Monday, December 31, 2012

Say goodbye to 2012 and all your money..

I'm not sure who coined the phrase "fiscal cliff" but it's pretty accurate. We're all about to fall into an abyss.

*

Compared to 2011, I gotta tell you that 2012 was a pretty damned good year for us.

My eldest has passed every test they've conducted on him and we've made it through the year without any health scares. Personally, I can't ask for any more than that.

If 2013 stays the same as 2012, I will be a happy man.

I hope your 2012 was a good year and that your 2013 is even better.

*

Now, I'm going to try and stay awake until midnight. While I do that, you can visit these links if you are so inclined:


Sunday, December 30, 2012

Nice lazy day

I managed to get the driveway and walks cleared around 10:00 this morning and then spent the rest of the day being lazy.

I like being lazy. I like it a lot.

*

My daughter contacted us last night to let us know that she is safe and sound in Costa Rica. Her cell phone doesn't work but there appears to be WiFi available in most places. She is using her iPad to text her mom.

Ain't technology wonderful.

*

Have our elected officials stopped acting like spoiled little brats and started acting like adults yet?

Nope.

Since they aren't willing to balance their budget, I guess I better start thinking about what I can cut from mine.

So much for an improving economy.

*

Here are some links you may find clickable:


Saturday, December 29, 2012

A snowy Saturday is way better than a nice work day.

Did they fix the economy yet?

Nope.

We're screwed.

*

On the other hand, we've always got terrorism to worry about...

*

Here are a couple of links you can click on:


Friday, December 28, 2012

Yes, I'm still on vacation.

No, the federal government hasn't gotten it's sh!t together yet and we're all going to be dirt poor in a few days.

It's the AMT thing that most of us should worry about....

*

Damn. I always admired him. I always wished the Colin Powell and Norman Schwarzkopf had gotten together to run for President/Vice President. I would have voted for them with no hesitation.

*

My daughter is continuing her educational experience over this Christmas break by taking a mid-year field trip. Her biology professor invited her and several of her classmates on a little trip to study the rainforest of Costa Rica.

It's a tough job but someone's gotta do it.

*

Todays links are here:


Thursday, December 27, 2012

Are you ready for your financial hit?

It's beginning to look like the democrats and the republicans are still acting like dickheads and we will pay the price when are federal tax rate suddenly increases for those of us who have painstakingly calculated our withholding.

I blame Eric Cantor for most of this mess. He's the head dickhead in this. It is my understanding that he might even be undercutting John Boehner by telling the republicans in the house to vote against any solution.

I don't like Eric Cantor at all and if my taxes suddenly go up by $2,000 or $3,000, I'm gonna really dislike him.

Him and every other member of our federal government.

*

You can visit these links if you would like:


Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Back to work?

For those of you that had to return to work today let me just say that it sucks to be you. I took the whole week off and I won't be going back to work until January 2nd.

*

It looks like we are going to need another new senator.

John Kerry, a man who has been my senator for the last 30 years and hasn't done a damn thing that has helped me in all that time, has been tapped by President Obama to become the Secretary of State when Hillary Clinton steps down.

This is one of the few decisions that President Obama has made that I am happy with because as a senator, John Kerry kinda sucks. Anything that gets him out of my little life is a good thing.

He's a large, arrogant, ugly man who has never really had an original thought, does exactly what the senior leadership tells him to do and has little or no concern for those of us that have to work for a living.

In other words, he's the perfect Secretary of State.

*

If you haven't seen this yet, here is the "war of words" currently going on in New York over privacy rights vs. First Amendment rights.

Personally, I think it's pretty stupid and hypocritical of the newspaper to publish the names and addresses of people who are trying their best to adhere to the laws while never publishing the names and addresses of 17 year old criminals.

Having said that, I think it's just as stupid and hypocritical of the blogger to post the names and addresses of the newspaper folks who are only doing what they perceive as their job. If you read some of the comments in the blog, you will see there is mention of finding where their children go to school.

In my humble opinion, anyone who thinks it's okay to go after the children of people that they feel have insulted them is someone who needs to be put into a mental institution for evaluation and incarceration.

There is something wrong with our society and both of those links are indicative of the problems.

