Click images for desktop size: "Untitled" by Amano Maten It snowed here yesterday.
All day and through the night. I swept 5 inches of it off of the car so I guess its safe to say there was at least five inches of snow.
They say that this is awfully early for this much snow here. I wonder if they're just trying to console me, give me a false sense of security.
Funny enough, I don't much mind the snow. I prefer shoveling the snow and spreading salt and stuff to mowing the grass and raking leaves. I'd rather have a full gardening crew do all of it but for some reason I don't mind the snow as much. Maybe because its still pretty new stuff to me.
I do point out, with pride, that I've not fallen down yet . . . Its early days yet and the dogs are eyeing me, knowing they'll get their chance.
Click image: "Untitled" by Michael Whelan
Last night I went out in the storm (which is a harsh word for the amount of snow there was but I still thought of it as a storm) and I was momentarily stunned with the peace and calm of it all. The moon really did give the landscape "the luster of midday." The tree branches all dripped and bowed under the weight of the snow.
It was all very beautiful, peaceful and serene until my puppy and the giant dog decided to plow through the unbroken snow rolling and tumbling while they had their big play fight. They gamboled and tried to get me to join in. They buried their muzzles in the drifts and ate it up like ice cream charging back and forth, looking for good eating snow while occasionally attacking one another for no good reason.
THen they'd come up and push their wet bodies hard against me for some pets and play. My unbroken winter landscape now looked like a battlefield from World War One.
If the dogs weren't panting and wild eyed with giddy joy it would have been hard to take. I decided I
Click images for desktop size: "Buttons And Denim" by Unknown liked the busted up yard as much as I liked the pretty painting of the yard as it was before. It meant more than just prettiness and/or a lack of ugliness and concealed messes.
I think that's the reason that I like the snow more than grass and raking. The dogs love to watch me shovel the snow. They like to dig through each shovel full making sure I'm not discarding something important. They like to watch me grumble and curse and maybe even slip and fall. They like to check ahead and come back to tell me its safe to proceed, and they like to stand obstinately directly in my path to see if they can make me go around them.
In other words arduous chores become fun. So that even if I had someone to shovel the snow and plow the driveway I'd still be out there with my nicked up blade shovel with my doggie buddies.

AppleTV did an update last night. Bringing it up to 2.3.
I haven't installed it yet because it disables and removes Boxee! I'm not sure why Apple goes out of its way to remove 3rd party applications. I read it was doing the same thing to the iPhone.
Seems sort of paranoid controlling to me. It might have something to do with the MPAA or the Networks.
Boxee lets you watch Hula and CBS, Comedy Central et al right on your TV. Since these are already advertiser supported I can't see the networks much caring about this. Watching them this way there's no way to skim through the commercials,
Click images for desktop size: "Big Medicine" by Unknown whereas if I was using a DVR I can zip right through all of that.
I can't imagine why the networks would want me to be forced to watch their stuff only on my computer.
The MPAA might not like that Boxee allows easy watching of Xvid and DIVX files through the AppleTV. They might view this as condoning or encouraging video piracy.
With the way these same media conglomerates are fighting the idea of DRM free music this short sighted approach is possible.
But since I could set up a cheap old computer and call it a "Media Center" or even use a Mac Mini instead of a TV that would circumvent all of these protections and even make things more available.
In fact over on Engadget a lot of guys are mocking the AppleTV by claiming how their XBox 360's and Playstation 3's can already play all of this stuff without any add ons.
I prefer the AppleTV for several reasons, not least is that its small and near silent. It also adds to my enjoyment in the various streaming modes.
But considering that the latest AppleTV also does not allow re-installing Boxee it seems that the update was mainly just to allow Apple to maintain its paranoid consumer unfriendly control of the things you buy.
I hate that. It stinks of Microsoft.
It also means I won't be installing the AppleTV update until Boxee figures out how to reinstall itself. That shouldn't be too long.

I'm not doing great.
I'm not doing badly, just not great.
I'm getting a cold . . . so being in pain and congested with a thick feverish head is a bit much!
Its not that bad though.
I noticed that for about 15 or 30 minutes after I wake up in the morning I'm pain free. SO maybe that's a good reason to take a nap, a lot of naps!
I'm planning on making matzo ball soup today. My puppy's aunt sent me a package of matzo ball soup mix. Any modern scientist will tell you that matzo ball soup is the only approved cure for a cold!
So that's the plan for today. It should be interesting. One place the pups are not a lot of help in is the kitchen. Only because they don't believe that everything that comes out of the kitchen is not for them.

Posted by David at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Click images for desktop size: "Sakura" by Digital Blasphemy This has become a house of illness!
My friend was home yesterday. Home sick. She puts it off to gluten poisoning! I'm not so sure, but what do I know.
The giant dog was ill Wednesday night. Then my puppy was ill last night. So ill she didn't even come and start bugging me for dinner!
My puppy being ill is always a source of worry.
The worst part is that I'm still sick but I'm used to it so I got to be nursemaid . . . I'm not that good at that.
Still got some of the things done. Changed and washed the sheets and the vomited on things, so that my friend would at least have a cool clean bed to suffer in.
I got some bare maintenance house cleaning done. It was raining so I couldn't do any yard work. Which bugged me. The worse I feel the more I like to be doing something.
Click image: "Tom Ewell & Marilyn Monroe" Mot heroic something but when I'm moving around I don't have time focusing on my pain. Nursemaiding doesn't change my focus enough to do the same thing.
When the rain broke I took the gentle dog and my puppy for a walk to get a loaf of bread for me (I still like to eat "raw" bread when I'm sick) and some Jalapeno Halvarti cheese for my friend . . . I'm not sure if cheese is the best thing for someone who's sick. I didn't think of that then. I only thought of that now.
After that I put on "Air Bud: Spikes Back". The Air Bud movies are these harmless pretty bad flics about a sports playing golden retriever.
Yeah. I liked it plenty. But I'm the sort who enjoys seeing how nicely a dog walks down stairs. My friend does too so it was a good movie for lounging about and feeling terrible to.
In this one Bud plays volleyball. Bud plays the center or the setter on the team. This lets us have a couple jokes about too bad he's not an irish setter, which tells you the quality of these films.
I really liked the Air Bud movie where he played football. I laughed a lot just seeing a dog wearing a
Click images for desktop size: "Thor & Hercules" by Marvel Comics silly football helmet . . . This one was okay by those standards but "Spikes Back" is the least of these movies.
When you see the Japanese dog films and compare it to the American output its pretty depressing.
It makes me worry a lot about Richard Gere making a movie about Hachiko. Hachiko is still one of the most thrilling and moving true dog stories ever.
I worry about how they'll miss the simple beauty of Hachiko's story and turn it into something that's not about a dog's love and loyalty and will instead make a movie about people. There are plenty of movies about people. I think that this one could afford to be about the dog. He's the quiet heart broken hero, not the reporter or the emperor.
After that my friend went for a proper lie down and I put on "The Face of Another". Its one of those Japanese art films from the sixties. Pretentious and all that. This is from the guy who made "Woman In The Dunes" which was pretty pretentious but kind of fun.
This one was a black and white semi science fiction thing. A tech salary man gets his face blown off by using a tank of liquid oxygen instead of a tank of liquid air . . . I have no real idea what the difference is.
The salary man goes crazier and crazier but in one of those wordy ways, not slicing and dicing people but just talking too much.
The salary man goes to a shrink who specializes in building the self esteem of people who've been disfigured in accidents. He makes plastic body parts to stop people from obsessing about their differences.
For the salary man he decides to do something incredibly unethical and make him a mask! I have no idea why making a mask is unethical.
The shrink makes him a mask that is super real. No one would ever think it was a mask. The salary man develops another personality to go along with his new face. And that's about it.
There's all sorts of babble about how society perceives faces and that's about it . . .
I fell asleep during it. Slept so hard that I couldn't be awakened. Which is strange for me. Stranger that my puppy didn't try and wake me at dinner time!
At least all the dogs ate their usual breakfasts. I made them blander than usual. What could be
Click images for desktop size: "Conceptions" by Luis Royo blander than dog food anyway. They all ate it up and are all in their usual sleeping positions.
The gentle dog is wrapped around my feet. The giant dog is on the love seat hoping that someone will try and steal his precious rawhide. And my puppy is sprawled on the bed.
My friend is at work and I have that nasty totally hollow feeling in my body.
So all is normal.
Today's plan: To unclog the drains around the house, preventative somewhat. To take all the dogs for a good long walk. And to not succumb to falling asleep in the middle of the day.
After a bright sunny morning the clouds are gathering again. I don't want ti to rain. They say it will snow this weekend.
I don't mind the snow. Somethings about it I like a lot. I've just got all these leaves that have to be removed and right now they are too wet and yukky to deal with. At least to wet and yukky for me.
I feel terrible. For some reason I still think I'm going to win . . .

