The early, unexpected, but welcome retirement

My vehicle recently developed a horrible shimmy that had my hair turning gray.  The thought of bringing it in to a mechanic, only to find out I needed to shell out something like $1200 was horrible.  The first thing I did was take off the tires, one by one to make sure there was no damage to the wheels & to clean the insides off.  I scraped a great deal of mud off of the rear tires, and hoped that this was the cause.  Past experience with dirty wheels has shown me that this may cause a horrible imbalance and making the car wobble a bit.  Seeing there was no damage, I raced off in hopes that clean wheels would solve the problem.  It didn't.

Not sure what to do, I tried to ignore the problem for a while.  I had bigger fish to fry, so the shimmy would have to wait.  Each time I slammed my driver door and took off, the shimmy only got worse.  Hard to ignore.  But first, I had to go buy some vegetables to go with dinner.  On my way back to my vehicle, I noticed that the left rear tire looked horribly bulged out in one spot.  A closer look showed that it was in fact bulged out. 

When I got home, I immediately changed that tire and sped off to see if my problem was fixed.  It was!  I have to wonder why the tire failed like so.  There were no visible signs of damage to the exterior of the tire.  Something on the inside gave way, I suppose.  But what, and why?  The tire was not old at all.  It still had years of use left in it, if not for this failure.  The possibilities on why it failed are endless. 

My guess is that a defect in the rubber on one spot of the tire waited for the sunshine to hit it, while driving 45 mph.  While at the same time, the tread near that defective spot hit a golf ball sized rock, and then on the next revolution- a little puddle of water was the last straw, because it caused a chemical reaction making the rubber stretch a little.  Just lucky I found out what it was, before a blow out occurred. 

Sir- that'll be an arm and a leg, plus your soul.

Tank of gas in Dillingham:
 Arm and a leg


Tank of gas, and a quart of motor oil in Dillingham: 
Arm, a leg, plus a soul

Assorted goodies going stealth through our local airlines

I was sitting in the Pen Air terminal in Anchorage on my last trip home.  I noticed that some people were reading, some fooling around on phones & other techie gadgets, some snoozing.  I chose to occasionally stare out the window at all of the planes coming and going.  Then at the wall, or the floor.  What makes this staring special for me is that there is non-stop thinking going on.  I'll pull up a memory from upstairs, think about it for a while & this sets off a chain reaction of memories popping up.  At each memory popping up, I'll sift through all of the fine details.  Then I'll start working it through different what-if scenarios.  Sometimes, I find answers & solutions to my old questions & problems years later.   

With a quick glance around the room now & then, I notice a carry-on here & there.  My carry-on always contains my beloved laptop computer.  Camera.  (Picture above was taken after whipping my camera out on a flight)  Not much else in my carry-on.  The thought of checking my laptop in at the counter in other baggage is horrifying.  The possibility of it getting treated like a pinball, or beanbag no doubt is there.  So I'll pass on checking it.

I have my reasons for having a carry-on.  I wonder what all of those other carry-ons contain.  Has to be precious, otherwise it would just be checked it in, right?  Possibly just traveling light, though.  So you just walk up to the counter and check in, then declare that you have a carry-on.  Bam-bam.  Then you jump on the airplane.  Bam.

When you fly on a bigger plane to a far away destination, you'll be going through security.  Take your jacket and shoes off.  Belt, wristwatch- you name it.  They get scanned, as well as your carry-on.  Why is there no security screening for these smaller flights?  Smaller planes?  Less people?  Cost too much?  Convenience?  This simple walk up & jump on a plane pretty much allows anything to travel from point A to point B.  I'll bet that this is the preferred transport method for getting weed, pills, and whatever else is around here into the area.  Wouldn't a simple security screening prevent most of this drug smuggling from happening?  Does checked baggage get a screening of some sort?  I guess screening is just to prevent weapons on to the plane?  Don't get me wrong, now- I enjoy the least amount of roadblocks on the path home.  Does anyone know why security screening is only used on the bigger flights, and not the little ones? 

You're considered an adult when you're 11 years old

In Pennsylvania, that is.  Is this to set an example for all 11 year olds?  Read this. Kids should know better than to go around shooting people with shotguns, but what purpose will trying them as adults serve?  13, 14, 15- maybe (teenagers).  But 11?  Seems whacky to me.  I can't imagine the kid being convicted with anything more than involuntary manslaughter.   Of course they argue that he is unlikely to be rehabbed in juvie, but I'm still saying that 11 is a tad bit young for being tried as an adult.

