over already, which sucks.
With my work time being out of internet range, I have had to double up on posts.
It wasn't the original intent.
I wanted to discipline myself to making a single post a day, but did what I had to do.
Still, I feel I have gotten ahead of myself. While that is not as bad as getting behind, it isn't what I wanted to do.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
There is a law regarding light bulbs that decrees
that the harder it is to replace, the shorter the bulb life will be.
I just replace the bulb in the bedroom overhead about a month ago and this morning when I snapped on the switch, there was a flash and a 'poink' as the bulb gave up the ghost.
Oh, well. Time to get a step ladder and mess with it,
Yesterday I went to my local get anything store for a tube of caulk and a real head-turner shuffled by.
The 16 year ofd kid next to me blew my mind. He looked at her and said to me, "Hey, Mac, check out the gams on that tomato."
He must have been watching AMC classics or something, but the part that scares me is that he probably thought the movie he saw was made when I was a kid. Truth is it was made when my FATHER was young, as even in the 60s the line was passe. I figure it was a 30s or 40s line and I am not really that old. I'm a child of the late 50s and 60s.
A couple of years ago I think I inadvertantly started a short lived fad among the local high school kids when I decided to wear my hair like I did in junior high school. I went looking for Dixie Peach pomade and went with Murrays pomade instead and combed my hair into a Joe '56 jellyroll and duck's ass.
Then I put on jeans and rolled a cuff up to expose engineer boots and rolled a pack of Luckies into the sleeve of a white T-shirt just for the hell of it. I did this for a couple of days.
Two youngsters stopped me and asked what I put in my hair to get it to stay that way and I told them. What I DIDN'T tell them was the only way to get that crap out of your hair was with WD-40.
A couple of days later I started seeing a number of high school students dressed like 50s Rexall Rangers hanging out and I laughed like hell. They had it all down to a T.
I had only told what to use in their hair and I figure they either watched a couple of older 50s movies or looked stuff up on the web.
It lasted for a short while and I guess things returned to normal.
Now, it should be carefully noted that the kids were not following the style set by their parents. They were following a style set by their grandparents.
Still, it was pretty funny.
Of course, I am still smarting from yeaterdays little episode. I am not old enough to have said "Check out the gams on that tomato".
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
I just replace the bulb in the bedroom overhead about a month ago and this morning when I snapped on the switch, there was a flash and a 'poink' as the bulb gave up the ghost.
Oh, well. Time to get a step ladder and mess with it,
Yesterday I went to my local get anything store for a tube of caulk and a real head-turner shuffled by.
The 16 year ofd kid next to me blew my mind. He looked at her and said to me, "Hey, Mac, check out the gams on that tomato."
He must have been watching AMC classics or something, but the part that scares me is that he probably thought the movie he saw was made when I was a kid. Truth is it was made when my FATHER was young, as even in the 60s the line was passe. I figure it was a 30s or 40s line and I am not really that old. I'm a child of the late 50s and 60s.
A couple of years ago I think I inadvertantly started a short lived fad among the local high school kids when I decided to wear my hair like I did in junior high school. I went looking for Dixie Peach pomade and went with Murrays pomade instead and combed my hair into a Joe '56 jellyroll and duck's ass.
Then I put on jeans and rolled a cuff up to expose engineer boots and rolled a pack of Luckies into the sleeve of a white T-shirt just for the hell of it. I did this for a couple of days.
Two youngsters stopped me and asked what I put in my hair to get it to stay that way and I told them. What I DIDN'T tell them was the only way to get that crap out of your hair was with WD-40.
A couple of days later I started seeing a number of high school students dressed like 50s Rexall Rangers hanging out and I laughed like hell. They had it all down to a T.
I had only told what to use in their hair and I figure they either watched a couple of older 50s movies or looked stuff up on the web.
It lasted for a short while and I guess things returned to normal.
Now, it should be carefully noted that the kids were not following the style set by their parents. They were following a style set by their grandparents.
Still, it was pretty funny.
Of course, I am still smarting from yeaterdays little episode. I am not old enough to have said "Check out the gams on that tomato".
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Monday, August 30, 2010
My hooves are now shod in what Texans often call
'manly footwear'.
Yesterday I scored a deal on a pair of western boots, which is good. I also snagged a couple of pretty good western shirts.
My trip home from Mobile made me think about adding to my wardrobe. I met a guy from India in the airport that was dressed in a western cut suit. It was funny, but when we chatted he told me he was here getting his citizenship and was living in Oklahoma. He told me that dressing western was part of the American picture.
He was right. There are a number of things that are unique to this country,
When he told me that he didn't seem to be quite so much out of place. He was embracing things that were uniquely American. Pretty neat. I bet he will do well here.
When I lived in a tipi in Colorado many moons ago, my usual uniform was a western shirt, jeans, boots and a Stetson. It is a uniform I have worn in the service when I had a detail that took me to Europe. Off duty I was expected to wear civvies.
The officer I was assigned to took one look at me, shook his head and told me I looked like Slim Pickens, but didn't order me to change.
He was astonished at how many Londoners approached me and how many pints were offered me. We would go down the street and some Londoner would take one look at me and say, "It's a bloody American cowboy!" and start chatting with me.
Later in Paris, I wore the same outfit and the normally rude Parisians were still rude, but a number of them let their curiosity get the best of them and they would approach me and actually address me in English, which is damned rare for a Parisian.
Sometimes it's fun to dress like a cowboy because it reminds you that you are an American.
There are a few things every American male ought to be able to do and the usual 'have a good suit' crap I won't post, but will go on to say one thing.
Every American male ought to have at least one western outfit in his wardrobe just in case he needs it. Or maybe for when he feels like wearing something that is uniquely American.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Yesterday I scored a deal on a pair of western boots, which is good. I also snagged a couple of pretty good western shirts.
My trip home from Mobile made me think about adding to my wardrobe. I met a guy from India in the airport that was dressed in a western cut suit. It was funny, but when we chatted he told me he was here getting his citizenship and was living in Oklahoma. He told me that dressing western was part of the American picture.
He was right. There are a number of things that are unique to this country,
When he told me that he didn't seem to be quite so much out of place. He was embracing things that were uniquely American. Pretty neat. I bet he will do well here.
When I lived in a tipi in Colorado many moons ago, my usual uniform was a western shirt, jeans, boots and a Stetson. It is a uniform I have worn in the service when I had a detail that took me to Europe. Off duty I was expected to wear civvies.
The officer I was assigned to took one look at me, shook his head and told me I looked like Slim Pickens, but didn't order me to change.
He was astonished at how many Londoners approached me and how many pints were offered me. We would go down the street and some Londoner would take one look at me and say, "It's a bloody American cowboy!" and start chatting with me.
Later in Paris, I wore the same outfit and the normally rude Parisians were still rude, but a number of them let their curiosity get the best of them and they would approach me and actually address me in English, which is damned rare for a Parisian.
Sometimes it's fun to dress like a cowboy because it reminds you that you are an American.
There are a few things every American male ought to be able to do and the usual 'have a good suit' crap I won't post, but will go on to say one thing.
Every American male ought to have at least one western outfit in his wardrobe just in case he needs it. Or maybe for when he feels like wearing something that is uniquely American.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Sunday, August 29, 2010
It is getting late and I am going to hit the rack
Good night.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
One of the things I am quickly learning is to just do something
before it is too late.
I think I am going to go and visit my sisters in MA, with a stopover.
I have an old friend, my oldest. He is the only one I am in touch with that grew up on the same street I did, he's retired from the banking business and if I ever won the lottery he is the first person I would get in touch with.
It used to be a snap because I could drop in on him when I was in town visiting my sisters, but he moved to Georgia after his kids grew up. I try catch him when he's at his summer home in uupper New York state.
I try and touch base with him annually, but last year I managed to put things off and missed out.
I realized that I have to do things last month when I looked at my unplanted flower garden.