Posted by David at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Click images for desktop size: "Mon Belle Ami" by Unknown Like most people I see things as I want to see them. This isn't neurotic or psychotic. It is just one of those things you learn in Philosophy 101, along with that damn Plato's Cave thing.
Like when I look at my puppy I always see that erstwhile little dog who stood on her hind legs with her front feet resting on the little console as she stared resolutely out the windshield, occasionally and unexpectedly leaning over to give my face a lick.
That's a problem. It let me over feed her to the point of obesity. That's bad. Real bad. Worse in dogs than even in humans. But she always looked so happy when she got a treat . . .
Her being happy made my moments joyous, even as I was killing her. All because my subjective reality saw that little puppy dealing with her stress and doing so only to please me, to make me happy.
When I look at my friend . . .

Click images for desktop size: "Valley" by Unknown
Yesterday was a long day. I did a lot. Not a lot of different things but a lot.
It was nice because I did a lot of yard work and had all three dogs outside with me for most of it.
I filled in the two holes the giant dog had dug. I still don't know why he digs them. Its not boredom, so I wonder what he's looking for.
Knowing the giant dog well I figure he lost a bone someplace in the yard and he's digging the holes here because its easier to dig here than there. There's no grass right in front of the door. The dogs always hit the ground running there and have a nice little circle of dirt and dust to roll in.
I filled all three of them in with mushroom mulch. I have a fantasy of grass growing back there one day.
I took the half empty bag of mulch back and then went to the shed to get the leaf blower. It took me about 10 minutes.
When I got back the giant dog was all pleased and excited. His butt was wiggling with unbridled joy and expectation. He knew I;d be pleased. Instead of three holes there were now four, and these were all much deeper and bigger than the ones I filled in.

Click images for desktop size: "Yin and Yang Sky" by WK Wong In dog reality I had clearly filled in the holes not due to hating holes but because I clearly wanted a better quality hole. He just knew I'd be so pleased.
He made me laugh. I laughed harder when he was shocked I didn't give him a cookie as a reward for his hard work.
I'd never really used a leaf blower before. I was looking forward to it. I got the dogs in the house. If anyone was going to get blinded I figured it should only be me.
Now, my friend has this Black & Decker Leaf Hog. Interesting name. I guess its intended to be appealing.
My friend said that it was intended to vacuum up leaves and mulch them. She said it did this terribly and that it was only useful as a leaf blower. Its a huge thing, nearly 5 feet long.
There a long thick nozzle that ends in a six inch diameter intake. Then down by the handgrip is a three inch exhaust.
Even though there's a sticker on the nozzle that says "Be sure power is off before converting to vacuum or blower" there's absolutely no apparent way to make this conversion. When I turned it on it was pretty apparent that it was set to vacuum. It wasn't picking anything up but there was a pleasantly powerful exhaust blasting my feet.
I fussed with it, got bored with the fussing so I carried the thing like a military rifle at "order arms" position and directed the exhaust as a leaf blower by turning my body and twisting the thing up and down.
Worked pretty well but made me pretty arm weary. Its electric so not so heavy just big enough to be awkward and uncomfortable.
I got some big sections of the yard done. I had to give up at one space when I had a fifteen foot wall of leaves about three feet high. The dogs loved that. They've made it a fifteen foot wall that's now two feet tall and five feet wide (at last look).
Inside the house I continued my love affair with the new roomba. I'd left it running with the dogs in the house. I wasn't worried about it after I'd seen the gentle dog sleeping on the floor. The roomba bumped his foot and he lazily looked up at it then lay back down to sleep.
The roomba picked up an amazing amount of filth. I sent the dogs outside so I could mop the house. The place looked and smelled immaculate. I was very impressed.
I let the dogs back in. The cat came in with them and suddenly my immaculate floors were covered with yard dirt and dead leaves. Darn cat . . . always dragging in filth.
Darkness was coming on so I decided to watch a movie. My friend Jon had sent me a Thai flic called "Som Tum".
I've known Jon since he was 12. He was a pet store groupie. He liked to hang out and play with all the animals, eventually my wife had to give him a job.
Jon was thai. His mom was a single parent. She worked in the notorious Oki Dog. Oki Dog is that place at the fringe of West Hollywood that's used to be the hangout for the runaways and male hustlers. It made the most revolting food ever
Click images for desktop size: "Untitled" by Dark Art conceived. An okie dog was two grilled hot dogs with chili and a huge amount of odd veggies all wrapped in a flour tortilla. An oki dog was incredibly cheap though. I think it was a buck. You sure couldn't eat more than one . . .
Jon's mom said, correctly, that she couldn't afford for Jon to have all the pets he craved. Jon loved animals, birds, mice, and especially dogs and rabbits. He came to our house often and our dogs and rabbits loved him nearly as much as he loved them. They were always excited to see him and he never even gave them treats.
When we were entrusted by our vet to feed an abandoned tiger cub Jon worked even harder than we did to try and keep the thing alive. The tiger had to be fed every two hours. When I'd get up in the middle of the night to feed it Jon would already be there at the cage wanting to help.
When the tiger didn't make it Jon cried, not hysterically but with a deep profound sense of loss.
Working at a cruddy minimum wage job where she had to fend off the advances of the owner was not the reason Jon's mom had immigrated.
She decided to return to Thailand. This upset Jon terribly. He was 17 now and had turned into a pretty good kid. His love of animals had not diminished. We talked to his mom and we decided he could stay with us until he graduated from Fairfax High. He was no problem, actually a lot of help with our menagerie of animals.
Jon took me to the Thai movie theater for my birthday. It was this dilapidated joint down on Vermont way past Pico is all I remember but way before Exposition too.
The films were terrible. It didn't help that the theater was using a projector bulb that should have been replaced months ago. Seeing a dim shadow of a poorly shot film with indecipherable poorly translated subtitles is not my idea of arty filmmaking.
Like all kids Jon decided that since I didn't like those THREE movies I hated all Thai cinema. And as I
Click images for desktop size: "Bandicoot" by Unknown was an adult this meant my opinion could never ever change.
When he graduated from school I took him back to Thailand. I';d never been and he was eager for me to see what a terrible wretched place it was so I could always feel sorry for him . . . or something like that.
We assiduously avoided all movie theaters. His choice. I was actually rather interested. I liked the garish posters.
He was shocked to read that I consider "Tom Yum Gum" as one of the 10 greatest films ever made. See, its a Thai movie. How could I like it? I hated Thai movies!
For my birthday Jon sent me a copy of a Thai move, Som Tum". It stars Nathan Jones. Jones was the giant muscle man that Tony Jaa has a memorable fight with at the Buddhist temple in "Tom Yum Gum"
I was surprised when I started the movie and over the logo's the subtitles read, "Subtitles not for sale. Specially prepared translation by Jon for his friend DC".
I was moved by this. I had to be.
For some reason Jon translated the Aussie English in the movie as well as the Thai. I guess he figures that I'm too stupid and too American to understand the accented English without help. He knows me pretty well so he probably has a point.
"Som Tum" is an alright movie. It has some remarkably touching scenes. It has some excellent fights, mainly from a 12 year old girl who is truly incredible. Jones is mainly a comic prop who, even though he has a big fight scene at the end, mainly seems to be showing how through love and concern for others it is possible to build self esteem and familial ties WITHOUT fighting.
Pretty laudable.
The plot is that Jones is a gentle giant but when he eats Sum Tom, a spicy Thai salad, the chili's make him flush red and he turns into a crazed fighting machine. Fortunately this weird take on Popeye and his spinach is not overdone.
Most of the film is about four people learning to trust and love each other even though they are alien and speak a different language. Its over plotted: there's a jewel robbery and plenty of fights but at its heart its more sweet than exhilarating.
Jones and the girls rebuilding the family restaurant is given more emotional weight and thrills than the very good fight scenes. The final denouement is Jones realizing he's not a loser or a low life. He
Click images for desktop size: "Winter Lights" by Unknown came to Thailand because he won a raffle where the trip was the prize. For Jones it was more exciting that he got his name in the newspaper for being the winner then actually winning something. Its was the only time in his life he'd felt like he'd accomplished anything.
A good movie that I'll always hold as special.