My thoughts on Sarah Palin

The only thoughts that I'll share today on Sarah Palin are the ones involving all of the people that seem to hate her.  Back when she announced that she was resigning as Governor, I was watching Channel 2 News with a couple other people.  We all seemed to wonder why she would do such a thing.  Everyone pointing fingers at her seemed like a good answer.

Today, anything to do with Sarah Palin in the news draws in bucket loads of comments in the Anchorage Daily News.  Most of them are negative comments- hate comments.  No matter what she does, people have something bad to say about it.

Which brings me to her book.  I think that she had this all planned out way back before she resigned, knowing a book would have the moola rolling in (all she had to do was something that drew a lot of attention- quitting).  Now she has an eight episode show planned for The Discovery Channel which commands one million dollars per episode.  I am really thinking about what her cut is on this million dollars per episode.  Maybe she had this planned out, too. 

I'm not saying that I like or dis-like Sarah Palin.  What I'm going to say is that she is probably laughing all the way to the bank at all of her haters.  I'll bet that all of the haters are the first to buy her books, and will be the first to watch her shows.

Anyway, that's all.

Get well soon, Goldie.

Goldie is the family goldfish.  He is an inexpensive common goldfish.  His first days in his new home were somewhat miserable, because I didn't fully research the needs of a goldfish.  He lived in a very cramped little bowl and seemed to be not happy.  I learned him being plunged into new surroundings may have been part of his unhappiness.  More importantly, though- he wasn't getting the oxygen he needed in such a small bowl.  Living in his own pollution.  He didn't seem to care for food and always looked scared.

Not long after coming to live with us, he enjoyed moving to a much larger home- complete with a non-stop supply of air bubbles to keep his water full of oxygen, and enjoys regular (weekly) 30% water changes.  One day after moving into his new, larger home- he showed a very healthy appetite.  He was fed on a schedule of once in the morning, and once at night.

Goldie is about four months old.  About three weeks ago, he stopped eating food.  He was introduced to different types of food, in case he was just sick of eating the same-old-same-old.  No matter what he's fed, he doesn't eat.  At the bottom of his tank are popcorn sized (popped-up popcorn) ceramic rocks.  My fear is that somehow one of these rocks broke into smaller pieces and he gobbled one of them up, but can't spit it out or pass it.

If Goldie was your beloved family member, and you were faced with just two choices- which would it be:

1. Let him tough it out & maybe things will get better.  (Even though he might be suffering now)
2. Flush him down the toilet and pray that he experiences a very quick, painless death. 

Look at that! / Is he looking?

I'll start this one off by simply saying that this information is straight out of the Anchorage Daily News about five years ago, when they had a little sidebar in the comics section that was always loaded with little known and interesting facts.  I won't get into what made this thought pop into my head.

I'll mention again that this is from a well read newspaper, not something that I made up.  It said that when a man and a woman are crossing paths (walking down the store aisle, sidewalk, etc.),  the first feature on the woman that the man looks at is her breasts.  The first feature on the man that the woman looks at are his eyes.  This is so she can make sure his eyes are trained on her breasts (an approval thing).

Who can prove this wrong?

Best breakfast on the face of the earth

One medium potato, cut into little cubes and fried
Two slices of Jimmy Dean pork sausage, fried
Two large chicken eggs, prepared over-easy
Two slices of whole wheat bread, toasted & buttered with real butter

Optional:
Strong cup of joe
About 1/2 cup whole milk to wash everything down in one gulp

Those damn random thoughts bouncing around in my head

My memory banks seem to be doing an excellent job of storing information upstairs.  The process that my memory banks use to store information is a complete mystery to me.  I have found out that some of the information stored upstairs is not always readily available.  This not-readily-available information is usually unimportant.  Old memories.  The important stuff is usually easily accessible.

Sometimes, I ask myself what brings out this not-readily-available information.  This is another complete mystery to me.  Today, I thought about it and am convinced that something must 'trigger' these thoughts to surface.  Something that I see or hear 'triggers' a complex information retrieval system that targets anything upstairs that resembles my 'trigger.'  No matter how old the information is, apparently.

Todays random thought bouncing around in my head brings me to Burger King, where I saw one lady that had five children with her in the 'play' area.  Ranging in age from crawling to about 5 years old.  She was feeding two of them, while a couple more were playing in the play area, barefoot.  The crawler was nowhere near her, crawling around by the garbage bin near the door.  Everyone seemed to be staring at him, wondering who his parents were.  Someone finally picked him up and the mother came over to grab him.  Busy mom, I guess.  This, I can pass off as excusable.  What I can't pass off as excusable is when someone came in while she was getting her kids ready to leave and she said 'this floor is disgusting, just look at it.'  I had to really force myself to keep the words 'are you kidding, lady?- your baby was just crawling all the way over by the garbage on this disgusting floor.  what are you talking about?' from coming out.