*

Oh, and speaking of the ongoing attempt to squash the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution, a bunch of highly-paid actors were recruited to make a anti-gun Public Service Video. Here is that video with a few extra scenes added.

*

Here are some links that you can feel free to click on:


Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Merry Christmas

I'll let you enjoy this picture that I took of my dog while we were waiting for the kids to wake up this morning:

CAN WE OPEN PRESENTS NOW!!!!

*

Merry Christmas Everyone. I hope you all got what you want.

Monday, December 24, 2012

Welcome to minimilistic interwebbing

It's Christmas Eve, dammit, and I'm not going to spend it writing a load of crap for you to read. I spent it eating a lot of food and laughing with some family type people.

Trust me, you should be doing the same thing.

*

Here are some links:


Sunday, December 23, 2012

It's quiet. Almost too quiet....

This is shaping up as the perfect storm. My youngest came home from college sick and he still hasn't recovered.

Today, my wife woke up feeling like dreck and she's all jammed up. According to her, she can be sick today but not tomorrow or Tuesday.

I say good luck to that.

Also, my daughter has managed to flip her sleep schedule so now she is sleeping from 3:00am to 2:00pm which is not good at this time of the year.

And on top of that, my eldest, who has poison ivy, is working in Boston until 11:00 tonight. After that, he'll hop into his car and drive home.

He should probably arrive here around 1:00 or 2:00am and hopefully fall asleep until 8:00 tomorrow morning when we will wake him up and we will all go see his doctor for his first annual followup.

As for me, I feel great and I'm sleeping like a corpse at night.

As weird as it sounds, I'm the only one that has a pretty good chance of not being sick, tired or cranky for Christmas.

WhoDaThunk.....

*

Enjoy these links:


Saturday, December 22, 2012

Things to do and places to be.

This posting is late and short because today was the day we started our traditional Christmas celebration.

Yes sir, this evening was spent at a traditional Christmas celebration, eating the traditional Christmas pizza, drinking traditional Christmas root beer and telling traditional dirty jokes.

What can I say, we're a traditionalist family.

*

Here are a couple of  links you might like:


Friday, December 21, 2012

Happy End Of The Mayan Calendar Day!

That's right folks, today is the day that we celebrate the end of the Mayan calendar.

On this day, a really long freakin' time ago, some guy named Larry the Mayan was working away in the local calendar shop when he got the bright idea of making a calendar that was good for a really long freakin' time. He noticed that the guy next door to him, Harold the Mayan, had a lot of roundish stones outside the back of his Invention Shop so he wandered over and got himself the biggest stone he could find. Then started carving dates onto it.

Eventually, his wife, Beatrice the Mayan, walked into the calendar shop and said, "Larry, you've been here for 18 days, carving that stupid stone. I'm sick and tired of bringing you dinner. Stop it and come home."

So Larry stopped what he was doing, took a step back, looked at his creation and said, "Yea, I guess December 21, 2012 is enough for now. I'll come back later and finish it up."

Then, when he stepped out of the door to his calendar shop, he was immediatly run over and killed by Harold's newest invention, the wheel, thus preventing him from doing any further work on his calendar.

And that, my friends, is as reasonable explanation as any as to why the Mayan calendar ends on December 21st, 2012.

*

I was crusing the interwebs and looking at statistics when I discovered the following:

  • In 2009, there were 9,000+ deaths related to firearms.

  • In 2009, there were 32,000+ deaths related to motor vehicles.

So before I get off on some rant about banning motor vehicles, lets just get to the links:


Thursday, December 20, 2012

Armed teachers?

I'm not sure if this is the best approach to solving the problem but it is a far better idea than the "Let's ban guns! That'll fix the problem!" approach that seems to be the focus of our government.

And just so you know, I'm not against the concept of banning future sales of high capacity firearms but I don't understand what that will accomplish, other than making Diane Feinstein and Nancy Pelosi feel good about themselves.

Between 2000 and 2010, the Bushmaster corporation sold close to half a million AR-15 rifles. I have no idea how many AR-15 rifles the Armalite Corporation or Colt Firearms sold but I can imagine it's probably about the same. My conservative estimate is that there are more than one million AR-15 rifles in the hands of American citizens.