Post election I'm still amused by the Palin stories. She seems unaware that she's become a national joke.
Obama has been President elect for a whole day.
So far nothing in my life has changed for the better.
So far I'd have to say I'm very disappointed in his performance . . .

Posted by David at 9:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Click images for desktop size: "Hallowed Halls" by Stag I haven't been sleeping well.
It's that sort of half sleep half waking that makes me feel like I'm turning into General Sternwood without the money and the hot house orchids.
For whatever reason I thought about my dogs. Not the ones living with me now but the dogs whose friendships have passed through my life.
I remember my third Belgian Shepherd, Penny. It was right after the big tragedy. Penny was recovering but her middle was so tightly wrapped with brown stained bandages that she looked like some sort of anorexic mummy.
I couldn't stand to be in the house that night so I took her and we checked into a motel on the Strip.
Click image: "Lon Chaney-Phantom Of The Opera" After we checked in I lay down on the bed. I became aware of all the activity outside my room and realized that I had checked into one of those joints used by the Sunset Strip streetwalkers for business.
That didn't bother in and of itself but lying there in that sin filled bed started to creep me out.
I threw the spread on the floor and laid down on it. Penny came over and with no preamble laid down beside me and pressed her damaged body hard against me. She rested her head on my stomach, looked at me and closed her eyes to sleep.
She made me feel loved. There's nothing ever wrong or cheap about feeling loved.
I remembered her body pressed against mine clearly with muscle and skin memory.
I remembered my little Texas dog. I used to get up at 3 AM or so to go down to the daily labor place. One day this puppy started to follow me. She waited outside the daily labor place while I waited inside to get no work. When it started to dawn I started to walk home. The puppy followed me.

Click images for desktop size: "Harbour Sunset" by MattV8 I remember how I was distraught about this. How I knew I couldn't afford to feed a dog. I was eating a 25 cent bag of microwave popcorn for my meal a day, on good days I was eating those 49 cent macaroni and cheese dinners. I lived in a room with a communal kitchen. No pets allowed. Taking care of a dog would be impossible.
I tried to tell the little pup this but she just keep dancing and play bounding around me. Other people started to pass us as the city began to wake up. The pup ignored them and just stuck close to me.
As worried and impossible as it was I was still thrilled to know that no matter how decrepit my station in life this little dog didn't care. She just loved me.
it went in a roundabout way but we took care of each other. I paid for her shots and her food by bartering with a vet. She let me help her on her large animal calls.
I remember the little pup snuffling and snorting at bulls who moo-ed at me too aggressively. But what I remember with present time resolution and 100,000:1 contrast is how much she loved me and trusted me.
And I remember the little blind dog who on first "sight" of me decided that we were best friends. Now and forever and that we'd been best friends before we ever knew each other.
I think that people who minimize the value of animals are sad and lonely people who can't get past the cruelty that burns itself across their tarnished hearts.
Not to diminish any person who has loved me or that I have loved I still think that the love I have for dogs and that they have had for me is the cleanest, least complicated and deepest that a man can feel.
Love between people is more intense and maybe a touch more important to our sanity and dealings and copings with a mad world, but its the unwavering love between a man and his dog that sets the zenith that people need to aspire to.
With all the bickering and squabbling I realized that I've probably gotten there. That realization let me sleep.

There's an article in Todays Guardian: "The Chameleon: Who is the real Sarah Palin?"
It takes a Brit paper to give an objective view of this woman. Or maybe i just think its objective
Click images for desktop size: "Dark Futurist" by Maxfield Parrish because it fits my view of the woman.
There are some bits that actually make me feel some empathy, actually pity, for the woman. She's a monster, no doubt, but she's a human being as well. A conniving hate filled angry insecure scaredy cat, but a person beneath that.
It certainly looks like her ambition has put her in an ugly place where she's being manipulated rather cynically. Part of her monstrosity is in her rather sad need to be accepted by people who are even more unscrupulous than she is.
That is sad. A tragedy in some ways. It doesn't excuse her, nor does it justify here confounding ability to believe whatever "truth" she sputters out no matter how contradicting to the facts or even to her previous statements is the honest to Her God's truth.
All people are unique. All people share points in common. Palin is confirmed in my mind as being exactly like every other failed actress wannabee beauty queen that I've ever met.
Except Palin discovered politics. She started by get just over 600 people to think she was okay. That's not enough to fill an Equity Waiver show for a week. Her act would have closed after one night on Broadway, off-Broadway. But it made her happy. Her apparent incompetence didn't deter her. She was loved.
She become a blood lusting wench to appeal and keep her rather dowdy insecure husband in love with her. That all makes sense and it fits the known facts and makes what is happening now inevitable.
She's the superstar she always wanted to be. She'll view every vote she gets on election day like a ticket purchased to the Sarah movie and it will thrill her. No matter if it costs her her soul. She gave her soul away a long time ago. Maybe it was stolen from her. Not my problem to figure out.
Its a decent article. Worth reading.
I have to go play with my puppies. They think they have a strategy for beating me.

Posted by David at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Click images for desktop size: "City Lines" by Blurburger The dog walk was a wonderful thing.
Such things always seem to be.
My heart was bursting with the good feeling I usually associate with 6 year olds on Christmas morning.
My puppy was appropriately nervous about all the strange new dogs but she still went over to greet our next door neighbor's dog. She was very pleased she got to smell his butt. She wouldn't let him smell hers! This made her think that she won . . . something, I guess.
Usually they only get to see each other through the fence so this was her excitement for the day.
The gentle dog was not gentle. He was very surly about these strange dogs milling about. He doesn't mind being submissive around the house but he wasn't going to take it from these dogs!