If you don't plant, you don't get to see the flowers.
Same goes with seeing people.
My advice is to strike while the iron is hot.
If there is something you have put off, then get to it.
Life is short.
I love my sisters and stay in touch, and that is the main reason for my upcoming trip, but seeing my old friend is important, too.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
I think I am going to go and visit my sisters in MA, with a stopover.
I have an old friend, my oldest. He is the only one I am in touch with that grew up on the same street I did, he's retired from the banking business and if I ever won the lottery he is the first person I would get in touch with.
It used to be a snap because I could drop in on him when I was in town visiting my sisters, but he moved to Georgia after his kids grew up. I try catch him when he's at his summer home in uupper New York state.
I try and touch base with him annually, but last year I managed to put things off and missed out.
I realized that I have to do things last month when I looked at my unplanted flower garden.
If you don't plant, you don't get to see the flowers.
Same goes with seeing people.
My advice is to strike while the iron is hot.
If there is something you have put off, then get to it.
Life is short.
I love my sisters and stay in touch, and that is the main reason for my upcoming trip, but seeing my old friend is important, too.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Saturday, August 28, 2010
It pays to adverrtise
About a week ago I was at sea and bored. I went to a website I visit regularly and found a thread written by a guy hat had just bought a spendy bottle of booze and found he didn't like it.
Of course, I told him to give it to me.
He offered it to me, but I found out he lived about 3000 miles away.
I was bummed.
Then I started a tongue in cheek thread griping about how it seemed that every freebie that came up was from someone that lived in Outer Mongolia and when were some of the locals going to offer me a freebie.
Igot a couple of tongue in cheek offers from people all over the place, and one local.
The local asked me where I was and I told him I was posting from Mobile, Alabama.
He said he wouldn't drive all the way to Mobile, so i pointed out I would be home in a couple of days and sent him an IM with my phone number.
Son of a witch! He calleand told me to meet him at a local mall and then he handed me a bottle of single malt scotch! The good stuff. On top of that, ther was an excellent cigar to go with it!
It pays to advertise!
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Of course, I told him to give it to me.
He offered it to me, but I found out he lived about 3000 miles away.
I was bummed.
Then I started a tongue in cheek thread griping about how it seemed that every freebie that came up was from someone that lived in Outer Mongolia and when were some of the locals going to offer me a freebie.
Igot a couple of tongue in cheek offers from people all over the place, and one local.
The local asked me where I was and I told him I was posting from Mobile, Alabama.
He said he wouldn't drive all the way to Mobile, so i pointed out I would be home in a couple of days and sent him an IM with my phone number.
Son of a witch! He calleand told me to meet him at a local mall and then he handed me a bottle of single malt scotch! The good stuff. On top of that, ther was an excellent cigar to go with it!
It pays to advertise!
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Friday, August 27, 2010
I have just screwed up my little computer
bu installing an anti virus which had decided that it has to scan my entire computer 24/7.
This is an antique, an old 850 but it has worked fine for me over the years but since I installed the anti virus it has gone from slow to out and out stalled.
I am going to have to figure out how to get the anti virus to do what is is supposed to do, which is simply guard the gate.
The logic is that once it has scanned the machine for the first time , it only has to guard the gate.
We'll see what today brings.
I have little planned and might just spend the day putting things away,
Then again, Neighbor Bob needs a chunk of gutter fixed. Maybe I will do that.
We'll see.
Oh, yeah. I still have 998 'for rectal use only' stickers. Maybe a shopping trip is in order.
Last night the guy across the street left his hunnting boots on the patio. I put a sticker on the toe of his right boot.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
This is an antique, an old 850 but it has worked fine for me over the years but since I installed the anti virus it has gone from slow to out and out stalled.
I am going to have to figure out how to get the anti virus to do what is is supposed to do, which is simply guard the gate.
The logic is that once it has scanned the machine for the first time , it only has to guard the gate.
We'll see what today brings.
I have little planned and might just spend the day putting things away,
Then again, Neighbor Bob needs a chunk of gutter fixed. Maybe I will do that.
We'll see.
Oh, yeah. I still have 998 'for rectal use only' stickers. Maybe a shopping trip is in order.
Last night the guy across the street left his hunnting boots on the patio. I put a sticker on the toe of his right boot.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Thursday, August 26, 2010
A frustrating day at the Li-berry
Got a few things done, but I still can't get a DVD player to boot on one of the 3 laptops.
8-9 hours in the library.
The reason I go there is because the WiFi signal there is fast and very strong.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
8-9 hours in the library.
The reason I go there is because the WiFi signal there is fast and very strong.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
A frustrating day at the Li-berry
Got a few things done, but I still can't get a DVD player to boot on one of the 3 laptops.
8-9 hours in the library.
The reason I go there is because the WiFi signal there is fast and very strong.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
8-9 hours in the library.
The reason I go there is because the WiFi signal there is fast and very strong.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
a day at the li-berry
I am setting up a pair of combat laptops and my old 850 workhorse.
It is a miserable process.
When you but a computer that has spent a long time in the warehouse, windows updates stack up and I have loaded jillions of them.
The 850 of course, is slower than hell, but it's been my workhorse for the past 3-4 years and I decided to fiddle with it and see what I can get it to do.
All in all, it has been a slow damned day of playing catch up.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
It is a miserable process.
When you but a computer that has spent a long time in the warehouse, windows updates stack up and I have loaded jillions of them.
The 850 of course, is slower than hell, but it's been my workhorse for the past 3-4 years and I decided to fiddle with it and see what I can get it to do.
All in all, it has been a slow damned day of playing catch up.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Thank God for good neighbors
The crew change plan was that I overnight in Mobile and catch an early morning flight home.
There was a last minute change and they decided to put some of us on a late afternoon flight instead. This sounds pretty good until you think about having to get home from the airport late at night.
When that happens, you're screwed.
I called Neighbor Bob and he declined. I shrugged and told him that I guess I was going to have to spend my beer money on a cab and hung up.
Thirty seconds later the phone rang; it was Neighbor Bob.
"Midnight?" He asked. "Can't see wasting good beer money on cab fare."
And there he was.
Good neighbors are irreplacable.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
There was a last minute change and they decided to put some of us on a late afternoon flight instead. This sounds pretty good until you think about having to get home from the airport late at night.
When that happens, you're screwed.
I called Neighbor Bob and he declined. I shrugged and told him that I guess I was going to have to spend my beer money on a cab and hung up.
Thirty seconds later the phone rang; it was Neighbor Bob.
"Midnight?" He asked. "Can't see wasting good beer money on cab fare."
And there he was.
Good neighbors are irreplacable.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Monday, August 23, 2010
I am going to start this post by posting a link to a
post I made a few days back.
http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2010/08/im-getting-fed-up-with.html
Now I am fed up with the Christian side.
It seems that some preacher in Gainsville Florida has just taken a world class stupid pill and is sponsering a book burning.
The book he wants to publicly burn is the Koran.
Fine. I wish I was the Gainsville DA because this is another case of someone taking a stupid pill and probably getting ready to hide behind the constitution when something happens.
Of course, there have been a number of threats made by various members of the Muslim faith and that is to be expected. If there was a bible burning somewhere you can bet your ass there would be threats from Christians, so there is nothing to be surprised about.
I also think there are enough nutjobs out there so that bombing the church is a real possibility.
Of course, if someone does bomb the church for having a Koran burning I will simply attribute it to someone playing a stupid game and winning a stupid prize.
But what I fear is that about, say 1500 miles from Gainsville some Muslim nutjob is going to decide to avenge the book burning.
This mental midget will walk into the 8:30 mass at St. Jumping Jehosphat's Church of the Bleeding Sacred Heart and right during the middle of the sermon Father McGillicuddy is giving and sit down laden with explosives.
Father McGillicuddy will be right in the middle of a sermon deploring the book burning and the lack of tolorance shown to the Muslim community and right about then there will be a loud roar and when the authorities arrive they will figure out the number of victims using the artillerymans rule of thumb; they will add up all the arms and legs and divide by four.
