have never had these experiences. Until now.

On Tuesday night our house was assaulted by heavy winds, but the temperature outside was a comfortable 70 degrees. I was beginning to wonder if our first snowfall would ever come. Wednesday morning, however, mother nature heard my request and dropped the temperature into the 40's by the time I left for work. Then she did one better by dropping it into the 30's by the time I left work and into the upper 20's Wednesday night.

Snow flakes started to lightly fall out of the sky, but the snow would get no heavier than that. Yesterday, however, while I was at work, again, the snow decided to pay me a visit and remind me just what Cleveland winter is all about. Mother Nature's way of saying welcome home.

Daily Links:
Message Server Chat (with Google Maps): Chat with someone and see where they are on the map.
Mom Makes Teen Stand on Street With Sign: This will make your kids think twice about not doing their homework.

Filed in: Christmas Cleveland

A Real Life Reverend Henry Kane

As my regular readers and those close to me outside of this blog will attest, I am very rarely serious. Especially on here. I have to be serious enough in my offline life that I've always wanted to keep things loose and entertaining here.

That changed as I watched Fox 8 news on Tuesday night.

They aired a piece that they kept promoing throughout their newscast. A story about a pastor and his congregation rejoicing in the deaths of American Soldiers. Fred Phelps and the WBC are protesting at their funerals with signs that proclaim the dead soldiers were "burning in hell" and that "God hates America". Literally spitting on the American flag and in the faces of the families of the deceased, claiming that the American Army is a "fag army" and only in death do soldiers get "what they deserve". Having done my part and served my country, even though it wasn't during a time of war, you can understand how enraged I was watching this story unfold.

I had to do more research. This story stayed in the back of my mind all night and into the next day. I turned to wikipedia for more information and found this picture of Fred:



I found my reprieve. I was able to find a little more humour in Fred's plight because, look at him. Doesn't he look just like that creepy bad guy from Poltergeist? Is he going to take his followers to California and then hide in a cave to live through the end of the world that never happens? I mean c'mon...they could've been seperated at birth. Then I read the article further:

Four of his children, his sister, former congregants of his church, enemies, acquaintances, and other pastors who have worked with Phelps claim that he abuses both his children and wife, and his two estranged sons claim that Phelps may have been instrumental in the death of his 17-year-old daughter-in-law Debbie Valgos (the first wife of his son Fred Phelps Jr.), who was not supportive of Phelps' teachings.

How come it always seems like this type of holier-than-thou ignorite (yes I just made up my own word) always seem to be complete scumballs in their own lives. Running around pointing a finger at every one and everything except themselves. I just have one thing to say to you Fred Phelps...If I burn in hell for not adopting your teachings the way you say I will, at least I'll be able to beat the living snot out of you every chance I get, for all eternity.

Technorati Tags: Fred Phelps, Westboro Baptist Church, Westboro, Fox8News, Wikipedia

Filed in: UncommonlySenseless

Classic Gaming Systems

Which gaming system did you own as a kid? No, I mean before Nintendo. These classic ads may take you back and jog your memory. I had the Intellivision. Little did I know that George Plimpton Digs Intellivision

George Plimpton says Intellivision is far superior to Atari. Just look at those super-sophisticated graphics. Why, you can practically see the beads of sweat on that baseball pitcher's forehead.

You read that right, it says "Super-sophisticate graphics".I was given the system as a Christmas present. It was the best present I had ever received and I played it for years. That system lasted for at least five years. They sure don't make them like they used to.

Technorati Tags: Intellivision, Baseball, Classic gaming systems, Classic, Gaming, Systems, Atari, George Plimpton

Filed in: Games Nostalgia

Zen iPod Docks

These Zen iPod Docks, as seen on Gizmodo make me long for an iPod even more. I get all crazy when I see cool iPod accessories, when I don't even have an iPod. Why must accessory designers torture me this way. Why....Why?!!!