Click images for desktop size: "Tree" by Unknown The giant dog was terrified. He almost always is. Like my puppy he doesn't care much for new things.
it all changed when we hit the trail. Sadly this walk was not very well attended. It was a beautiful day and the place is still magnificent. I continue to be impressed that a place that charges 100k for a wedding party would let a bunch of dogs roam free on its tended woods.
(Part of my agenda is to call them today to at least thank them and then to try and beg for permission to take the dogs there on our own . . . for free . . . )
Very soon we had the trail completely to ourselves. The dogs were ecstatic. They ran, found mud to step in and stink from. They explored and got covered with burrs and stenches. It was a wonderful
Click images for desktop size: "Poodle Party" by Unknown day.

I'm still waiting for the internet service to get cut off. The phone, mobile and internet are all on the same phone bill. On Friday they cut off my friends mobile because we're late with the payment.
A while ago I managed to get a DSL service that costs about 25% of what the phone company charges. The DSL still come through on the phone companies line though. On October 13th they'll switch us over to a "Dry Loop DSL line". Which basically means its a phone line where you can't make or receive phone calls but you can still get DSL service.
The government makes them do this so you know the phone company isn't too stoked about it. I'm not sure why it takes so long for them to do this switch as they don't have to come to the house or anything. They just have to flip a switch somewhere.
I guess there could be so many switches that they have to have two weeks to track down the right one . . .
In any event, no phone line, no DSL, no internet . . . I've no idea if they'll wait until the 13th or cut off the phone earlier for non-payment.
When the dry loop DSL gets switched on (oh and its ADSL no matter what they're trying to call it) we'll have the Vonage line. With the extra monthly charge for the dry loop line (yes, of course they charge extra for it) the internet package and phone line will save about 60% per month. Not insubstantial. Worth a bit of inconvenience, for sure. Just don't think I'm dead if you don't hear from me until after the 13th. Even talking to the phone company they give no indication of what they might do.
Interesting how the internet has become a necessity so quickly. I think it took the car 40 years to become vital, the phone about 60 years. Even electricity took over 50 years to be required. I'd guess the internet took about 10?

One thing the internet has done is make politics more accessible. Even the Republican extremist mad men know how to use it. Although they won't to censor it and want to enlist the providers in this quest. They might succeed by destroying net neutrality which will give the utility companies more of our money and enable them to keep you from seeing stuff they don't want you to see.
Stuff like this: The Make Believe Maverick. This is a surprising clear and clean article. Sadly its in Rolling Stone. They seem to know where they're treading as they keep things very very precise and exact and verifiable.
They get involved in McCain's cooperation with the enemy when he was a prisoner of war but stop short of talking about the films he supposedly made. I guess its rumour and they have too many facts to show that McCain is not what he claims to be. He's no patriot and in the Korean War
Click images for desktop size: "Dragon Lady" by Unknown he would have been disgraced as a traitor.
Reading this and its clear that there are no brother POW's who would take the stage and stand alongside him.
Then there is this measured piece about Sarah Palin's Dislike of Minorities and Native Americans. The title is inflammatory. Its a nasty subject. The article is carefully considered and merely points out the facts. Palin is the governor of a state that we think of as being almost all white, but there is a 10% black population that Palin has assiduously ignored and kept down. She has also, apparently, done her best to hide and/or destroy the Native American Eskimo's. She has removed Native American's from almost all government posts and has no blacks in any positions.
Pretty unthinkable and certainly unconsciousinable.
Especially from someone who is trying to tie 6 year old Barack Obama to the old SDS and Weathermen groups. Sort of ignoring the fact that to a lot of hippies and the like those groups were mildly heroically perceived in those days of war and protest she still seeks to align him even though the issue has already been examined and discarded as groundless.
Remember the lesson of Lyndon Johnson, "Make him deny it!"
I don't like Obama much. I like Joe Biden because he suddenly became human to me. But the scurrilous lies of McCain and harpy Palin have pushed me into the uncomfortable position of having to support Obama fervently. To let these sons and daughters of Nixon have a toe hold of power is revolting, dangerous and, with no exaggeration, could lead to the end of the world.
No one is too startled that Palin looks like a tax cheat. No one is surprised that she's a vindictive shrew who has used her power to illegally destroy a man who had the temerity to divorce her sister. What makes no sense is the Republican Party's desire to help her cover this up. So incendiary internet articles like this: The Storm Troopers Dark Side are to be expected and have a basis in being more honest that the people they're attacking.
See, I don't want to have a leader who's the same as me. I want a leader who's better than me. who I can look up to because of their intelligence, their empathy and their drive, not their ambition, bigotry, lies and hatred of the people they seek to lead.

Posted by David at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Click images for desktop size: "From Darkness To Light" by Shifted Reality With the Dodgers and the Cubs both in the playoff's I can't lose! At least not in the first round. I was surprised that the Dodgers showed so much power. Not so surprised that the Cubs were held in check.
I hope it goes seven games and that the winner eviscerates the Phillies and gets to the world series. The series really should be the Cubs vs the Angels, but I'll take whatever happens!

Finished off the sick day by watching two more movies, watched them curled up and too hot underneath down like comforters.
Watched "The Rocker". Pretty bad comedy about a drummer who got kicked out of his band on the eve of their legendary success. The
Click for desktop size: "Bride Of Frankenstein" by Universaldrummer stages a comeback twenty bitter years later with his nephews alternative rock band. It had a surprising number of good laughs in it. The acting was on a pretty decent level. The real surprise was they cast Pete Best (the drummer the Beatles kicked out of the band on the eve of their success) playing the replacement drummer.
The plot was wonky and the music was dreadful but I laughed aloud quite a few times. Much more enjoyable than it had any right to be.
We ended the night watching "10 Things I Promised My Dog". Now, I'm a sucker for Japanese dog movies. They are virtually their own genre.
They are remarkably gentle films. Extremely life like in their tragedy and conflict but always there are redeeming people about, always there is love and always there is a beautiful dog who behaves exactly like a dog and not like a movie star.
Click images for desktop size: "Superman" by DC Comics
There's never a bad guy in these movies. There's never any dramatic conflict of that sort. The intrusions into the little world are always the product of fate, of life and its vagaries.
It works well for me. I always get misty when the dog passes away from old age.
The genre is so popular in Japan that they made a film that was a massive hit: "Always". It was a generic dog movie WITHOUT THE DOG!
I liked "Always" fine. I preferred "10 Things I Promised My Dog" because it has the cathartic release of getting me misty when the dog passed away at the end. "10 Things" had some great acting. The guy playing the father was superb. The dog was excellent, the girl was cute and bland. There was a classical guitarist. He was actually playing live in the film. He was impressive as a player. Its always stunning when musicians play live in movies. It got Gary Busey his oscar nomination ("The Buddy Holly Story"). Its so effective in building its own little tension that its surprising its not done more often.
I can't recommend this one to anyone but fans of the genre. The director stuck too closely to the formula and didn't seek to expand or contract his vision within the genre like Anthony Mann did with the Western, or Don Seigal did with the prison movie. I enjoyed it immensely. It did what it was supposed to do well, exactly as was expected. That was its only flaw.
It got worried and agitated at all the right sports, laughed when I needed to relief the tension, excited at learning something that was obvious but seemed like a private insight. It did all you could expect and did it extremely well it just didn't
Click images for desktop size: "Untitled" by Luis Royo add anything new. In other words I wanted to love the movie, but instead I only liked it a lot. That's the weakness of the Japanese dog movies.
Like the rest of America I'm stoked about the Vice Presidential debate tonight. Sarah Palin has become the funniest TV character in decades. This is like the ultimate reality show comedy.
Every day she seems to top herself. I really don't know how she does it, how she keeps coming up with these great lines!
Yesterday was so totally cool when she accused Kate Couric of being unethical!! And she made it even funnier by claiming she knows that "pop quizzes" and reporting what a candidate says is unethical based on her community college degree in journalism!
She's a riot!
She nearly blew it with her commiserating about how "Joe Six Pack" she was by then pointing out how she had lost 20k in the market melt down . . . she seemed to think that everybody in America lost at least that much . . . sort of ignoring that all the people on minimum wage don't earn 20k in a year. I got the point of the joke but I thought it fell flat. I was sort of hoping she'd try and recover by giving us a flute solo but no such luck.
I do have to question the sanity of anyone who thinks this awesome comedienne could actually be in charge of anything more than a TV production house. I mean I think its clever that she screwed over the people in Alaska by charging them for transportation from her house to her house, and brilliant to charge them a per diem for sleeping in her own house. That's the kind of creative accounting that TV producers live by. But to be in actual charge of a whole lot of people? I keep thinking about RoseAnne. Maybe Palin could show us her private tattoos tonight.
I hope Sarah doesn't ket me down tonight.
I was seriously disappointed in Obama. He gave a good speech from the Senate floor. Pointing out the greed and government ineptitude that led to the stock market going off (it still has not crashed). He decried everything that needed decrying but he voted for it anyway. We're still giving rich lying stealing bastards our money.
That's not right.