There will be a hue and cry. People will lash out at the Muslim community. They will look for someone to prosecute and they will find out that the idiot that caused this havoc is presently stuck to the last standing wall of the church and has to be removed with a putty knife; there will be nobody to prosecute.
Riots are likely to break out and the rift will grow a whole lot deeper.
Meanwhile the church people in Gainsville will still have their church intact and it will be a lot like the liberals that like to spend everyone elses money.
The Gainsville church starts it and someone else pays for it.
If the Gainsville people would just shut the hell up and leave these people alone instead of trying to start trouble, we'd all be better off.
Then again, if I was the DA of Gainsville and the Gainsville church got hit, well...Maybe I'd investigate.
I'd make sure I would give it the proper priority.
As soon as we found out who the person or persons that TP'd Old Man Harrison's house last Halloween, I'd put a man on the investigation.
I do not have a whole llot of patience with stupidity.
Then again, there are people in this world that seem to make a career of starting trouble. They always want to start a fight. I wish they would simply stick their head up their ass and fight for fresh air.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2010/08/im-getting-fed-up-with.html
Now I am fed up with the Christian side.
It seems that some preacher in Gainsville Florida has just taken a world class stupid pill and is sponsering a book burning.
The book he wants to publicly burn is the Koran.
Fine. I wish I was the Gainsville DA because this is another case of someone taking a stupid pill and probably getting ready to hide behind the constitution when something happens.
Of course, there have been a number of threats made by various members of the Muslim faith and that is to be expected. If there was a bible burning somewhere you can bet your ass there would be threats from Christians, so there is nothing to be surprised about.
I also think there are enough nutjobs out there so that bombing the church is a real possibility.
Of course, if someone does bomb the church for having a Koran burning I will simply attribute it to someone playing a stupid game and winning a stupid prize.
But what I fear is that about, say 1500 miles from Gainsville some Muslim nutjob is going to decide to avenge the book burning.
This mental midget will walk into the 8:30 mass at St. Jumping Jehosphat's Church of the Bleeding Sacred Heart and right during the middle of the sermon Father McGillicuddy is giving and sit down laden with explosives.
Father McGillicuddy will be right in the middle of a sermon deploring the book burning and the lack of tolorance shown to the Muslim community and right about then there will be a loud roar and when the authorities arrive they will figure out the number of victims using the artillerymans rule of thumb; they will add up all the arms and legs and divide by four.
There will be a hue and cry. People will lash out at the Muslim community. They will look for someone to prosecute and they will find out that the idiot that caused this havoc is presently stuck to the last standing wall of the church and has to be removed with a putty knife; there will be nobody to prosecute.
Riots are likely to break out and the rift will grow a whole lot deeper.
Meanwhile the church people in Gainsville will still have their church intact and it will be a lot like the liberals that like to spend everyone elses money.
The Gainsville church starts it and someone else pays for it.
If the Gainsville people would just shut the hell up and leave these people alone instead of trying to start trouble, we'd all be better off.
Then again, if I was the DA of Gainsville and the Gainsville church got hit, well...Maybe I'd investigate.
I'd make sure I would give it the proper priority.
As soon as we found out who the person or persons that TP'd Old Man Harrison's house last Halloween, I'd put a man on the investigation.
I do not have a whole llot of patience with stupidity.
Then again, there are people in this world that seem to make a career of starting trouble. They always want to start a fight. I wish they would simply stick their head up their ass and fight for fresh air.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Today I am getting ready to get off of this slab and go home.
There is a lot of stuff to do before I leave, though.
I have to get the boat ready for the oncoming crew.
I will be busy today.
That is all.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
I have to get the boat ready for the oncoming crew.
I will be busy today.
That is all.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Sunday, August 22, 2010
This tour is almost over and I guess things are
looking up.
One of the things I did today was I upgraded the combat laptop with a few little goodies I got off of eBay. My sister sniped me a busted laptop of the same model I have now for about twenty bucks.
I want to add a bit of memory to this one, so I found a busted laptop with that, a bathool handle, a stylus an external antenna, a speaker. I also want the CD/ROM to send to someone in exchange for directions on installing the speaker.
I decided that buying a busted up laptop and stripping the parts from it would be a whole lot better and cheaper than chasing down all the parts ala carte.
Hell, the bat hook handle I wanted alone is running $45 plus another $14 for shipping. I can't seem to find the speaker anywhere and the memory is about $25 used.
Sometimes you have to think a little in order to get ahead.
Over the years I have bought things just for the parts because sometimes it is cheaper.
Some time ago I was asked to fix a lamp for my late Mother-in-law and when I totaled all the parts up, it was cheaper to buy a brand new lamp and take it apart for parts.
Now, I didn't want to let her know I did it this way because she would want to know why I bought an entire lamp to fix hers with so I brought the lamp home and took it apart and brought the parts over to her house and fixed her lamp with it.
Truth was, it was cheaper to buy the lamp than the parts ala carte.
Same holds true with the laptop, which is why I did it that way.
One other thing. I'll now be able to take a laptop apart and figure out how it works, and that's also good for something.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
One of the things I did today was I upgraded the combat laptop with a few little goodies I got off of eBay. My sister sniped me a busted laptop of the same model I have now for about twenty bucks.
I want to add a bit of memory to this one, so I found a busted laptop with that, a bathool handle, a stylus an external antenna, a speaker. I also want the CD/ROM to send to someone in exchange for directions on installing the speaker.
I decided that buying a busted up laptop and stripping the parts from it would be a whole lot better and cheaper than chasing down all the parts ala carte.
Hell, the bat hook handle I wanted alone is running $45 plus another $14 for shipping. I can't seem to find the speaker anywhere and the memory is about $25 used.
Sometimes you have to think a little in order to get ahead.
Over the years I have bought things just for the parts because sometimes it is cheaper.
Some time ago I was asked to fix a lamp for my late Mother-in-law and when I totaled all the parts up, it was cheaper to buy a brand new lamp and take it apart for parts.
Now, I didn't want to let her know I did it this way because she would want to know why I bought an entire lamp to fix hers with so I brought the lamp home and took it apart and brought the parts over to her house and fixed her lamp with it.
Truth was, it was cheaper to buy the lamp than the parts ala carte.
Same holds true with the laptop, which is why I did it that way.
One other thing. I'll now be able to take a laptop apart and figure out how it works, and that's also good for something.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
There is a lt of signage aboard the vessel I work on
and most of it makes sense, which is mildly unusual when you consider that most of it is Federally mandated.
About the only thing that I have put up that is not required is a sort of nice touch for the dock people and others that show up for business.
On the hatch leading into the galley/office, I have stenciled: "Customers Only. All supervisors and tradesman please use rear entrance."
The bosses actually like it because they know that THEIR check actually comes from customers when you get right down to it.
However, I saw this jewel and hung it next to a generator. I couldn't resist.
Of course, I will not touch the wires.
After all, I only have $150 in my pocket.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
This is a pretty good wake-up
The Three Stooges are on.
It is the episode where they all put the yeast in the beer they were making.
A classic.
It is now a little later and I went looking for something and while doing so, I thought of what Mark Twain said: A camel is a horse designed by a committee.
That is no lie.
The other day I read a gripe from one of the troops regarding the total amount of crap they have to carry around on their backs while on patrol.
Now, there certainly is a lot of crap a grunt has to carry on patrol, and that is more than a human being was designed to carry for any amount of time. Things are bad enough as it is.
The GI wasn't griping about that, he was griping about some of the useless crap he has to carry because some jerk further up the chain of command has mandated it.
I can just picture what he is griping about and I positively see his point.
Why do people further up the chain of command that are so insulated froom things think that they can micromanage things and be successful?
It's easy for some general to decide that all troops should carry an item that weighs a couple of pounds because he is not carrying it.