Anyway, that's all.

Penny Pincher

Cheap = Me mashing a little sliver of a bar of soap onto a new bar of soap.

KDLG

Hmm...my username DLG'er seems to have been deactivated at KDLG's message board.  I seem to have followed their rules, I don't know why they would do such a thing.  Now here at my own blog, I've been 'accused' of two things:

1. Being Eileen Goode.  Absolutely nothing wrong with this, except there is nothing to back it up.  Guesses.
2. Being 'Anon' and making horrible comments on my own blog.  There is something wrong with this.  There is also nothing to back this one too.  Guesses.

I've removed some of my posts where everybody has been mean to each other.  They merely are 'saved as drafts.'  Removing them is me 'being a nice guy.'  I would like one thing to happen in return for being a nice guy:

• I receive an apology from BOTH Kathy McLinn and petla, stating that they were wrong in assuming that I'm someone else- without facts to prove it.  With apologies from them, I will permanently delete the posts in question.

I will patiently wait until April 1st for this to happen.  If it doesn't happen- I will re-post everything that I have pulled, with little regard for what ANYONE thinks.

I have decided that on April 1, 2010- I will quietly leave the blogging scene.  It has been fun, but the fun seems to have worn off.  To continue to blog under "DLG'er" not only serves as a tool to show what kind of a person I am (with my sharp tongue and all), but to also serve as a tool to show what kind of people we have living around here.  I made an attempt at an apology.  This apology is for the words that I have said.  It is not an apology for the 'Anon' comments, as I did not make them.

On April 1, 2010- may these pages be forever entombed in the archive we know of as the world wide web.  I will return now and then to make sure that this blog is not deemed 'inactive'- just to ensure that these pages are forever visible.

4/25- I seem to have changed my mind.  Everything's back up.  You guys are just as bad as the people you frown down on.

This is a stickup...gimme all your pizza!

Maaaaaannnnn.  What's this world coming to?  Grumpy old guys shooting dogs out the living room window.  Gunpoint robberies, where pizza pies- not cash is the loot.  They communicated to the officers that they knew they were going to jail and they didn't want to come out because they wanted to eat the pizza, said Lt. Dave Parker

Gotta admit- these are both kinda funny, keeping in mind nobody got seriously hurt.  If you missed these in the news, the Grumpy old man story can be found adn.com. Pizza pie robbery here.

Crossing the Line

As an attempt at making an apology to anyone that I may have offended, including Kathy McLinn, I have removed all of my posts dating back to Liars, Liars, Liars.  Keep in mind that I have feelings too, and accusations are just that- accusations.

4/25- I seem to have changed my mind.  Everything's back up.  You guys are just as bad as the people you frown down on.

Practice what you preach

The overwhelming urge to let my thoughts spill all over the place is here once again. More on that at My ever so slightly distorted point of view. I'll admit that using KDLG to attract someone to my blog may seem pretty low. Fact of the matter is that if I wanted only my friends to read it, only my friends would have the address.

Ok.  Today the reason for letting it all fly loose is because I'm bothered again by Kathy McLinn's comment saying that I'm 'Anon/DGR.'  I fail to see the connection between anon and myself other than maybe she thinks I'm just trying to pump up my comment numbers.  If this were the case, then I would probably have a blog that's completely peppered with comments.  It is not.  In any case, anonymous commenting has been disabled to prevent this from happening anymore.

Now I'll point out for the second time that I wrote Something more important than Pebble Mine before Kathy McLinn's second comment.  While I may seem like a hypocrite for writing that after saying that the Pebble Mine rally sounds boring, that's all I did was say that it sounds boring.  I didn't do any name calling.  I don't know who was at the meeting.  I don't know what went on other than what Kathy McLinn explained to me.  When I clicked on post comment after saying the rally sounded boring, I had one of those 'oh no, what did I just do' moments because revitalization of Yupik culture from Kathy's comment jumped right off the screen and hit me in the face.  Everyone has a 'what did I just do' moment.  We're human, right? More on what I think is going on with our native culture at Old ways vs. new ways. Some of my first thoughts on Pebble Mine can be found here.

Humans are usually entitled to their own way of thinking, and can make their own decisions based on the way they think.  In most cases, an individual does something based on the way they think, regardless of what others think.  That's what makes each individual human a unique one.  I think the way I think, and others think the way they think.  I do what I want, they do what they want.  If this were not the case, then we would all be robots and nothing more.  Some countries keep their residents as nothing more than prisoners.  You see cults where people get brainwashed into being robots, but in my opinion- the ones that fall victim have very weak minds.  But we are not there.  We are here.