Posted by David at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Click images for desktop size: "Untitled" by Laura Laine Felt like a much not good day yesterday. Nothing changed much in the world. It just insisted on staying the same.
We did get two free bikes yesterday.
A poor peoples free service in this town for folks to give stuff away.
I like the idea but I figured it would mostly be worthless junk that wasn't worth paying a junk man to haul away.
I was right.
The bikes are an old Raleigh 12 speed (that they thought was a mountain bike because it had wide tires) and some K-Mart brand I can't identify. The names supposed to sound Italian but it isn't: Barratta . . . which to me looks like they just swapped the two e's in
Click images for desktop size: "Zombie" by Unknown barrette for a's.
They've been sitting outside for a few years; lots of rust, lots of loose cables. Sadly the brakes are those weird Raleigh design that you can't easily swap out for something decent, the gear shifts don't work but I should be able to get one of them unsafe and moving.
From then on its sandpaper and steel wool to clean it up and lots of grease and oil. Not a whole lot of fun but no misery either.
I went to the dog food store yesterday and did my massive comparison of brands. The clerks must have thought I was nuts. I was taking notes, comparing and ciphering and then didn't buy anything.
I still won't buy any of the foods that were killing dogs a couple of years ago. Science Diet in particular. Charging premium prices for food and then going all the way to China to get the cheapest
Click images for desktop size: "Ancient Japanese Art" by Unknown possible ingredients smacks of deceit to me. Its a Hartz or a Purina style move. Wasn't that the main reason for going to premium foods in the first place? To avoid that sort of callous skullduggery?
I also bear in mind what a few vets told me: That in terms of quality and nutrition cheap old Kennel Ration was better than almost all of the premium canned foods.
Here Candide, which we used to feed goes for 55 bucks for 40 pounds. That lasts us about two weeks.
We switched over to the food stores custom brand because it compared almost exactly to Candide and sold for $35 for 30 pounds. A small savings but a real savings.
The other thing about their custom food was that it had no beef, wheat or wheat products - things the little blind dog was allergic to. I checked over every food they sold that I consider safe (meaning there was no record of the food ever killing any animals) and discovered that their custom made food with wheat and beef had almost the same nutritional value as Candide and Wellness!
It sells for $25 for 40 pounds. Rah!
This, of course means, we can afford to buy more cookies and treats for the dogs . . .
We're picking up some today.
Also yesterday, got the bill from Sears for the washer and dryer. There was none of the promised credit on the bill . . .
Had to call them. They swore it would be on there on the next bill. I still have to write to them. First email then snail mail.
Wonderful thing the internet. It makes complaining almost instantaneous and much easier to ignore.
I had to do the same thing with the State yesterday. They actually have a page on their web site to complain about them hijacking your bank account! Its the third radio button on the options!
I doubt if it will do nay good. They're still going to swipe all and any money that goes into my bank account but, if I win, they'll owe me!
Through all of this I've been thinking about a classic of American literature, Kenneth Patchen's "The Journal Of Albion Moonlight". Great, great book, where Patchen attempts to explain America and Americans in all their forms and visions.
I couldn't recall his attitude about thieving governments but I'm sure its in there.

Posted by David at 10:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Click images for desktop size: "Pin Up Art" by JW McGinnis Still upset about the banks dumping my accounts and giving it to the state.
I still don't think I'm a fault here. It maybe legal but I feel like a victim. I'm stunned that the bank nor the state ever made any effort to contact me. They just took the money. Out of the blue.
I'm looking for someone to blame.
I'd like to blame the bank. Part of it. The charge to loot my account for 40 bucks was $100.00. Now, under the best of circumstances that seems a touch excessive. I'm sure the exorbitant fee is somewhere in one of those small print pamphlets they hand you.
If the state gives them the go ahead I guess they have to hand over the cash . . .
The state wanted their money. When I asked why someone hadn't contacted me they said they didn't have to. It was in the papers I signed for my medical stuff.
It probably was. I might even have read it.

Click images for desktop size: "Grass" by Unknown I keep wondering how a whole state got so desperate for money that they'd go to such extravagant lengths, potentially wrecking lives. I mean, this hurts me but its survivable. What if that were my rent money or the money for a kids operation. I can dispute the charge and get the money back. I give the woman I spoke to credit. She worked hard not to sound smug when she told me the process would take about two years . . .
I keep wondering why my 300 buck maybe debt for subsidized drugs was worth these steps and I keep coming back to Bush and all his tax cuts for the rich. Trickle down doesn't work. The state going to get its money and they're going to get it from the vulnerable, the poor.
Bush is going to give the rich $700 billion bucks because they used all the money he's already given them and blew it. I read somewhere that that's $1,600 for every person in the US. Rah! Could we maybe give three hundred bucks of that to the state so I can get my drugs?
I resent the fact that this money will be used by the investment banks to get themselves richer. There'll be nothing for the people, just for the rich minority.
I have to stop thinking about this. It just depresses me in so many ways. Personally and for my world view.
Getting depressed doesn't do much for anybody except for the rich who like poor people to be too depressed to do much about anything.
I called a couple of high schools and left my number inquiring about being a volunteer coach. I'm not pursuing the first school. Impressions, you see. I have value. If they can't see it then they never will, even if I canoodle them into taking me on staff I'll be the clip board carrier, the xerox boy, or the film indexer.
Those are all important jobs. I have talent greater than that.