Things like this should be decided at, say, company or even platoon level.
One of the things I like about my work situation is that they allow us, the guys doing the work, to make most of our own decisions.
While American business can leearn from the military, I'd have to say that the military can sure learn from private enterprise.
Sign of the day:
Touching wires causes instant death
$200 fine.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
It is the episode where they all put the yeast in the beer they were making.
A classic.
It is now a little later and I went looking for something and while doing so, I thought of what Mark Twain said: A camel is a horse designed by a committee.
That is no lie.
The other day I read a gripe from one of the troops regarding the total amount of crap they have to carry around on their backs while on patrol.
Now, there certainly is a lot of crap a grunt has to carry on patrol, and that is more than a human being was designed to carry for any amount of time. Things are bad enough as it is.
The GI wasn't griping about that, he was griping about some of the useless crap he has to carry because some jerk further up the chain of command has mandated it.
I can just picture what he is griping about and I positively see his point.
Why do people further up the chain of command that are so insulated froom things think that they can micromanage things and be successful?
It's easy for some general to decide that all troops should carry an item that weighs a couple of pounds because he is not carrying it.
Things like this should be decided at, say, company or even platoon level.
One of the things I like about my work situation is that they allow us, the guys doing the work, to make most of our own decisions.
While American business can leearn from the military, I'd have to say that the military can sure learn from private enterprise.
Sign of the day:
Touching wires causes instant death
$200 fine.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Friday, August 20, 2010
As you have figured out, I do not like crybabies vey much
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
President Harry S. Truman answering to King Neptune's court aboard USS Missouri
There seems to be an attitude in this country where a lot of people think that the world has to conform to their standards.
When someone moves from, say, New Jersey to South Carolina they are supposed to try and learn the local customs and ways of the area. If they see something they don’t like, they generally do not have to participate, but they really ought to just shut up about it.
South Carolinians have a heritage of being hunters and fishermen and during the deer season seeing a freshly killed deer in the back of a pickup is a fairly common thing to see.
The sight of such a thing requires no comments about how the hunter just killed Bambi, nor does the hunter need to be called a savage. If you feel a total compulsion to say anything at all, you might comment that he’s going to be eating pretty good for a while. That is why he harvested the animal; he’s going to use it to feed his family.
If you do not like venison than don’t eat it. South Carolinians are no different than Americans anywhere else in the nation. They do not have a habit of making people eat things they do not want to eat.
Of course, like Americans elsewhere in the nation they do not like to be told what to eat.
The bottom line is that you ought to check first to see if you will fit in before you jump into something.
It is not the duty of the locals to change their ways to humor you.
The same goes for the crybaby I wrote about in my previous blog.
When someone in the service goes into another situation, they ought to simply shut up and get with the program. The entire Navy does not want to revolve itself around the fact that some nancy boy does not like his call sign.
One of the things I have seen the Navy do is have a lot of fun with dopey little things they do for morale. There is King Neptune’s Court for example.
When a naval vessel crosses the Equator, they sometimes have a hokey little ceremony that involves the entire vessel. Nobody, even the skipper used to be exempt.
Upon completion of the ceremony, the participant becomes a Shellback and generally receives a pretty colorful certificate, suitable for framing.
If the skipper has not been through King Neptune’s court, he will have to go through it, at least if he is any sort of guy.
One of my Scout leaders went through the court during WW2 and his certificate hung proudly on his wall until the day he died.
Hell, President Harry Truman had to go through it once when he rode USS Missouri during a presidential vacation.
Yup. The President of the United States had to face King Neptune and his assembled court.
Truman loved it; it made him feel like one of the guys. He wrote about the fun he had in a number of letter he wrote, and I’d just bet that somewhere in the Truman Library there is the Shellback certificate he received along with the completion of festivities.
Yet, a few years ago some nancy boy cried to his mommy who cried to her Congress critter who in turn made a stink out of it.
The Navy investigated it and sort of made it a voluntary type of thing, probably because they knew that every shellback in the navy would have pitched a fit if they did away with it entirely.
I get fed up with cry babies that go through life thinking they are above everything and that the rules, formal or informal do not apply to them.
If you do not want to get with the program, don’t.
But do not think the rest of the world is willing to change for you.
If the President of the United States had to face King Neptune's Court, what make you think you are so special?
Another crybaby story.
I just read where some service member was whimpering over the call sign he got was too personal.
Bwaaah!
Over the years, the military aviation community has been pretty practical over communications and eons ago the aviators figured out that once they were in the air that cumbersome military titles were doing more harm than good over the radio.
Bomber crews used each others first name because saying something like “Corporal, Jones, there is an enemy fighter approaching us off the starboard beam!” was a little cumbersome.
“Larry, bandit at 3 O’clock!” was more efficient.
Fighter pilots used call signs, which were simple nicknames.
Anyone that has ever seen the movie ‘Top Gun’ knows what I mean. The call signs ‘Maverick’, “Goose” and “Ice man” are examples of this.
Call sign names come from the damnedest places. Some of them are naturals. A guy named Hambleton may become ‘Hambone’, a guy with a last name of Marks may become ‘Skid’.
Other sources are something a person has done, either good or bad. Sometimes just having a traffic accident can earn a call sign. One aviator got into an accident while driving a Ford and wound up with the call sign of ‘Mustang’.
These can sometimes be a little on the rough side, but such is the nature of aviators. I have no problem with that. Since women have entered the ranks of naval aviation, I’m certain the call signs have been cleaned up a bit.
There is a lot of good natured banter in the aviation business and it has been there since day one.
Now some damned butter bar ensign got his panties in a wad over the call sign bestowed upon him by his peers. He made a stink and it seems to be working its way up.
We’ll see how that goes, but I hope this little snit only give him a different call sign. ‘Cry baby’ comes to mind.
Or better yet, give EVERY Naval aviator a swishy call sign.
That way a dog fight would sound more like a catfight between two jealous hillbilly women at the Pumpkin Center barn dance.
I can see the artwork on the pilot’s helmets. Stenciled on it is his call sign, ‘Lovey Dove’, surrounded by a bunch of little pink hearts.
Picture this in the Combat Information Center:
There we see the Commander, Air Group (CAG), a tough Curtis Lemay cigar chomping type, listening to transmissions from his flight of fighters, who are engaged in a dogfight with hostile aircraft.
“Cupcakes break right!! Sweet cheeks, when the bandit follows him get on his six and splash him!”
“Roger, Honeybunch.”
A pacing CAG is heard to mutter, “Sweetcheeks, get in there and scratch his eyes out!”
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Bwaaah!
Over the years, the military aviation community has been pretty practical over communications and eons ago the aviators figured out that once they were in the air that cumbersome military titles were doing more harm than good over the radio.
Bomber crews used each others first name because saying something like “Corporal, Jones, there is an enemy fighter approaching us off the starboard beam!” was a little cumbersome.
“Larry, bandit at 3 O’clock!” was more efficient.
Fighter pilots used call signs, which were simple nicknames.
Anyone that has ever seen the movie ‘Top Gun’ knows what I mean. The call signs ‘Maverick’, “Goose” and “Ice man” are examples of this.
Call sign names come from the damnedest places. Some of them are naturals. A guy named Hambleton may become ‘Hambone’, a guy with a last name of Marks may become ‘Skid’.
Other sources are something a person has done, either good or bad. Sometimes just having a traffic accident can earn a call sign. One aviator got into an accident while driving a Ford and wound up with the call sign of ‘Mustang’.
These can sometimes be a little on the rough side, but such is the nature of aviators. I have no problem with that. Since women have entered the ranks of naval aviation, I’m certain the call signs have been cleaned up a bit.
There is a lot of good natured banter in the aviation business and it has been there since day one.
Now some damned butter bar ensign got his panties in a wad over the call sign bestowed upon him by his peers. He made a stink and it seems to be working its way up.
We’ll see how that goes, but I hope this little snit only give him a different call sign. ‘Cry baby’ comes to mind.