Today, I am bothered by two things:

1. That the place we live in is full of people that make assumptions.  This may be ok when buying a lottery ticket, or a stack of pull-tabs.  This is not ok when it comes to judging someone based on nothing more than assumption.  Usually, facts are needed to make these decisions (judging someone).  Otherwise, it's just a guessing game.  Assumptions and gossip seem to go hand in hand around here.
2. People fail to see the real facts, based simply on where the facts are coming from.  Apparently, you need to be on a 'side' to be believed.  This is horrible.  This shows me that some people are incapable of making decisions based only on facts.  To them, the facts have to be coming from one side or the other.  Brainwashed comes to mind again.

People that make assumptions usually don't do it just once.  In my mind, that is the way they think all the time.  I am bothered by people that just seem to 'know' with nothing to back it up.

Let's shift gears a little and think about our children.  Their future relies very heavily on two things.  (Remember, everything I say is just what's going on in my head)

1. Rock-solid parenting skills.  No one plays a more important role in steering a young one down the right path than the parent.
2. Education.  Teachers.  They dedicate a pretty good portion of their lives to going through the proper training to become who they are.  Teaching is their passion, otherwise they wouldn't be doing it.

Is it ok for a teacher to make assumptions, with no facts as back up?  Is it ok, because they are teachers and have childrens best interests in mind?  Are they right only because they are teachers?  While I doubt that a teacher that made assumptions on a regular basis would pass this horrible habit on to students, I have to wonder.  Whether for good, or for bad- children learn from what they see.
  
Kathy McLinn, when you said I think your comments are a poor reflection on you, not anyone else, you forgot to think about how your own comment will reflect on yourself.

p.s. me calling pebble mine opposition liars was an effort to raise awareness on the pebble issue- i do not want pebble mine.  also- i am not a 'paid' pebble partnership pawn as someone else pointed out.

I'm unique because I'm me, you're unique because you're you

Just to point out- Something more important than Pebble Mine, below, was written before someone saying that I'm "Anon/Dgr."  I'll have to admit the tone I set sometimes is not the friendliest, but that's me.  What goes on in my mind is in my mind, no one else's.  I'm doing nothing more to sway the way people think than to speak my mind.

My sarcastic tongue tends to let sarcastic thoughts fly occasionally.  It also lets fly some 'light' profanity like ass, or hell.  Or damn.  If I have 'heavy' profanity on my mind, I'll censor it with some symbols so someone can put two and two together without 'seeing' the bad word.  I also call people names.  Oh, lets see.  Hippie (if that's considered name calling), loonie- what else?  Not much.  I'm not into the harsher name calling because it's pretty mean.  Enough said.

Kathy McLinn- is it my writing that offends you, or the comments that happen to be at the end of the writing?  If it's my writing, and I toned it down a bit, would you continue to come back to see what's on my mind?  If it's only the comments, FYI- people can no longer make an anonymous comment.

Something more important than Pebble Mine

Kathy McLinn answered my question on what happened at the Pebble Mine rally.  Sounds like a lot of good things went on.  One of the things she said that caught my eye was- It was a day to affirm the importance of the preservation and revitalization of Yupik culture.  It has me thinking-  does it take a Pebble Mine rally to bring something like this up?  Are there other times when this is an issue and talked about?

In one of my previous posts, Old ways vs. new ways, I hinted that our native ways of life will be lost in a generation or two if today's young ones aren't taught.  This, in my opinion is much more important than preventing a mine.  Of course a mining disaster can destroy our wilderness and wildlife in one swift kick, so it can't be completely ignored.  I have more on Pebble Mine, but that can wait.

Feedback, please.

Well...at least it's faster than dial up.

Yeah right.  That's my favorite one.  People that get frustrated with their slow @ss internet around here like to comfort themselves by saying this.  Another one of my favorites is how the package you choose is sold as "up to" whatever speed you think you need.

Everyone and their mothers are just getting off of work, going home, and firing up the old computers.  Which means everyone and their mothers are heading straight for the net.  Which in turn means that you have to click on whatever page you're loading, then go prepare your dinner while it's loading up.  You click on something else and then go eat while your new page is loading.  Sound familiar?  I thought so.

Our neighbors in the big cities pretty much have speeds that begin at 1 megabit per second on up to 10+ megabits per second.  Talk about heaven.  The possibilities with such blazing speeds.  Back to us- they can't stop at charging insane rates- they have to rub our noses in their yellow puddle by stripping our wallets if we decide to download a couple of songs and go over our skimpy limits.  Ever went over your meager download limit?  Hmmph. 