Click images for desktop size: "Green Tea" by Michael Puckaz I'm going to keep looking. There's a lot I can do and want to do. I can't drive anymore so that limits me. With my ebike I've got a 10 mile radius I can cover. I look hard enough I'll find something that will work. Every other place I've volunteered in the last 5 years has been able to work around my inability to drive. No one ever indicated it was a big hassle. I wouldn't expect it to be here either.
Looking for work for money and looking for something to do where I can give what I do best for no money. I should be busier.
One bright thing. Its minor but it brings me small pleasure. When my hard drive died I lost my Shonen Knife music collection. I've managed to get some of it back.
A lot of people don't know about Shonen Knife. A lot of people voted for Bush . . . Shonen Knife was one of Kurt Cobain's favorite bands. He requested them and got them to open up for Nirvana on two tours! Red Kross and Sonic Youth have both recorded songs as tributes to them!
More astonishing, to me anyway, is that Shonen Knife, the band, is over 25 years old! They started out as "The Osaka Ramones"!
The got better. At their best they combine that J-Pop bubble gum vitality with a driving pink guitar sound. Naoko Yamano, the guitarist, has the best right hand I've heard in years. She plays with a speed that rivals Johnny Ramone's.
Interestingly she plays often with a pure clean tube sound, where the normal thing today is to take the speed and distort it to give it crunch and drive. Atsuko, Naoko's sister, is the drummer. She keeps the beat.
Click images for desktop size: "Surf" by Unknown She's not as maniacal as I usually like drummers but she keeps a thudding pound going and does nicely on the light frill work.
Their cover of the Monkee's "Daydream Believer" is a nice intro into their poppier sound. It has exuberance and I still like the goofy phonetic english.
In their more "mature" stuff like "Tower Of The Sun" they show a graceful move into more serious modes. I think I prefer the total trash of their classic ode to gooniness "Banana Chips". Long live SHONEN KNIFE!
I'm taking my bike out today to check out dog foods. I need our dogs to have the best possible nourishment. I also need to save money. When the little blind dog was alive we had to be ultra-cautious about foods allowed in the house. He had so many allergies. Now the remaining trio only know they like food! Candide was killer expensive and we finally managed to find a replacement that was about 20% cheaper but still offered all the nutrients and was hypoallergenic! Now, my quest, is to find the nutrients only and save money. I really do miss the company that custom made my dog food in my old state. They even delivered!
Oh, some people will be pleased that my puppy's site has been updated. I'm used to the kids dunning us about it. Some of them want it updated 3 times a day . . . but this time even ADULTS were bugging me!
It had to be done. Its more difficult lately. I didn't even take the pictures. Its not that I'm uninspired but, well, I just miss the little blind dog a lot. Its harder to have reportable adventures without him around.

Posted by David at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Click images for desktop size: "DNA" by Krabban Still sick. The infection is going down well enough to avoid a trip to the doctors. Pricey things: doctors. Pricey things: Meds.
My friend doesn't know how to tell a joke . . .
We we're talking about how the giant dog sometimes feels lost. My puppy is my dog and the gentle dog is my friend's. Both dogs are comfortable in the relationship, comfortable enough to share time with each of us.
The giant dog is insecure. He's special to us but that's not enough for him. Like an acne scarred teen he wants to be the most special in the world to someone. He searches and interferes and often goes for bad attention if for any scant second he feels he's been forgotten.
He's silly enough and goofy enough not to become morbid about it. He also loves the other two and would be lost without them.
So we were talking about the giant dog's desperate need for a codependent relationship. My friend thought it was funny to say that we would have to find a home for the giant dog where he could be lavished with the attention he craves.
I didn't realize she was joking and said something about he'd have to go with me if that time ever came. The giant dog looks to me as pack leader. He sometimes feels the instinctive need to challenge me and is relieved when he loses. (He has issues with his instincts to be in charge and his natural goofy disposition and his problem with being large enough to reach any shelf in any house.)
This prompted my friend to joke that I was in love with the giant dog. Which is probably true enough in its way. She thought the joke funny enough to email my puppy's aunt. She left out the background and simply wrote that we had to find a new home for the giant dog . . . My puppy's aunt, being a kind and sweet pro-active sort, wrote back immediately about her search for a new home for the giant dog!
And then I remembered that all the way through high school and college at least 80% of the fist fights and 70% of the :feuds" all started because of a joke that someone didn't get.
Here I'm sure my friend didn't understand that other people might not realize that the giant dog could never live without us or we without him.
My friend doesn't know how to tell a joke . . .
This is day four of the great Sears ransom story . . . They didn't show up yesterday. I got a call about mid-day telling me that it would have to be rescheduled till today.
I pointed the obvious things out. I hate having to core dump on poor employees who empathize but are powerless.
The saga continues. What makes it bearable is that the new washer and dryer work well . . . so far.
We're getting Vonage here. Cutting monthly expenses to the bone while, hopefully, not noticing much of a change to our Spartan lifestyle.

Click images for desktop size: "1960 Corvette" We got a cool deal on the Vonage. I resent that they still use hard MAC coded phone modems and the world's cruddiest routers, but the deal had the router for only 9 bucks, one month free and no activation fee.
I was pretty happy with Vonage before. Happy is the wrong word. It worked okay and was only occasionally annoying and sporadically infuriating. I guess that counts as happy in the world of telecommunications. It is cheap.
To celebrate the savings we spent the money on a new wireless router. It wouldn't have started to cover the price of doctors and penicillin (what a country . . .) My old linksys was giving me fits. I could keep it going with so alchemy and constant reflashing. It was serviceable enough. Got a linksys draft-N router. We don't have any draft-N wifi cards in any of the computers (maybe my friends work laptop?) so don't notice any speed bumps. Haven't tried to see if there's any improvement in distance reception. It hasn't crashed yet.
I was amazed with myself. I'd been nursing the old router along for so long that it took me less than 5 minutes to get the new one up and in place with the same WEP security and my own personal configuration quirks. In the Windows world that makes me an expert I guess . . . doing something meaningless so many times that you can cope with the inane requirements . . .
I'm glad its working well. I would have missed a lot of laughs without the internet. The colossal story about Bush suddenly becoming a hard core socialist. How uncanny. The government is taking over a company and "loaning" them $85 BILLION dollars! I'd guess that's as large as the gross national product of 2/3rds of the world's nations.
So much for the lie about deregulating banks and insurance companies . . . I like that they are charging AIG interest on the 85 billion. Calculating this in my head i think that's about 1 and 1/2 billion a month in SIMPLE interest. What bank charges simple interest? I haven't read any other terms of the loan, just Bush being hard core about charging them interest.
I do wonder where we're getting the money to loan them. And, of course, how the heck we can ever expect a company that is so mismanaged will ever be able to come up with an extra 1.5 billion a month to pay the interest.
I'm a bit stunned that the balm that Bush puts on this outrageous "loan" is that AIG was simply going to default on all those little annuities and money market accounts that little people had rested their entire life's futures to. Why are there never any jail sentences for bankers stealing from the people?