Or better yet, give EVERY Naval aviator a swishy call sign.
That way a dog fight would sound more like a catfight between two jealous hillbilly women at the Pumpkin Center barn dance.
I can see the artwork on the pilot’s helmets. Stenciled on it is his call sign, ‘Lovey Dove’, surrounded by a bunch of little pink hearts.
Picture this in the Combat Information Center:
There we see the Commander, Air Group (CAG), a tough Curtis Lemay cigar chomping type, listening to transmissions from his flight of fighters, who are engaged in a dogfight with hostile aircraft.
“Cupcakes break right!! Sweet cheeks, when the bandit follows him get on his six and splash him!”
“Roger, Honeybunch.”
A pacing CAG is heard to mutter, “Sweetcheeks, get in there and scratch his eyes out!”
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Sarah Brady is full of crap.
It just occurred to me that the liberal do-gooders are pumping us full of ideas that firearm ownership is a dangerous thing and that accessibility to firearms is scary.
It also occurred to me that the safest place in the country for a young man between the ages of about 17 and 25 is to be in military basic training. This is especially true during the summer months.
If this young man happens to be training in either the Army or the Marine Corps he will be issued not a simple hunting rifle, but a selective fire weapon designed to be used in combat. He will carry it with him for quite a bit of his time in basic. He will eat and sleep with it for weeks.
In addition to this, he will be hands on trained in the use of edged weapons and explosive devices, all of which are designed to do grievous harm to his fellow man.
Yet, at this period of his life this will be one of the safest places he can find himself.
Maybe Sarah and the Brady bunch better rethink their arguments.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
It also occurred to me that the safest place in the country for a young man between the ages of about 17 and 25 is to be in military basic training. This is especially true during the summer months.
If this young man happens to be training in either the Army or the Marine Corps he will be issued not a simple hunting rifle, but a selective fire weapon designed to be used in combat. He will carry it with him for quite a bit of his time in basic. He will eat and sleep with it for weeks.
In addition to this, he will be hands on trained in the use of edged weapons and explosive devices, all of which are designed to do grievous harm to his fellow man.
Yet, at this period of his life this will be one of the safest places he can find himself.
Maybe Sarah and the Brady bunch better rethink their arguments.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
There is a medical supply store that
just sold me 1000 auxiliary labels for a measly $4.40 plus shipping.
Most people would say that that was about right and pay it no mind.
Then again, these labels were designed to be used in a pharmacy and really have no business being placed in the hands of a bored sailor.
They say: For rectal use only.
At less than half a cent each, this is the best deal in mischief I have ever seen in my life. The possibilities are endless.
A trip to the produce section of a supermarket is definitely in order, as is a trip to Lowe’s or home Depot.
The workplace has possibilities, too. There are tools and fire extinguishers, light bulbs, jackhammers and all sorts of things around here that can be labeled. It will drive my relief stark staring bonkers trying to figure out where he will find one next.
Of course, the best part of shopping in a supermarket will be watching someone pick up a cucumber or head of lettuce and find the sticker. When that happens, one of three things will happen.
Either the person will bust up right then and there or they will be shocked and put the item back. The other thing that may happen is that if there is an idiot that gets their hands on a marked item, they may take it either to the manager or the pharmacy and make a fool of themselves by asking for an explanation.
They will probably get to see a red-faced manager or pharmacist trying desperately to keep a straight face and explain to the idiot that someone probably stole a roll of stickers from the pharmacy and did what they did.
I plan on giving one to a cop I know to put on his nightstick,
While the best money I have ever spent in my life was the money I spent on my late cat, I’ll have to say that this is the best $4.40 I have spent on mischief and mayhem in all of my years man and boy.
I have just edited this to add that I'd just bet that inside of three days my kid sister will email me asking for about 100 of the stickers.
There is a perverse sense of humor that runs in my family.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Most people would say that that was about right and pay it no mind.
Then again, these labels were designed to be used in a pharmacy and really have no business being placed in the hands of a bored sailor.
They say: For rectal use only.
At less than half a cent each, this is the best deal in mischief I have ever seen in my life. The possibilities are endless.
A trip to the produce section of a supermarket is definitely in order, as is a trip to Lowe’s or home Depot.
The workplace has possibilities, too. There are tools and fire extinguishers, light bulbs, jackhammers and all sorts of things around here that can be labeled. It will drive my relief stark staring bonkers trying to figure out where he will find one next.
Of course, the best part of shopping in a supermarket will be watching someone pick up a cucumber or head of lettuce and find the sticker. When that happens, one of three things will happen.
Either the person will bust up right then and there or they will be shocked and put the item back. The other thing that may happen is that if there is an idiot that gets their hands on a marked item, they may take it either to the manager or the pharmacy and make a fool of themselves by asking for an explanation.
They will probably get to see a red-faced manager or pharmacist trying desperately to keep a straight face and explain to the idiot that someone probably stole a roll of stickers from the pharmacy and did what they did.
I plan on giving one to a cop I know to put on his nightstick,
While the best money I have ever spent in my life was the money I spent on my late cat, I’ll have to say that this is the best $4.40 I have spent on mischief and mayhem in all of my years man and boy.
I have just edited this to add that I'd just bet that inside of three days my kid sister will email me asking for about 100 of the stickers.
There is a perverse sense of humor that runs in my family.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Yesterday I tried out the DVD drive on my laptop
by watching a 1940 Henry Fonda movie. I watched ‘The Grapes of Wrath’. It’s a damned good movie bases on a John Steinbeck novel. It won a number of awards, which means nothing; fact is I liked it.
It’s a story about a family of Okies leaving the Oklahoma dust bowl for California after they lost the family farm. They were dirt poor and still a proud family.
Towards the end they take refuge in a Government camp for a while.
It was an interesting place, and I understand there were a number of them set up as a stopgap to provide the very basics for families that were completely down and out.
The dead basic camp had small cabins, water and sanitation facilities available so the families could stay together and take care of themselves. They also had a deal going with the honest farmers of the area who would provide work to the able.
It wasn’t much by today’s standards, but it sufficed and kept the family together, fed and sheltered.
Of course, many of the people of the time, generally those who were working, complained that it was socialism.
Right now we have a welfare system that has gotten totally out of control. It gives a person a hell of a lot more than they need. Section 8 housing is an insult to everyone that has ever sweated out a mortgage.
Years ago, welfare recipients got a lot of actual food from the government. They passed on a lot of good, edible surplus food to those on welfare. There was nothing wrong with it, other than the drab government stenciled packaging.
I have no problem returning to a lot of these programs.
The problem with today’s welfare is that there is no incentive to get off of it. On the contrary, there is a strong desire to stay on it because we have made it into a pretty good life where one does not have to get off of their dead ass and onto their dying feet and go to work.
It’s a whole lot easier to stay on the government handout.
Looking at the movie, the main characters, the Joad family, were a down and out family of Okies looking for nothing but a simple job of work to feed themselves and their families.
They truly resented having to take anything that remotely resembled a handout of any sort, yet circumstances forced them to so they did as a last resort.
There were countless families like the Joads during those terrible years. It was a sad and terrible time.
The government pitched in to keep their bellys full. I have no problem with that whatsoever. To say otherwise would be cruel and cowardly.
On the other hand, the Joads got no extras, either. There was no Section 8 housing available nor was there anything else but the dead basics given to them.
These days, the powers that be have decided that a person now needs internet and cell phone service, which is a total crock.
I propose returning to the system they had back in the 30s that kept the families together and fed, yet had no frills.
Ben Franklin once said that the cure for poverty was to make it so bad that they would find a way to climb out of it.
We have come up with a system that makes poverty so comfortable that there is no reason whatsoever to climb out of it.
Some people might think I’m cruel by having this point of view, but the truth is, I am not. I simply want to restore human dignity by getting people to start taking care of them selves and getting a little pride back in their lives. I’m just advocating a little ‘tough love’.