Go to Speedtest.net, click on begin test, wait for it to finish, and come back to let me know who your internet service provider is and what your blazing speed is. Remember 500 kilobits = .5 megabits, 200 kilobits = .2 megabits, you get the point. I had some trouble posting my own comment a while back- I had to allow third party cookies long enough to make my comment.  (Just clean em out when you're done)

Liars, Liars, Liars

It's all peachy keen to hear that everyone is against the big mine that is about to come through here.  I'm all against it.  If I think about it for a little while, I can tell you that environmental concerns, local hiring practices, and crafty advertisements are at the bottom of my list of reasons to not like a Pebble Mine.  At the top is the fact that big powerhouses can and do simply impose their will to get what they want.  Might not happen overnight, but over time- it does happen. Just a matter of time.

If I think about it just a little bit more- I can tell you that I can see through most people that claim they don't want a Pebble Mine.  Why? Because these people that claim to be against this mine will most likely be the first in line to apply for jobs that will pay more than they can earn around here.  Survival, greed, many other reasons.  Peoples brains will shift gears from "I hate Pebble Mine" to "Well, I gotta pay the bills somehow."  There will be stiff competition to latch on to one of these soon to be very desirable jobs.  If you get one of these jobs, you are "up there."

Hopefully, these soon to be turncoats will do everything they can to stop this mine from happening.  Which brings up another question. What can you do?  Vote?  Go to a rally?  What next?  I didn't go to the Pebble Mine Rally or whatever it was called because I had visions of it being nothing more than a room full of people whining and complaining.  Isn't that what rallies are?  To whine and complain?  I don't know- I've never been to one.  Seems like concocting a plan of some sort, rather than whining and complaining would make more sense.  Like I said- I don't go to rallies, so I don't know all of what happens at them.  Maybe someone can clue me in.  Anyone that went to this Pebble Mine Rally- please tell me what happened.

The Invisible Patrons

You're going to buy some ready-made grub in one of the local restaurants with someone.  You already have your taste buds delight picked out.  Place is busier than hell, so you figure you'll just wait for your turn.  But it turns out that the place is busier than heaven and hell put together.  You wait and wait some more.  You don't dare walk out because you don't want the time spent waiting to go to waste.  Then you start thinking "What the F^%*, there's some cash just waiting to be spent here.  Why aren't they jumping at the opportunity to get their grubby little hands on it?  Isn't that the number one reason they are in business?"  You finally end up walking your behind out the door to drive down the street to someone that is willing to serve you and your every need in exchange for some of that moola in your pocket.

So...what's up with these establishments that have massive gold mines sitting in front of them, but fail to stake their claim?  First thought that pops into my head is that it's just busy.  Can't blame them for being overwhelmed.  Too much demand, too little goods.  Think again- you can blame them for being overwhelmed.  These busier than heaven and hell put together times roll around like clockwork.  They are very, very, very predictable.  Same time of day, every day.  Clockwork.  Predictable.  No rocket science here, just simple observation.  I say the problem lies within the management of the business.  Upper management.  Failure to please the people that keep you in business is no way to stay in business.  I can give them an A for effort in the beginning, but eventually they slip down to pulling off a D at best.  Being an armchair restaurant manager, I'm going to say that all that they need to do is to take a quick glance at this clockwork and make a simple adjustment or two in the daily routine.

Now- these horrible customer pleasing practices seem to trickle down into the lower ranks.  When someone walks into your joint and you are so busy that you can't even say "I'm sorry, we're very busy right now- it's going to be twenty to thirty minutes, do you mind waiting?"---this is a pretty good indication of the level of service your customers are going to receive if they ever do get a chance to order.  At least tell your underlings to say SOMETHING.  When you run a business with no consideration for your customers, you are going to be nothing more than a flash in the pan because your customers will just wander down to where they will at least get greeted when walking through the door.

When I walk through your door and I am treated like an invisible patron, I'm going to be just that- because I'm going to high-tail it right out of there.  To top things off, the chances of me returning anytime soon are razor thin.  When a business is run horribly, a horrible thing happens to that business- they lose business.                

Meth Mouth

Seems like it's been a while since reading of the last meth-lab bust in the Mat-Su area.  I remember something about them being the meth capital of Alaska.  Seeing the latest bust in the paper reminds me of a show I watched a few years ago that focused on the meth problem in Oregon.  Supposedly Oregon was the biggest problem state as far as meth use goes.  This may not be true anymore, because this was years ago.