Click images for desktop size: "Untitled" by Unknown Its stuff like this that made Dillinger and Bonnie & Clyde national heroes. They robbed banks. Banks have always been the enemies of the people. Its almost a natural thing. Banks hate people. Its fair to hate them back.
I still thank that bankers should face jail sentences when behaving this badly.
It also amusing that McCain and his cronies have spent their careers dismantling the protections that Franklin Roosevelt (in retrospect he may have been our greatest president) slaved so hard to build to protect us from predatory banks. And now they claim to have a solution to fix what they broke. Sadly, none of the fixes seem to involve admitting that letting banks feast on each other was not the smartest thing going.
I always like it when a guy who inherited a hundred million dollar fortunes pretends to understand my problems . . .
I have to admit though that I am impressed by the fact that no matter how many lies McCain & co. get caught in they just bray the lies louder and watch as their poll numbers shoot up.
Same way that Palin keeps nasally twanging about how she wants a transparent government but then decides that her own legislature should be ignored. The "troopergate" mess reminds me of Spiro Agnew. Nixon was so corrupt and started McCain's lying to procure office mess. Nixon was such a corrupt jerk that people forget that Agnew, his vice president was even more corrupt. He plead nolo contendre to taking bribes when he was Governor of Maryland and was forced out of office. Nixon was able to pardon him to keep him out of prison.
Now, Palin is breaking the law and contradicting herself (lying is an apt word here) about why she fired a good public servant, contradicting herself about her honesty and willingness to cooperate with her own government.
So now the campaign just spouts out more irrational lies but I notice that they keep gaining in the polls.
This stuff would make me ashamed of being American but the fact that the American people appear to demand poverty and a banana style group of despots just makes me laugh. I only weep for the children.

Posted by David at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Click images for desktop size: "Untitled" by Dave Nestler I watched the Monday Night game. What a whacky mess.
DeSean Jackson made the most bone head play of the century! He caught a sure touchdown pass, an elegant play, but as he ran towards the end zone he began to celebrate and threw the ball away . . . compounding it was that none of the Cowboys figured it out so they never picked the ball up.
I didn't like DeSean as a player when he played for Cal when he would always bum rap USC. I'm not above maliciously enjoying his faux paux in the NFL.
Watching the game I was, as usual, impressed with Brian Westbrook. It bewilders me why Sean Payton (HC of the New Orleans Saints) doesn't use Reggie Bush in the same way. Maybe with Deuce McAllister back in the line up he'll start to exploit Bush's talents. Maybe not when you consider that horrific score against the bad Redskins team.

There's going to be another dog walk at the big mansion estate. When we look at the pictures of the lat big dog walk there its pretty apparent that our guys had the time of their lives.
My puppy was a bit more reserved. She takes her self anointed jobs too seriously to ever just let go when there are strangers about but even she had fun running up ahead and then running back to make sure I was okay.
I'll miss the little blind dog being with us. His trying to bully the great danes was pretty heart warming. Even he had a great time on that day.
I'm pleased. The Dog Walk will be the Sunday of the weekend we're going to see Alkaline Trio. It should be a splendid weekend.
Some of you have noticed the funny goings on with the footer of this page . . . This worries me; that anyone is looking, I mean.
I have a free traffic counter from Sitemeter. It only counts the unique visitor who come to look at the front page. I like that. If you come to the movie library or something else it lets you be. Then it
Click images for desktop size: "Back By the Full Moon" by Unknown sends me an email once a week telling me a lot of useless stuff but loaded with groovy numbers!
Like this page gets about 100 hits a day. Which to me seems like a lot. In the internet its something less than insignificant.
The official unique visitor count is closer to 800 a day but that includes spammers, robots etc. Which means the number is just goony and has nothing to do with anything.
I like the data. Seventy Five percent from bookmarks, eighteen percent from search engines. That kind of junk.
Its all pretty meaningless. I never intend to "monetize" the site. I don't want to become a "professional blogger". I'm not ever putting up ads and I'm not writing "reviews" for anything I don't care about. So all the numbers are nothing except for my personal amusement.
I also like the way the numbers look down there. They balance the look of the footer which does it job of saying this is the end of the page very nicely.
Anyway Sitemeter ended up doing a revamp that bought it more in line with Google Analytics. That was another service I tried and didn't care about.
That end of stuff didn't bother me very much except they also changed things enough to change the look of the entire counter. I disliked it so I removed it.
I spent about 15 minutes experimenting with other counter, including one provided by the hosting service. I didn't like any of them and decided that the footer looked just fine with no counter in it.
Then Sitemeter sent out a bulk email. I guess I wasn't the only one with complaints, although I suspect they other complaints were more serious than my fashion worries.
So for now the counter is back there . . . for now.

I have to wait for the third day for Sears to come and pick the old washing machines - between 7 a.m.
Click images for desktop size: "City of the Gods" by Unknown and 5 p.m. . . . and we had to pay for the right to wait . . .
I amusing myself trying to figure out what logic the oil companies used to jack up prizes when the price of oil has fallen. Something about future oil production maybe less so we have to pay more now because we will have to pay even more later . . . seriously, why aren't these geeks regulated?
As the stock market continues to crash I note that this is the worst hit the economy has taken since 9/11. I find it fascinating that it took Bush 7 years to equal the terrorists body count of Americans. The terrorists killed one of my best friends. Bush has killed two of my friends, not trying to track down my best friends killer but in a war for his own ego. Its taken Bush 7 years to cripple the country in the same way the terrorists did in 30 horrifying minutes.
And my fellow Americans are going to elect Palin and McCain so that the terrorism and the carnage can continue.

Posted by David at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Click images for desktop size: "Unknown" by Alma Parens I don't care much for cats.
I don't hate them. I've even had to live with them for some years.
I don't like them. I don't want them exterminated but I don't like them as a group.
As individuals I seem to like the cats that are least feline.
I don't know why. I don't think cats are worth thinking about that much. There are a lot of things I dislike more than cats. I can't think of many off hand but I instinctively know there are things I dislike a lot more than cats.
There is an animal I hate. I hate bugs.
I hate them because they complete the circle of the food chain. I think bugs are higher in the food chain than we are.
Bugs eat people.
From mosquitos to maggots. Bugs eat people.
And mainly i hate fleas. I hate them for being small and fast. I hate their efficiency. A perfect size and shape for eating, escaping and giving birth to millions of children.
I hate them under a microscope.
I hate them because they eat dogs.
They make dogs suffer. If a person treated a dog like a flea treats a dog I would strike them down.

Click images for desktop size: "X-Men" by Marvel Comics I would smite them.
As it is the only weapons I have are chemicals and combs and loving patience. Its scarcely enough. I hate the chemicals, once again just from instinct. I hate the chemicals most because its the only weapon I have. Pyrethrins - comes from chrysanthemums, so its like almost nearly practically organic chemical junk.
All three dogs are plagued and they still look at me with adoring eyes and smiling faces. They suffer and they still laugh and play.
I love dogs. I love that they offer up an unaffected love. A dog can need a person. A person needs his/her dog.
It works out well. Except for fleas impinging into that tiny macrocosm.
I have a lot to do today. I have to get ready for the delivery guys.
My friend got a new washer and dryer. Can't afford them. Need them. Old ones nearly 20 years old. The dryer is ripping holes in clothes. The washer is scarcely getting things clean, more like it gets them wet. Leaves them soapy.
They were on sale. Got them on the plastic, the never never, the "dollar down and a dollar a week".
Debt.
With the price of gas and the price at the laundromats this will probably be a lot cheaper and a lot more convenient.
I haven't seen them. Just pictures on the web. Nothing fancy. Just old fashioned white things. Nothing to be happy about, nothing to be sad about, except the debt. But we need them.
The house is small. Have to get ready for them. Removed the bannister from the stairs so the machines could get down them.
Have to move the stove out of the kitchen so the machines can get in the doors. Had to remove the door from the basement so that there'd be enough clearance to get the new in and the old out.
Had to uninstall the old ones. Odd side effect there. The valve to shut off the water to the washer doesn't seem to work! So had to turn off the water at the main!
So I'm sitting here unshowered and stinking. Unshaved and thinking about fleas and how much I have to do get get ready for the new machines.
I also have to clean up the water from the old machines so the new machines won't start their new existence in the damp.
So I'm just sitting and stinking and thinking instead of doing.
Thinking about USC football and the game this Saturday. Hoping the good guys don't lose.
Thinking about my blood levels. I've been hitting super lows for the glucose. This is strange. Hitting those hypoglycemic low numbers in the low three's and high two's. Not eating right, I guess. Makes my hands do that lock up painful cramping thing.
I wonder why. Not wondering enough to do anything about it. Just like to wonder instead of moving and doing what I need to do, I guess.
Oh, I got two free tracks from iTunes. A certificate for something or other. Couldn't think of anything I wanted so used the "Genius" bar in iTunes 8. It was pretty trippy. Nearly fun.