The genie is out of the bottle folks and no matter what the government tries to do, it won't ever be able to put it back. If the government ever tries something stupid like attempting to force people to turn in their guns, it'll be a fiasco. People won't do it. As a matter of fact, you might just see a bunch of armed standoffs between the federal government and those crazy militias out west. Those guys are the "You can have my gun when you pry it from my cold dead hands" kind of guys.

Oh, and by the way, the AR-15 is just one of a class of high-end, high-capacity semi-automatic rifles known as carbines. I can't begin to imagine how many M1, M1A, Mini-14, REC-7, SR25 or SCAR-17 carbines are floating around out there.

*

Todays links are listed below:


Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Not quite done yet.

I have a few more things to get and then I will be done. And by done, I mean that I will not set foot into another store for at least a month.

I hate shopping but all that aside, what I really don't like is being around the angry, stressed-out, overworked, underpaid people that are wandering around the malls like crazed meth addicts, screaming at each other, trying to buy presents.

No wonder there are fistfights and shootings in malls. Those people are nuts...

*

Here are this evenings links that you can click on if you would like:


Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Another hero leaves us.

Daniel Inouye was a genuine hero and a hell of a good man. We need more people like him, not less.

*

So now that I have a start on my Christmas shopping, I feel that I can relax a little. I have five days left to finish it up which means I am ahead of the game. And I have proof that I am ahead of the game - I found a receipt in my coat pocket from last year with a date of December 23, 2011 on it.

That means that I am three or four days ahead of schedule.

Just call me Mr. Efficient.

*

You can visit these if you would like:


Monday, December 17, 2012

And thus begins my last week of work for the year.

This is a full week of work for me and it's one of those weeks where everyone will want something done by me. I will try my best to accomodate them but I make no promises since I'll be off from work next week, enjoying Christmas with my family.

And by enjoying Christmas, I mean sleeping late, eating everything that is put in front of me and driving my wife crazy by watching at least 10 hours of the 24 hour marathon of "A Christmas Story" on TBS.

Like I said, it's good to have goals.

*

Another thing that will be taking place this week is my attempt to complete my Christmas shopping before Christmas. That means I don't have a lot of time to type this drivel.

*

Here are todays links:


Sunday, December 16, 2012

I still haven't done any Christmas shopping.

I'm working this week but I'm hoping that I can get all of my Christmas shopping done in the evenings before, well, you know, Christmas.

It's nice to have goals....

*

Not much that I want to prattle on about so how about we just get to some links:


Saturday, December 15, 2012

Moving right along....

I'm going to stay away from any comment on what happened yesterday. I spoke my peace yesterday and I'll leave it at that.

I will, however, note that while I think the sentiment expressed in the "Morgan Freemen" quote is fairly succinct and accurate, I doubt that it came from Mr. Freeman. Despite my searching high and low, I am unable to locate a source for the quote.

It looks like the quote first appeared on Facebook yet it is nowhere to be found on Mr. Freemans Facebook page. That tells me that like most of the internet, it's complete bullsh!t.

*

I spent an hour this afternoon out in Boston with my eldest offspring.

His car, my old car, the Deer Hunter, is beginning to experience it's age and there is something wrong with it. Since he is planning on leaving work at midnight on the 23rd and driving home, I didn't want him to take a chance that he might break down at 1:00am on the MassPike. I decided to go out with another car and swap with him.

We had some lunch at a barbecue joint he discovered a couple of months ago and it does me proud to find that my son is able to locate excellent barbecue. It was one of the best brisket sandwiches I've had in a long time.

Anyways, we chatted about guy crap while we ate and then I headed for home. I made it home with no issues and this Monday, I'll take the car over to the boys at Wilbraham Tire. They'll figure out what's wrong with it and that is when he gets to make a decision about what he wants to do - invest money into a car that is approaching 14 years old and has 100,000 miles on it or buy another car.

*

You can visit these links if you want:


Friday, December 14, 2012

There is nothing I can possibly say.

As I was driving home with my youngest, listening to the radio, he said, "What is wrong with us?"

I told him I have no idea but something is obviously not right with our society.