Now- what this show pointed out was that meth users develop what is known as meth-mouth.  They mentioned that meth is so full of toxic chemicals, that users teeth start to horribly rot away.  Meth users don't bother to brush while high, apparently.  Every time I see someone with teeth abnormally rotted (what are normally rotted teeth?), I can't help but to think about that show showing people with meth-mouth.  I think "damn, is this person a meth addict?"  

Do you know anyone with horribly rotted out teeth?  Google meth-mouth and compare that person's teeth with what you come up with.  Then ask them if they use meth.

Best reason to shop at Best Buy...

...you get to look at their prices and say 'who the heck are they kidding?'  Then you can go over to their high-performance, high-priced Apple MacBookPros on display and surf the net for some better prices.  No kidding.  When someone comes around asking if you need some help, you just say "No thanks, I just found some better prices" (Speaking from experience)

Go hang out with the hippies, PETA

With the 2010 Iditarod underway, everyone's going to be rooting for their favorite musher.  I don't have a favorite musher, but I'll say that I'm rooting for Lance Mackey.  Partly because he's a cancer survivor.  Partly because he's won so much lately.  But mostly because everyone is giving him some low blows because he smokes marijuana.  Smokes marijauna WITH a medical marijuana card, making it perfectly legal.

What bothers me more than the poor sports out on the trail are the people saying that the mushers are torturing the dogs by making them run for such grueling distances.  Animal rights loonies.  While I don't think that animals should go through any suffering, I think animal rights loonies are missing something upstairs.  Lack of red meat in their diet has caused some weird chemical imbalance in some part of their brain, or something.

Dog deaths are something that you probably don't pay much attention to. (Unless it happens to be here at the local dog pound where the dogs are starved to death, and it makes it big-time in the news.)  Who pays more attention to dog deaths on the trail than us and the animal rights loonies?  Trail veterinarians that are there to make sure dogs are healthy enough to run the Last Great Race and to pull a dog out of the race if it's not.  If a dog dies, they try to find out why the dog died to make sure it doesn't happen anymore.  Watching the start of races, you kind of get the hint that these dogs love to run.  They were born, bred and raised to run.  That's what they do- run.  What happens when dogs feel like they've been overworked?  They just stop running.  It's happened before with teams headed for sure victory down the homestretch.  The dogs say they've had enough and just stop to lay down.  No more running. 

Now for loonies saying don't eat animals- humans happen to be somewhere near the top of the natural food chain because we can make a weapon of some sort to go and kill something to eat when we need to, to survive.  Chances are pretty good that the animal is going to experience a fairly quick death with almost no suffering at all.  You hear about the big farms that raise animals to go on your kitchen table where the employees are pretty mean to the animals, but they're probably just redneck hillbillies (if the Simpsons show can make fun of these types of people, so can I) from Iowa that go home and play Russian Roulette for kicks after work with their drinking buddies.  They are about as smart as the animal, so you can't say it's humans being cruel to animals in those situations.  Just animal on animal. 

Since we're talking about food chains, why don't we think about animals that go and kill each other for food.  When you see the sly fox running off with a bunch of baby geese in her mouth on tv, or the wolf biting onto the baby caribou's back- these are the nice versions.  (From the show Planet Earth, a Christmas present- best show I ever watched)  What about the zebras getting chomped on, guts spilled and all while still alive by a crocodile?  Gotta be more pain and suffering there than my caribou or moose getting shot.  What do the loonies have to say about animals eating each other?  

Animal rights loonies need to go hang out with the hippies for a while.  Maybe they'll get high and accidentally eat some real food made from animals after getting the munchies.  This will cause them to snap out of the fantasy world they live in.

By the way- I had some eggs with pork sausage for breakfast, ham and cheese sandwich for lunch, and a tasty hamburger for dinner.  I wouldn't think about eating a meal for dinner that didn't have meat in it.  

I swung by PETA's website and found myself leaving just as fast as I got there.  I then Googled People Eating Tasty Animals and found their site a little easier to stomach.  Looks like the site hasn't been updated in a while.  Be sure to check out the hate mail at the People Eating Tasty Animals website.

Home Schooled Home Slice

One thing I don't understand is home schooling.  Why do people choose to home school their kids?  Is the parent better at teaching the kid than teachers at the local public school?  Maybe.  You never know how your kid behaves in school, because you're not there.  Maybe your kid does his/her homework, maybe not.  You never know unless you're the one assigning the work.

I'm sure the list goes on and on about why home schooling is better for some kids.  But there's another list that goes on and on about why home schooling is bad for kids.  Let's think about the good and the bad:

Good:

• You know exactly where your child stands, because you see with your own eyes and not through a report card.
• Can't get into trouble at school, because they are not there
• No more thinking 'who do I believe, my kid or the teacher?'
• Teacher to kid ratio can't get any closer to 1:1, versus 1:20 (or more) at the local school

Bad:

• No interaction with other kids on a daily basis.  This is horrible, horrible, horrible.  Makings of a little robot are in progress.
• Maybe the parent isn't as good at teaching as they thought.  Shaping the kids future lies in their hands, not in the hands of people that are trained to do this.   
• A parent can effectively 'brainwash' a kid.  Forcing opinions down someone's throat is not the same as forcing facts down someone's throat.

The lists get bigger and bigger the more you think about them.  But I think the bad reasons for home schooling by far outweigh the good reasons.  Unless you live 200 miles away from a school, uphill both ways, and it's always raining- I think home schooling is very bad to put your kid through.  Your kid won't always wonder what it is like to have buddies at school or play on the basketball team if they go.  Keep the home schooling to home schooling yourself, home slice.  Send your kids to school- where they belong.

Swipe, swipe

Do you do anything without swiping a piece of plastic?  Are you a 'cash' person?  Not me- I like just swiping my card, and punching some numbers in.  Couldn't be any easier.  No change to count, no clutter in your pockets.  Then go make an entry in your check register.  There are a few things I do in my life that do require me to physically send in a paper check.  These places I don't understand.  They need to drag themselves out of the stone age, wake up, and have a look around.  Everyone has a computer nowadays, and pretty much everyone can get on-line.  (on-line, not open-line).  Should be able to pay electronically. 

I didn't have a bank account for a period of about six years because I owed everyone under the sun some money and wasn't sure who was going to seize my account when I least expected it.  My paycheck would get cashed, money orders would get made up to send out for the bills, and life was happy.  When I was the proud new owner of a fresh bank account a few years ago, I had a debit card in my hands in a few days.  I had to try it out at an atm machine to make sure it was going to work.  I didn't want to go get in a line with 10 people in back of me and the card be declined.  Once I saw that it really worked, there was no looking back.  My card goes with me everywhere now. 

So what happens when you swipe your card?  I don't know.  Something magical, because the machine will tell you if your card was approved or declined.  I don't care what happens, as long as everything works out snappy.  Swipe, swipe.

Shoot To Kill, No Questions Asked, Period

Man, sure seems like a lot of police standoffs happening lately with someone dying as a result in our part of the world.  Every time I see something in the news about an armed suspect being killed by some officers, I think- damn can't they just shoot his leg off?  Or an arm?  Two or three officers spraying 10-15 bullets?  Seems a little excessive to me.

Not anymore.  Seeing other peoples opinions sure shed a different ray of sunshine on the matter for me.  While people argue that using deadly force isn't necessary, others are arguing that it is.  Why is it necessary?  Because maybe shooting someones leg off doesn't mean that the the person is going to drop his gun and put some hands up for the cuffs to be slapped on.  Guns can still be aimed at someone.  Which means guns can still be fired at someone.  Guess what?  That means that someone can still get shot. 

Why is the suspect packing/aiming guns in the first place?  Bad day?  If someone is having a bad enough day to start swinging guns around, I say they are having a bad enough day to start riddling people with bullets.  Whether intentional, or unintentional (someone innocent caught in the middle of stray fire, maybe) the potential for death is getting extremely high when a suspect comes strolling out with a gun in hand.

Now when an officer says to "drop your weapon", they are looking to stop the situation before it gets out of hand.  Seconds are precious, because seconds can mean lives saved or lost.  How would you like to be living next door and some stray bullets come flying through the window and hit you, or a loved one?  I wouldn't.  I would want the situation under control ASAP.

Like others have said- if you aim a gun at an officer, you can pretty much expect to die.  If I'm a cop and someone points a gun at me, in my head that means they are going to shoot me.  I'm gonna start pulling the trigger on my gun as fast as I can to prevent that.  That's all there is to it.  No second guessing.  I'm not gonna aim at their feet, either- I'm gonna aim where it matters most.  People that don't think deadly force is a must don't have vivid enough imaginations to place themselves in the middle of these situations for a second to think about how they might react.  

I think officers have the right to think "Kill, or be killed."   Because not only are their lives at risk, but the lives of anyone who happens to be nearby.  Shoot to kill, no questions asked, period

W2s, W4s, 1099s, 1040s, and Illudium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulators

How do you make sense of them all?  What's what?  Form- this, form- that.  Schedule-this, schedule- that.  Form 13598345 dash epdgirswsx.  If checked yes, then form 5637657456 dash diofpoifhg.  If no on 45efs, then skip 79kles through 90tifg.  With tax time here and deadlines just around the corner, everyone's going to be scrambling to get their taxes done. 