"A monk saw a turtle in the garden of Daizui’s monastery and asked the teacher, “All iPod docking stations cover their bones with plastic made of white. Why does this being cover its flesh and skin with stones?” Master Daizui took off one of his sandals and covered the i-Stones Wabi with it."

Technorati Tags: iPod, iPod Accessories, Free iPod

Filed in: Tech Wishlist

Now That's an Alarm

Until I have my morning coffee, I am incapable of intelligent thought. People claim this all the time, but I am not making some empty claim. I really am not capable of anything even remotely intelligent until I induce my bloodstream with my caffeine habit. The most recent example of my morning stupidity has a few ingredients. theDog, our security alarm, theFamily, and a few signs posted on the doors, but notthing seemed to break through my sleep-induced haze.

The first time theDog normally wakes up is very early as he is still too young to hold it all night long. So normally, I stumble out of bed, let theDog out of his area, head downstairs and let him out the back door to do his business. The other night, as I forgot during my stumbling, I set the alarm that we have not been setting because of theDog going out multiple times throughout the night. Now that he has reduced that to only once before I am ready to wakeup, we went back to setting the alarm. I remembered as I opened the back door and my brain was jolted awake by the loudest alarm my ears have ever heard.

The next day, theFamily had their fun with it. As we were going to bed they decided to post reminders to me about the alarm, so I would not repeat the events of that morning, which I admit almost gave me a heart attack. So while they were having their fun, they were also trying to help me with these:




Unfortunately, two mornings later, with my head in a thick fog and my eyes closed up pretty tight, I opened the door. Once again I remembered the alarm was set only after my ears were assaulted by this alarm of ours. I need a caffeine solution that will allow me to ingest my fix before my feet hit the floor, no matter what time it is.

Filed in: UncommonlySenseless

Kovu's Law

I've always thought that I would someday like to write a book. It seems easy enough, but I have never been able to think of a story for this eventual book. I have just realized though that a story is not what I need. I have all the material I need right around me. theDog. The book will be about the things in life in which we humans need to know before taking ownership of a puppy. Things like this:

Kovu's Law #27
When the Cats knock items like pencils off the counter that the Kids will later be blamed for leaving laying around, the puppy will be the first to find that item. And he or she will eat it.

The other morning, the first thing I took away from theDog was a pencil. Of course, I immediately blamed on of the children, chastising that child for not keeping their stuff in order and leaving a pencil on the ground where theDog could get it. That same night theWife and I discovered who the real culprits were.

Noises came from downstairs while theWife and I were laying in bed. First came the subtle sounds of the cats jumping up onto the counters, which immediately gets our attention. Next came some shuffling of something unidentified accross the counter and finally the unmistakeable sound of a pencil hitting the floor. Looks like I owe one of the kids an apology, I just have to remember which one.

I'll leave you with another one of Kovu's laws:

Kovu's Law #4
If one of the animals, including the puppy, happen to get sick in the house, the puppy will be the first one to find it, and he or she will eat it.

Daily Links:
If you are going to file a frivolous law suit for something embarassing, make sure you don't try it twice. Some idiot has sued two different companies for getting glued to their toilets.
This eBay item is funny, but not something I would want on my mantle.
Space Mountain is now just a Google Video away, thanks to someone with a good memory and RollerCoaser Tycoon 3.
Finally, a new product for cleaning the shower that will actually work. The Shower-Shower.

Filed in:

• Humor
• Pets

Root of All Evil

Some people have been claiming for years that technology is the root of all evil. For years I have looked at their point of view as being scared of change. But I have seen the light, and know now, that it really is.

I'm working from home today and tomorrow, taking care of theWife, so I've been using the companies OWA. When I fired off an e-mail to an employee, the spell checker came up and proved to me that technology is evil:



Daily Links:
Children suck at drawing. This proves it.

Filed in:

• Tech
• UncommonlySenseless
• Family