First some guy goes into a movie theater and kills 12 people, then some guy goes into a mall and kills 2 people and now some guy goes into a room filled with little kids and kills at least 20 of them.

You can't blame it on guns because there have been guns in our society since it was founded.

No, it's not the guns. It's the people.

So I guess my question is what is different about the people.

Is it the stress of the massive unemployment?

Is it the permissiveness of our society in the sense that suddenly everything is okay?

Is it a chemical imbalance do to the overuse of some drug?

Is it because of all the radio signals floating around, effecting our brains?

I have no idea what it is but I do know that when some mental deficient can walk into a room filled with babies and kill them, there is something wrong and we better figure out what it is.

Soon.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Short Day = Kinda Short Post.

My team left work at two this afternoon and went bowling. We had a good time and I did good but my right arm is currently not functional.

I hate to say it but I'm old and broken down.

*

Did they solve the financial crisis yet?

Nope, not yet.

*

Here's an amusing picture to help fill up this post with crap:


*

You may, or may not, enjoy these links:


Wednesday, December 12, 2012

As I mentioned previously....

....this week (and some of next) will consist of several "Long Day = Short Post".

This is one such day.

*

Try these links if you would like:


Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Time to make a hole in my wall.

I have this phobia about poking holes through plywood. When I poke a hole in drywall, I know that if I screw it up, I can patch it and it will look like I was never there. It is truly amazing what can be done with a can of spackle.

Plywood, however, is a different story. The only way to patch plywood and make it look seamless is to either replace the entire sheet or find a nice way to cover the seam with some type of molding.

The power inlet will consist of a circle cut through the porch wall into the garage. The porch wall is made of 3/4 inch "A/C" exterior grade plywood that has been painted. If I screw up the cut, I'll have to puy a sheet of 3/4 inch "AC" plywood which runs around $40.00.

I don't want to pay $40.00 for a screw up so I'm hoping my phobia will make me be extra careful and I'll do it right the first time.

*

Still no change in the budget situation. It looks like the administration and congress are working together to make me pay more taxes that will be used to pay for things I'm not really all that interested in.

Pardon me while I gaze fondly at my 401(k) balance, knowing that it will probably be crushed like a grape under the heal of a stock market crash while at the same time the amount of oney the government rips from my hands will increase drastically.

I wonder when they'll reopen the debtors prisons....

*

Todays links:


Monday, December 10, 2012

It has finally arrived.

I am now the proud owner of a NEMA L14-30 all-weather power inlet. That means that this weekend, I can install it on my porch, run a complete system test and give myself my seal of approval.

At some point in the near future, my cousin will give his seal of approval.

Then it will be up to the town to give the official seal of approval.

At least I hope they give the official seal of approval....

*

I'm fast approaching the time when I will be doing very little work and much vacationing. That means that this period of time is filled with long days as I attempt to finish up all of the outstanding tasks before I walk out the door on a 14 day absence.

What I'm trying to say is that this is kind of a long day and you get kind of a short post.

*

Here are some links:


Sunday, December 9, 2012

Another successful Christmas party

We spent a few hours with our neighbors yesterday evening at our annual Christmas party. This party is a collaboration between two neighbors. One supplies the house, the other supplies the bacon-wrapped scallops. The rest of us supply appetizers/snacks/desserts/booze.

What started out as a small neighborhood gathering five or six years ago has grown to include folks from all over town, including a gaggle of retired (or about to retire) teachers from Minnechaug. The enjoyable part is that these teachers were my teachers when I was in high school back during the precambian period....

Anyways, it was fun chatting with everyone last night. This little tradition has become the official start of the Christmas season for me.

That means that now I have to put up the Christmas decorations and start getting all Christmaseeee and stuff.

Ho Ho Ho.

*

Does anyone know if the two biggest a$$holes in the country have come to any agreement on the budget?

No?

It's gonna be a crappy New Year for a lot of us.

*

Here are some links you might like:


Saturday, December 8, 2012

I hate those Rosetta Stone commercials

The  little pretentious bitch who says, "I love it when I dream in french" in french needs to be slapped and the redneck who pontificates that, "By far, Rosetta Stone is the best product out there" needs to go back to the fifth grade and learn english before he learns japanese or whatever language it is that he's a fixin' to learn'.