Another thing to think of is that society would probably benefit by showing a little tough love and making people take care of them selves. As they get used to it, some of them are surely going to climb the ladder of success and provide valuable contributions to our society.
Who knows? Maybe the next Sam Wall or Bill Gates could be a former welfare recipient.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
It’s a story about a family of Okies leaving the Oklahoma dust bowl for California after they lost the family farm. They were dirt poor and still a proud family.
Towards the end they take refuge in a Government camp for a while.
It was an interesting place, and I understand there were a number of them set up as a stopgap to provide the very basics for families that were completely down and out.
The dead basic camp had small cabins, water and sanitation facilities available so the families could stay together and take care of themselves. They also had a deal going with the honest farmers of the area who would provide work to the able.
It wasn’t much by today’s standards, but it sufficed and kept the family together, fed and sheltered.
Of course, many of the people of the time, generally those who were working, complained that it was socialism.
Right now we have a welfare system that has gotten totally out of control. It gives a person a hell of a lot more than they need. Section 8 housing is an insult to everyone that has ever sweated out a mortgage.
Years ago, welfare recipients got a lot of actual food from the government. They passed on a lot of good, edible surplus food to those on welfare. There was nothing wrong with it, other than the drab government stenciled packaging.
I have no problem returning to a lot of these programs.
The problem with today’s welfare is that there is no incentive to get off of it. On the contrary, there is a strong desire to stay on it because we have made it into a pretty good life where one does not have to get off of their dead ass and onto their dying feet and go to work.
It’s a whole lot easier to stay on the government handout.
Looking at the movie, the main characters, the Joad family, were a down and out family of Okies looking for nothing but a simple job of work to feed themselves and their families.
They truly resented having to take anything that remotely resembled a handout of any sort, yet circumstances forced them to so they did as a last resort.
There were countless families like the Joads during those terrible years. It was a sad and terrible time.
The government pitched in to keep their bellys full. I have no problem with that whatsoever. To say otherwise would be cruel and cowardly.
On the other hand, the Joads got no extras, either. There was no Section 8 housing available nor was there anything else but the dead basics given to them.
These days, the powers that be have decided that a person now needs internet and cell phone service, which is a total crock.
I propose returning to the system they had back in the 30s that kept the families together and fed, yet had no frills.
Ben Franklin once said that the cure for poverty was to make it so bad that they would find a way to climb out of it.
We have come up with a system that makes poverty so comfortable that there is no reason whatsoever to climb out of it.
Some people might think I’m cruel by having this point of view, but the truth is, I am not. I simply want to restore human dignity by getting people to start taking care of them selves and getting a little pride back in their lives. I’m just advocating a little ‘tough love’.
Another thing to think of is that society would probably benefit by showing a little tough love and making people take care of them selves. As they get used to it, some of them are surely going to climb the ladder of success and provide valuable contributions to our society.
Who knows? Maybe the next Sam Wall or Bill Gates could be a former welfare recipient.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Monday, August 16, 2010
I’m getting fed up with
everyone and their cousin trying to make a statement of some sort or another.
So you are Islamic and want to build a mosque on ground zero.
OK, fine. It is private money and private property. Yes, you can do it. I won’t burn it down, nor will I vandalize it.
I won’t. Really. I will not harm it in any way. I am an old man and I’m sorry to say that I am just too plain old and lazy to even get excited about the tastelessness if the members of the Muslim community that think this is a good idea. Besides, gasoline is up to $2.85 a gallon these days and my wife thinks I spend too much money.
But you can bet the farm that if some enraged 9-11 survivor does and takes it upon himself to extract his pound of flesh, I am going to laugh like hell and say, and “I told you so.”
It’s just plain stupid.
What ever happened to quietly going about one’s business without a pile of hoopla and fan fare?
This stuff is getting old, and damned fast. Why not just build your mosque in a quiet, out of the way place where you can worship in peace and quiet instead of on the very spot where so many decent Americans died as a direct result of terrorism that has been associated-fairly or unfairly- to your religion?
It’s just another case of waving the red cape in front of the bull.
You are asking-no, begging- for trouble.
I can’t see why. Isn’t there enough trouble in this world?
Of course, when something happens, they will go to go charging straight to the authorities demanding that the evil perpetrators be brought to justice.
Sometimes I think it’s too bad that the District Attorney can’t refuse service to people based on stupidity.
Picture this:
“Somebody vandalized our mosque. What are you going to do about it?”
And the DA replies, “I’ll put it on my list of things to do after we round up another bunch of scofflaws that haven’t paid their parking tickets.”
“What? What? This is important! Our place of worship has been vandalized!”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know.” Says the D.A. “I’ll get to it, but you’re going to have to wait your turn. You are going after I find out who beat the snot out of the Klansman that was handing out leaflets in Harlem. He comes after the investigation we’ll have to find out which veterans group thumped the Westboro Baptist Church people that tried to desecrate the funeral of the Navy corpsman that died saving after saving the lives of six Marines. All of these investigations will commence after we catch the guy running around with $132 worth of unpaid parking tickets.”
“But…but…”
“But nothing,” says the D.A. “I have to prioritize things based on importance, and this is simply nothing more than a stupid crime that could have simply been avoided by showing a little common sense.”
“We have out rights,”
“One of them,” says the D.A. “Is to remain silent. Had you silently built your mosque somewhere else you would not be up here demanding justice would you?”
“You mean you’re not going to do anything?”
“I never said that,” Answers the D.A. “I simply put it on my list of things to do in the appropriate order. I’ll get a man on it as soon as we nail the parking ticket scofflaw and the bum that keeps urinating behind the dumpster in the alley behind Ming Fu’s restaurant in Chinatown.”
Enter Al Sharpton, accompanied by three flunkies dressed like pimps.
“What are you going to do about the vandalism to my constituent’s mosque?” slobbers Al.
“Tell you what, Al. Make it easy for both of us. I’ll put a man on it if you give up the guys that thumped the Klansman up in Harlem last week,” replies the D.A.
“You know I can’t do that,” says Al. “The man was insulting the dignity of my people!”
“Fine, Al. I’ll get a man on this heinous crime as soon as I nail the parking ticket scofflaw and the guy that keeps urinating behind Ming Fu’s restaurant…come to think of it, I better make the Ming Fu’s restaurant thing a priority. The cook there has a bad temper and a sharp knife and we don’t want to have to arrest him for pulling an Elaina Bobbit. Thanks for reminding me, Al.”
“But this vandalism is an affront to the very dignity of my constituents,” says Al.
“Be right back, Al.”
Two minutes later. The D.A. returns with a uniformed cop.
“Al, you’re double parked, and our records show you have $2356 worth of unpaid parking tickets. I’m going to have to place you under arrest.”
Al gets read his rights and is carted off, moaning and bellyaching that the Man is out to get him. The D.A.’s look makes it pretty clear that Al has made an error in judgment. He has sadly mistaken the D.A. as being a man that really gives a rat’s ass.
The D.A. turns to the Muslim cleric.
“Where did you park?” he asks.
“Uh…uh…I gotta get to Lowes and get some paint remover,” he says and quietly starts to shuffle off.
“Try ‘Strip-ease,’’ suggests the D.A. “It comes recommended highly.”
“Strip-ease?” asks the cleric.
“Yeah, Strip-ease. Try it. The Nazis recommend it highly. They used gallons of it after they moved into their headquarters into a Jewish neighborhood across the street from the Holocaust memorial a couple of years back. Stuff works like a charm. By the way, we have that case to solve sometime, too. Of course, it will also wait until we take care of a few more pressing matters.”
“Thanks for the advice.”
“Oh, says the D.A. “And one other thing.”
“What’s that?” asks the cleric.
“You’re double-parked. Pay the ticket.”
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
So you are Islamic and want to build a mosque on ground zero.
OK, fine. It is private money and private property. Yes, you can do it. I won’t burn it down, nor will I vandalize it.