It's just like a punch in the stomach to think about the possibility of having to toss a handful of money their way.  Oh well- life goes on.  A little over ten years ago, I owed about a grand.  Didn't feel like paying it, so I didn't.  Some years later, I got a wonderful surprise- my Alaska PFD was garnished.  At least my bill got paid.  I guess.  With some awesome interest tacked on.  

So go get your taxes prepared.  Or don't.  Then pay.  Or don't.  It's a headache either way.  Does anyone know what the Illudium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator is?  Hint- it's from a cartoon you may have watched about 20+ years ago.

Me and my double standards

I was cleaning tons of receipts out of my wallet, and came across one from the "Smokers Choice" in Anchorage.  I love buying cheap smokes.  But sore memories poofed in my head as I looked at the receipt.

I remember being asked for ID, which is all fine and dandy.  Wanna smoke, you gotta be of age.  The pretty little cashier girl handed my ID back, and I forked over my credit card.  Just as soon as she grabbed the credit card, she said "Wait, can I look at your ID again?  I just need to match up the names"

Being asked for ID frustrates the hell out of me, only because I read something in my favorite paper many years ago saying that the only ID one should ever need is a signature when using a VISA card.  It's very convenient for users.  That's part of the beauty of using one of their cards.

So why was I asked again?  Suspicious card using activities going on here?  I mean what the hell, I showed the ID to her once already.  I'm sure part of it is the fact that they don't want any part of stolen cards being used in their little store.  Supposedly when someone asks to see your ID to use your credit card, and they refuse the purchase without ID, they are violating their agreement with VISA.  Maybe Alaska has its own laws on the matter.  Who knows.

I hate being asked to show ID to use my credit card, because it makes me feel like they think I stole the damn thing.  But if my card was stolen and someone else used it, I would be fuming because they didn't ask for ID.

Something for you to try the next time you make eggs

It's better to crack an egg on a hard, flat surface- like your counter top than it is to crack it on an edge (like a pan lip).  Try it- the shell almost breaks perfectly in half.

Save it for the gumball machine

For the first time in about a year and a half, I shelled out some money for a "hard copy" of the Anchorage Daily News.  My first thought was 'man, I got jipped- it's missing some sections'  Not even close.  Counting front/back as one page, there's a whopping 11 pages today.  I remember when the comics section was that big.

In today's electronic age, your favorite books, magazines and papers are just a mouse click or two away.  People turning to the world-wide-web for their info make "hard copy" sales plummet, I guess.  They get skimpy and high-priced.

So who wants to clutter their home with something that immediately becomes useless and won't even get recycled?  After today, I'm reminded- not me.

Save those quarters for the gumball machine, that way you get your moneys worth.

Did you know...

...that South Korea has some of the fastest internet download speeds in the world, but they are not allowed to use an operating system other than Microsoft's Windows on their computer?  Which also means Microsoft's Internet Explorer is the only browser allowed.  What a shame.

Beaver Round Up

Today, I'm going to just say that with all of the activities going on around here- have fun.  It's a great time of the year to get reacquainted with old friends and family that you don't see very often.  Take your kids or wife out for a day of fun.  There's a lot to do, and a lot to see.  It only happens once a year, so enjoy.

Have fun and be safe.

Slimeballs

Well, my winning $500,000 lotto ticket is just going to have to wait to be pulled out of the barrel until March 31st.  What the hell is up with that?  I checked the news sites last night after 8 pm, February 28th, the supposed date for the drawing.

The original drawing date was January 1st.  After finding out they needed to rake in some more money from ticket sales, it was postponed until the end of February.  Not getting my winning phone call, and not seeing the winning ticket number anywhere, I decided to call the number on the back of my ticket stub to see who won or where I can see the winning ticket.  I was greeted with a recording.  Turns out they still need to raise 40 grand.  They say the 40 grand is for STAR.  We'll see about that.

With struggling ticket sales, and regular postponing of the drawings, this is extremely bad advertising for future $500,000 lottos in my opinion.  Who wants to buy a ticket for a drawing when they never know if it's going to happen?  When do they decide "We better just draw the damn ticket and get it over with.  I think we're making a lot of people upset."

Man, I sure would hate to be the lady who had the task of making the answering machine greeting at Lucky Times Pull Tabs.

You can hear it at (907) 677-2133

My Girlfriend's Phone Number:

842-5513 or 842-2233
Her message #: call open line