Click images for desktop size: "Tower Of Babel" by Unknown Didn't improve my opinion of Apple though. iTunes 8 is still too screwed up. Keep finding things they've decided to omit, like id3 tag conversion. Wonder why.
Since iTunes is the engine behind iPods, iPhones and their big push for Microsoft style domination you'd think they'd take some care with it. At least explain the bizarre changes and the peculiar subtractions. You'd think they'd at least make it as bug free as possible.
I guess there's no need to explain when it becomes apparent the reasons were greed and laziness and a pretty solid disregard for the consumers.
Apple is probably making huge donations to McCain/Palin . . .
I going to go play with my puppies. Puppies manage to enforce only one mood, and its a good one.
Then I'll do what needs doing.
Honest.

Posted by David at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Click images for desktop size: "Styling Spaceport" by Unknown It was a beautiful day here yesterday. More so because I go my ebike up, fixed and running. It needs tuning and oiling but its running. Its beautiful. I took it around a long block and it felt as peaceful as my first solo drive in my first car.
When I came back I played with my dogs. We had our usual fun. What was notable is that for the first time since the move my puppy mouthed me three or four times. She hadn't done that since we moved nearly a year ago.
That pleased me and made my heart a little larger.
Then watched some football.
The most notable thing that I see is my old saw still proves true. 1A schools that insist on scheduling 1AA schools should be knocked out of consideration for BCS bowl consideration.
Ohio State has a long history of running one of the lowest regarded academic programs in the country. They train professional football players and seem to have little concern for them beyond winning on the field.
This is not a knock on the players at OSU. They are a talented group with much to be proud of. It is a knock on the coaching staff and the athletic department and the athletics department's PR group.
That OSU goes to back to back BCS Championship Bowls and is an absolute disgrace in each of them in a damning testimony that the only thing working well in their administration is their PR department that hustles hard to impress the voters.
When they made the deal to play USC a simple check of the calendar let them know that this would be the weakest time to schedule the Trojans. The scheduling was all to their advantage. That's the Big Ten way.
I can hear them snickering to themselves calculating how many starters they'd have returning and how many freshmen their seniors would be facing.
Then to insure success they schedule a 1AA opponent as an opening day "scrimmage". Then they follow
Click images for desktop size: "Dragon Lady" by Unknown that with a slightly more difficult opponent: a lightly regarded school from the lightly regarded MAC. You know that they had it all figured out; two in effect "exhibition games" would have them all tuned and ready to destroy the Trojans.
Except the kids from the little school rose up and put on a dazzling display. Its too bad they couldn't keep playing over their heads well into the fourth quarter. It was an impressive display that needs applause.
Needless to say this is not in the best interest of OSU players when it comes to preparing them for life, ecen if their life continues to be in football after leaving school.
To be the best you have to play the best. To improve you have to play someone better than yourself.
The Buckeyes at least got a wake up call. I figure they'll be ready for the Trojans. I hope so.
I also note that over priced, over hyped and over weight Charlie Weiss has done a great job for the Fighting Irish. Last year he made them the worst team in the country. This year he appears to have led them to the very brink of mediocrity.
Chuck Long and San Diego State made an impressive try against them on the road. It came down to some pretty pathetic officiating (It still think the football crossed the plane on the fumble instead of a touchdown that turned the game around).
I want Notre Dame back in the elite so I can fool good about hating them!
The NFL goes full swing today. I plan to watch every game I can get here. Yesterdays college schedule was supposedly not very interesting. I thought it was great and fascinating. East Carolina looking deadly. The SEC getting beaten again when they go outside the conference. Georgia trying the OSU scheduling mode to try and win the National Championship. Stanford standing proud and testy. So many stories, so many kids playing their hearts out.
Its a wonderful time of the year.
On Monday I'm making a hard pitch to volunteer at a local high school. I'm going to flash the credentials and everything.

Posted by David at 9:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Click images for desktop size: "Sacred Fire" by Michael A Parkes A lot happened yesterday. A lot.
I'm not feeling any better. I'm not feeling any worse. I wonder if this is just the new level I'm at. Living on ibuprofen.
I got told I was getting snappish and sharp. I don't feel snappish or sharp. I feel slow and dull and electric.
My mood wasn't helped when it looks like my puppy has developed a yeast infection. I take that as a personal failure, a lack of perfection. Yeah, I'm an imperfect dog god.
Those sort of things always hit me hard. For some reason this discovery yesterday near devastated me. She'll be fine so long as I remember who I am. "Remember who I am."
I saw a Korean film the other day: "A Man Who Was Superman". Its a fictionalized account of a true story. There was a kid who survived a bullet to the head, a
Click images for desktop size: "Ecstasy" by Maxfield Parrish Korean army bullet during the war. He lived with the bullet still stuck in the middle of his brain. The most visible effect of this was epileptic seizures.
He's married with a beautiful daughter. There's a car accident. A group of bystanders stand around and watch and do nothing. He's thrown clear of the wreck but when he tries to save his family he has a seizure and can only lie and twitch in the street. He has to watch his wife and child burn to death. Worse is that his seizure doesn't cause him to black out. Even worse is the large crowd of people who merely watch this grim tableau like it was just another HD television broadcast.

Click images for desktop size: "Old Dusty VW Right From The 70's" by Sweibel He has a psychotic break. He believes he's Superman. He has lost his super powers because the "bald villain" buried a pice of kryptonite in his head.
As Superman he is incredibly mad and incredibly happy. He became a fixture in Seoul, well known because he spent his days helping others. Always helping others. From helping people across the street to lying in wait to catch a pedophile, to chasing and catching purse snatchers.
A jaded TV reporter is doing a human interest story about him. They fall in love, not sexual love, but the deep love that comes with pure friendship that is sometimes possible between a man and a woman, even if most films like to ignore or trivialize it.
The reporter asks Superman why he spends all of his time helping people. He says its important so that he can remember who he is. "So I can remember who I am."
Its a pretty wonderful film. It gives rushes of excitement and nice little touches of cgi where we get to see the monsters that Superman is fighting on our behalf.
What makes the movie wonderful, compelling and fantastic is the performance of Jeong-min Hwang. He works hard and makes you fall in love with him. Its near impossible not to get sucked into his story, to feel for him the same way you'd feel for anyone else you loved.
The film has all sort of structural issues but because of Jeong-min Hwang this is the best film I've seen this year and maybe the best since "The King And The Clowns".
Its a film about being human. It will have an impact on your life and your perception of life. Its an entertainment that becomes art.
I also found something out about a song I covered in at least three bands. I think everyone covered it. I think when we first learned it we got it