I won’t. Really. I will not harm it in any way. I am an old man and I’m sorry to say that I am just too plain old and lazy to even get excited about the tastelessness if the members of the Muslim community that think this is a good idea. Besides, gasoline is up to $2.85 a gallon these days and my wife thinks I spend too much money.
But you can bet the farm that if some enraged 9-11 survivor does and takes it upon himself to extract his pound of flesh, I am going to laugh like hell and say, and “I told you so.”
It’s just plain stupid.
What ever happened to quietly going about one’s business without a pile of hoopla and fan fare?
This stuff is getting old, and damned fast. Why not just build your mosque in a quiet, out of the way place where you can worship in peace and quiet instead of on the very spot where so many decent Americans died as a direct result of terrorism that has been associated-fairly or unfairly- to your religion?
It’s just another case of waving the red cape in front of the bull.
You are asking-no, begging- for trouble.
I can’t see why. Isn’t there enough trouble in this world?
Of course, when something happens, they will go to go charging straight to the authorities demanding that the evil perpetrators be brought to justice.
Sometimes I think it’s too bad that the District Attorney can’t refuse service to people based on stupidity.
Picture this:
“Somebody vandalized our mosque. What are you going to do about it?”
And the DA replies, “I’ll put it on my list of things to do after we round up another bunch of scofflaws that haven’t paid their parking tickets.”
“What? What? This is important! Our place of worship has been vandalized!”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know.” Says the D.A. “I’ll get to it, but you’re going to have to wait your turn. You are going after I find out who beat the snot out of the Klansman that was handing out leaflets in Harlem. He comes after the investigation we’ll have to find out which veterans group thumped the Westboro Baptist Church people that tried to desecrate the funeral of the Navy corpsman that died saving after saving the lives of six Marines. All of these investigations will commence after we catch the guy running around with $132 worth of unpaid parking tickets.”
“But…but…”
“But nothing,” says the D.A. “I have to prioritize things based on importance, and this is simply nothing more than a stupid crime that could have simply been avoided by showing a little common sense.”
“We have out rights,”
“One of them,” says the D.A. “Is to remain silent. Had you silently built your mosque somewhere else you would not be up here demanding justice would you?”
“You mean you’re not going to do anything?”
“I never said that,” Answers the D.A. “I simply put it on my list of things to do in the appropriate order. I’ll get a man on it as soon as we nail the parking ticket scofflaw and the bum that keeps urinating behind the dumpster in the alley behind Ming Fu’s restaurant in Chinatown.”
Enter Al Sharpton, accompanied by three flunkies dressed like pimps.
“What are you going to do about the vandalism to my constituent’s mosque?” slobbers Al.
“Tell you what, Al. Make it easy for both of us. I’ll put a man on it if you give up the guys that thumped the Klansman up in Harlem last week,” replies the D.A.
“You know I can’t do that,” says Al. “The man was insulting the dignity of my people!”
“Fine, Al. I’ll get a man on this heinous crime as soon as I nail the parking ticket scofflaw and the guy that keeps urinating behind Ming Fu’s restaurant…come to think of it, I better make the Ming Fu’s restaurant thing a priority. The cook there has a bad temper and a sharp knife and we don’t want to have to arrest him for pulling an Elaina Bobbit. Thanks for reminding me, Al.”
“But this vandalism is an affront to the very dignity of my constituents,” says Al.
“Be right back, Al.”
Two minutes later. The D.A. returns with a uniformed cop.
“Al, you’re double parked, and our records show you have $2356 worth of unpaid parking tickets. I’m going to have to place you under arrest.”
Al gets read his rights and is carted off, moaning and bellyaching that the Man is out to get him. The D.A.’s look makes it pretty clear that Al has made an error in judgment. He has sadly mistaken the D.A. as being a man that really gives a rat’s ass.
The D.A. turns to the Muslim cleric.
“Where did you park?” he asks.
“Uh…uh…I gotta get to Lowes and get some paint remover,” he says and quietly starts to shuffle off.
“Try ‘Strip-ease,’’ suggests the D.A. “It comes recommended highly.”
“Strip-ease?” asks the cleric.
“Yeah, Strip-ease. Try it. The Nazis recommend it highly. They used gallons of it after they moved into their headquarters into a Jewish neighborhood across the street from the Holocaust memorial a couple of years back. Stuff works like a charm. By the way, we have that case to solve sometime, too. Of course, it will also wait until we take care of a few more pressing matters.”
“Thanks for the advice.”
“Oh, says the D.A. “And one other thing.”
“What’s that?” asks the cleric.
“You’re double-parked. Pay the ticket.”
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
More stupidity from low places.
A while back, Neighbor Bob and I were disposing of the mother lode of fireworks. We had some pretty good ones that I do not know where they came from and don't want to know. If I did know, I certainly would not post it here.
Anyway, we were in a rather out of the way place grinning like a pair of idiots and blowing huge divots out of the grass and enjoying the fun that goes with such simple minded activity.
This means we were behaving like a pair of middle aged men, which in turn means we were acting like children which is par golf for the male sex. Men do not really grow up. It's a sham we put on to keep women off of our asses.
Anyway, some female Birkenstock shod braided armpitted do-gooder carrying a hemp bag og granola barscomes up out of nowhere and starts in on us about how we were setting a poor example for children, which is a joke because we had purchased the damned fireworks from a kid to begin with.
Now, buying anything from a kid is dangerous to begin with because the kid can always act like he was the purchaser and skate off leaving the old guy holding the bag.
I'll bet there are more than one middle aged men languishing in jail somewhere after being convicted of selling narcotics to children when in fact they were buying them from the kid up the street.
Anyway, the little do gooder demanded we cease and desist immediately under a threat that she would call the police.
Bob responded by cranking off a cherry bomb about five feet away.
I offered her my cell phone and handed Bob another cherry bomy, which he cheerfully lit.
She refused my cell phone and pulled hers out and promptly called the police.
I removed my T-shirt while she was engaged in conversation and covered the license plate of Bob's pickup, and when the freshly lit cherry bomb blew up, we both hopped into the pickup and drove off, leaving her to deaal with the police when they arrived.
Police arrival time in that town is quick and they probably arrived in aa very short time, but of course, we were gone when they got there.
I would imagine the officer listened to her blither on and on and gave her tea and sympathy and took a report of some kind that he threw away at the end of his watch.
I find it pretty hard to believe that a cop would make a concerted effort of any sort to try and round up a couple of old men that were setting off fireworks in the middle of nowhere.
He was probably more annoyed with the do-gooder that heard them off in the distance and took it upon herself to go and find the fiendish culprits that were.
In fact, if it was one of the cops I know, he very well MIGHT make the concerted effort to find us so he could score on some pretty good cherry bombs.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Anyway, we were in a rather out of the way place grinning like a pair of idiots and blowing huge divots out of the grass and enjoying the fun that goes with such simple minded activity.
This means we were behaving like a pair of middle aged men, which in turn means we were acting like children which is par golf for the male sex. Men do not really grow up. It's a sham we put on to keep women off of our asses.
Anyway, some female Birkenstock shod braided armpitted do-gooder carrying a hemp bag og granola barscomes up out of nowhere and starts in on us about how we were setting a poor example for children, which is a joke because we had purchased the damned fireworks from a kid to begin with.
Now, buying anything from a kid is dangerous to begin with because the kid can always act like he was the purchaser and skate off leaving the old guy holding the bag.
I'll bet there are more than one middle aged men languishing in jail somewhere after being convicted of selling narcotics to children when in fact they were buying them from the kid up the street.
Anyway, the little do gooder demanded we cease and desist immediately under a threat that she would call the police.
Bob responded by cranking off a cherry bomb about five feet away.
I offered her my cell phone and handed Bob another cherry bomy, which he cheerfully lit.
She refused my cell phone and pulled hers out and promptly called the police.