Every time I see that commercial, I'm reminded of the very first skit ever shown on Saturday Night Live.

*

I spent this evening at a neighborhood Christmas party. That means this is a short post with no links.

Catch you all tomorrow.

Friday, December 7, 2012

71 years is a long time.

Today marks the 71st anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

It was a generally crappy day for a lot of kids who all probably thought they had the best life in the world, living on an island paradise in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately for 2,300+ of those kids, that paradise quickly became hell and their lives ended right around 8:00am on a Sunday morning.

*

For those of concerned about my unlicensed electrical abilities, rest assured that my cousin, the master electrician, has agreed to inspect my work. This should hopefully relieve any fears that may be wandering around in certain peoples heads....

*

Here are a few links you can click on:


Thursday, December 6, 2012

My power inlet has shipped.

Pretty soon, my house will be prepared to handle whatever power outages mother nature decides to throw my way.

No more extension cords and no more open basement windows. Just pure electricity coursing through the wires in the walls, powering my refrigerator, my furnace, my lights and, most importantly, my TV set.

*

According to the website CreditCards.com, if Obama and Boehner don't stop shoving each other like 3rd graders in a playground fight, I am royally screwed, blued and tattooed.

I won't be getting $500 or a $1,000 back in the tax refund I calculated out when I changed my witholding last January. Instead, I will be looking around for a non-existent $6,000 or $7,000 to send to the government so that the large men in black suits don't show up at my door and take me away in ankle irons.

I'm too old and frail to go to jail.

*

If you're interested, you can click on these links:


Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Long Day = Short Post

Enjoy these few links:


Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Back at work

As much as I enjoyed taking yesterday off, I felt the need to go back to work today.

And based on that previous sentence, I'm wondering if I might need to go see a shrink...

*

I'm getting sick and tired of hearing about the "fiscal cliff". It's a phrase that is designed to frighten us.

The government wants to frighten us just enough so that when they suddenly announce that they've reached a compromise, we'll all be damned glad that we only have to pay a few hundred dollars more every year in taxes instead of the few thousand we would have to pay if they didn't reach a compromise.

We are a stupid, gullible people and when all of this is over in January, we'll be all excited about the fact it cost us money.

*

You can click on the following links:


Monday, December 3, 2012

Days off are nice.

Not only did I get to relax a little today, I managed to finish transferring all eight circuits over to my fancy-shmancy subpanel.


I enjoyed doing this little project and now that it's close to being done, I hope I never have to use it.

*

You can visit these links if you are so inclined:


Sunday, December 2, 2012

We have a transfer of power.

I decided to move two circuits over - the refrigerator and the furnace are now powered off the subpanel. That way, if the power goes out, I'll be able to....

....do what I've always had to do.


Until my power inlet arrives, I'll have to wire one extension cord into my furnace and drag another extension cord over to my refrigerator.

So I guess moving circuits from the main to the sub really doesn't do me much good for now. It just gets things ready to go when the inlet finally arrives and I install it.

And when that happens, well let me tell you, I will be a happy guy.

*

Here are the few Sunday links I was able to dig up:


Saturday, December 1, 2012

December is here.

How the hell did it become December so freakin' quickly.

I've got to get some Christmas shopping done and the government needs to get the budget taken care of.

And too be honest with you, I'm pretty sure it's more important that I get my Christmas shopping done than it is for the government to figure out the budget.

The way I figure it, no matter what happens with this whole "fiscal cliff" thing, I'm going to get screwed and it's going to cost me money.

If there is one thing I've learned after all these years, it's that anytime the government does anything with taxes, it ends up costing me money.

*

It Is Alive!!!


The subpanel has electricity running to it and it is ready to accept the first two 15amp circuits. The circuit extension wires are run but not connected to the actual circuits. I figure on Monday, when I'm home alone, I'll kill the circuits and swing them over.

After that, it'll be a simple matter of pulling the wires for the remaining six circuits and swinging them over.

This is all assuming that I don't electrocute myself or burn down my house....

*

Here are todays links: