It’s been an unusually warm winter so far this year. We have had brief spurts of below average temperature weather followed by very short periods of seasonal weather. The above normal temperature days have by far outstripped the normal days. There have also been an unusually large number of thunderstorms this winter. In a normal winter there are no thunderstorms. The only exception is when there is a heavy snowstorm or blizard and then you’ll sometime here thunder when it is snowing heavil...

There has been a lot of opposition to super stores that sell goods at cheap prices moving into certain communities. The opposition is due to that which comes with stores like Wal-Mart such as low paying dead end jobs, the driving of ‘mom and pop’ stores out of business, and the physical design and acres of land that is taken up by such store chains. Communities feel they can do better. Well, I’m not one to really knock the store that can give me a cheap price and quality goods. I do shop ...

I was listening to an mp3 of Symphony No. 2, “Romantic” by Howard Hanson and conducted and played by Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony. All three movements of the piece are good in my opinion. I was first introduced to the piece at the ending sequence in one of my all time favorite movie “Alien” as the alien was flushed into space by the blast of the engines of the shuttlecraft. The marriage of scene and music created a sense of relief that the alien was finally vanquished. What an ...

There’s a little stretch there where I couldn’t find time to blog. I’m in the middle of employment change and that with house choirs like panting has affected my ability to blog. My other blog has even gone a longer stretch without an entry. I guess this is just the way things will go occasionally. Job-hunting is a pain. I’m out here putting the so-called ‘Goldie-Locks’ (did I spell that right?) economy to the test. Frankly, I think the relatively good employment stats are misleading. I he...

I was once lukewarm to the second amendment to the US Constitution feeling the amendment was dated and belonged to an earlier time in US history where to pull together a militia for the defense of the country or the need for firearms for protection and food was necessary. I still felt that the second amendment had some utility and that side arms and long rifles for personal protection and hunting respectively should still be a right but in general I thought that the right to bear arms nut...

It’s been a long time since I last blogged about sex. I think I did write once that I feel and know that sex is very important. I support having sex or, if you can’t find a partner for whatever reason, masturbation and I don’t care if the sex is heterosexual or homosexual (rough or gentle, slow or fast). I was thinking about the combination of sex and music. Many of us when we try to romance someone play romantic or what we think is sexually arousing music when we’re with our ‘honey’ at th...

The funniest story I heard on television last year was on the program Live With Regis And Kelly (Yes, I do peek in on this program occasionally. I watch many programs occasionally. Rarely do I regularly watch any program on television though.). Regis told a story about meeting Jack Nicholson at a dinner party after screening a film Nicholson starred in. I’m going to try and tell it but I probably won’t do it justice. I can’t capture the unique mannerisms of Regis. Anyway Regis was sit...

I love living in a part of the United States where one can experience Mother Nature’s four seasons. We are about four weeks into fall and this part of the earth is cooling off because of less sunlight hitting the land (days are getting shorter) due to mother earth leaning back (earth tilting away from the sun). Leaves are turning orange and red and falling from the trees as less sap rises within the trees to nourish the leaves (although colors of leaves are less brilliant this season b...

I’m ‘sweating’ at the purchase of a much faster CPU. I guess it’s because the prices seem so high to me. I had to drop my desire to get a 3000+ Athlon chip because the price was just not right. The quote I got was $199.00. I just can’t do it! The four motherboards I have purchased (which includes the one I intend on using with my faster chip) in my days tinkering with PC’s cost approximately $273.00 dollars (think four computers). One 3000+ xp CPU would cost almost as much as four mothe...

Mother Nature is pouring it on in Florida. Just three weeks ago the state was walloped by Charley and now, or what seems like forever the hurricane Frances is hovering and slowly sliding across the state of Florida. It will have covered the whole state of Florida as a typhoon or tropical storm before it moves on. Boy, I’m glad I don’t live in Florida. There are a lot of states that am happy I don’t live in largely due to the constant weather extremes that affect those areas. I mean nature ...

I purchased a used auto and without going into too much detail about such things like make and model I think I’ll talk about lessons learned. First of all the vehicle is a lemon and I feel ‘ripped off’. The immediate investments in repairs for this vehicle just in order for it to pass inspection are high. This is what I get for buying a used vehicle from an owner without having sufficient knowledge of auto mechanics. Luckily, so far, the engine and transmission seem to be in good condit...

As with most people I get my information from many sources. This is the benefit of a free society. When you live in a free country it is very important that you keep up with what is happening in government at all levels. It is important that you be an educated consumer with well-developed critical thinking skills. It is important that you stay up to date with what your elected officials are doing. Are they trying to follow the policies they enunciated to the public on the campaign trail? A...

I had to order copies of my credit reports today. I used the toll free numbers given by the three major credit reporting companies and for Experian [(888) 397-3742], and TransUnion (1-800-888-4213) things went pretty smooth with their automated credit report request service but for Equifax (1-800-685-1111) things went quite different. First of all the speaker was speaking too fast but the major problem was after giving them the requested information the automated service informed me that ...

May It Rain In The Northwest US: I read the Northwest US is pretty parched and the need for water is critical. Lets hope storm clouds gather and raindrops fall on the forest, mountains, deserts, and plains of the Northwest. They need it with water needs being so great and all. I hate to see precious forest go up in flames as has happened quite a lot these past few years. They need heavy rains in the summer and heavy snowfall in the winter for the next year or two to make up the very large...

I was never a part of the Fraternity and Sorority system at the college I attend. I never really wanted to be part of a collective where one must go through strange initiation rights and other practices throughout the college years. However there are advantages to being a member of Sororities and Fraternities. The network created just by being a member is an advantage. By becoming a member you have generations of ‘brothers’ or ‘sisters’ out in the working world that could be a big asset i...