I removed my T-shirt while she was engaged in conversation and covered the license plate of Bob's pickup, and when the freshly lit cherry bomb blew up, we both hopped into the pickup and drove off, leaving her to deaal with the police when they arrived.
Police arrival time in that town is quick and they probably arrived in aa very short time, but of course, we were gone when they got there.
I would imagine the officer listened to her blither on and on and gave her tea and sympathy and took a report of some kind that he threw away at the end of his watch.
I find it pretty hard to believe that a cop would make a concerted effort of any sort to try and round up a couple of old men that were setting off fireworks in the middle of nowhere.
He was probably more annoyed with the do-gooder that heard them off in the distance and took it upon herself to go and find the fiendish culprits that were.
In fact, if it was one of the cops I know, he very well MIGHT make the concerted effort to find us so he could score on some pretty good cherry bombs.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Another huckster tried to explain to me how I would
be saving money by purchasing an item from him.
He was not pleased with the way the conversation went.
I explained how nothing you buy saves you money. It costs you money. The question I want to know the answer to is simply how much money an item is going to cost me.
It's as easy as that.
One time a car salesman asked me if I would like to invest in a new car.
I stopped, listened to his spiel and had him run the numbers until I got an out the door price figured out. It came to about 30K.
Then I asked him how much I could sell the car for three or four years later and he told be it would be then worth about 20K.
I looked at him and said I wasn't interested in an investment where I would lose 10K over three years and he looked dumbfounded.
I went on to explain that my investments were designed to make me money rather than lose it for me.
I do not know why every salesman looks at me and thinks I just fell off the turnip truck, but it seems to happen every time.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
He was not pleased with the way the conversation went.
I explained how nothing you buy saves you money. It costs you money. The question I want to know the answer to is simply how much money an item is going to cost me.
It's as easy as that.
One time a car salesman asked me if I would like to invest in a new car.
I stopped, listened to his spiel and had him run the numbers until I got an out the door price figured out. It came to about 30K.
Then I asked him how much I could sell the car for three or four years later and he told be it would be then worth about 20K.
I looked at him and said I wasn't interested in an investment where I would lose 10K over three years and he looked dumbfounded.
I went on to explain that my investments were designed to make me money rather than lose it for me.
I do not know why every salesman looks at me and thinks I just fell off the turnip truck, but it seems to happen every time.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Friday, August 13, 2010
One of the things I have learned to deal with
are complainers.
I try and be a kind, gentle soul and I believe in giving people what they want, and if I can, I give them what they ask for.
There is aa young man that just asked me why he spent all afternoon in the hot sun painting.
I replied that if he wanted something to complain about, I would oblige him.
When he complained about my attitude toward complaining I said nothing.
We still have a lot more things to do coming up.
Some people never realize that they simply talk their way into unpleasant things.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
I try and be a kind, gentle soul and I believe in giving people what they want, and if I can, I give them what they ask for.
There is aa young man that just asked me why he spent all afternoon in the hot sun painting.
I replied that if he wanted something to complain about, I would oblige him.
When he complained about my attitude toward complaining I said nothing.
We still have a lot more things to do coming up.
Some people never realize that they simply talk their way into unpleasant things.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
There is now a kinder and gentler way of packaging
goods.
It brings less violence into the world.
I just saw a shipmate finish a bag of Fritos and decided to 'pop' the bag.
We all do it from time to time, you blow pressure into a bag and give it a good smack and the bag ruptures with a satisfying 'POP'.
When I tried to blow up the Fritos bag, the bottom split out and I coulden't pop it.
I guess this is some sore of liberal plot to make the planet a kinder and gentler place to live.
SOmetimes I wonder how people think.
Letting a guy make a loud, satisfying pop with a bag is good for the soul and relieves pressure snd frustrations.
One of these days someone is going to run amok and hurt a lot of people when I suppose it could have been prevented by letting the guy pop a few bags or set off some fireworks or something.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
It brings less violence into the world.
I just saw a shipmate finish a bag of Fritos and decided to 'pop' the bag.
We all do it from time to time, you blow pressure into a bag and give it a good smack and the bag ruptures with a satisfying 'POP'.
When I tried to blow up the Fritos bag, the bottom split out and I coulden't pop it.
I guess this is some sore of liberal plot to make the planet a kinder and gentler place to live.
SOmetimes I wonder how people think.
Letting a guy make a loud, satisfying pop with a bag is good for the soul and relieves pressure snd frustrations.
One of these days someone is going to run amok and hurt a lot of people when I suppose it could have been prevented by letting the guy pop a few bags or set off some fireworks or something.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Thursday, August 12, 2010
I am at work and for the first time in a while,
I am in range of the internet.
This rig runs off of cell towers so generally speaking if the cell phone works, the internet is good.
Right now I am in the Gulf, still on cleanup duty after the amazing oil spill and it is as hot as hell out here. Uggh!
This has been the second summer in a row I have worn shorts more often than not.
I spent a lot of time the last time off working in the yard weeding and doing general maintainence, which was OK. I got a lot done and I was pretty pleased.
I didn't drink a whole lot, sttayed busy and got to Camp Perry for a day during the matches and made sure m beloved Marine shooters got their beer.
Right now I am contemplating a work problem and if there is a solution or not to an ongoing hassle that crops up from time to time.
I guess I'll have to get back to figuring out what I can do about the hassle so I will call it a night.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
This rig runs off of cell towers so generally speaking if the cell phone works, the internet is good.
Right now I am in the Gulf, still on cleanup duty after the amazing oil spill and it is as hot as hell out here. Uggh!
This has been the second summer in a row I have worn shorts more often than not.
I spent a lot of time the last time off working in the yard weeding and doing general maintainence, which was OK. I got a lot done and I was pretty pleased.
I didn't drink a whole lot, sttayed busy and got to Camp Perry for a day during the matches and made sure m beloved Marine shooters got their beer.
Right now I am contemplating a work problem and if there is a solution or not to an ongoing hassle that crops up from time to time.
I guess I'll have to get back to figuring out what I can do about the hassle so I will call it a night.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Monday, August 9, 2010
Greetings from Mobile, Ala by damned bama.
For the first time since the bastards left me stuck in Oklahoma City as a young GI, I had a decent flight on Delta.
I do not like that airline very much.
One time when they announced yet ANOTHER delay, I groaned within earshot of the stewardess and she tried to get me thrown off the flight. I ate a lot of humble pie and got to stay on.
Instead of making an issue out of a basic, fairly quite groan, she could have said "I know how you feel. I'd like to get home myself." and that would have ended it.
I mentioned this to an older stewardess today and she told me it was a case of 2 things; a power hungry little chickie and poor training.
The old stewardess snickered and told me that she was careful, as the law of gravity says that everything that goes up must come down.
I confessed to the older stewardess that when I was getting off the plane I got my pound of flesh.
I told the little chickie that she was rude, ignorant, poorly trained and that if she was MY grand daughter, I would have taken her over my knee and given her a good old fashioned spanking.
Everyone within earshot laughed out loud and she was humiliated.
One of the things about getting older is that there really isn't much a younger person can say when they get told they deserve an old fashioned spanking.
Besides, what was she going to do? Throw me off the plane that had just landed at the end of my trip?
Believe it or not, the older stewardess laughed out loud and told me that she wished she could have seen the look on the schoolgirl's face.
Obviously threatening to spank someone is a threat, but telling someone they deservee a spanking is something that is pretty humiliating and there really is nothing the person can say about it.
It's a pretty good weapon for an old man to add to his bag of tricks.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
I do not like that airline very much.
One time when they announced yet ANOTHER delay, I groaned within earshot of the stewardess and she tried to get me thrown off the flight. I ate a lot of humble pie and got to stay on.
Instead of making an issue out of a basic, fairly quite groan, she could have said "I know how you feel. I'd like to get home myself." and that would have ended it.
I mentioned this to an older stewardess today and she told me it was a case of 2 things; a power hungry little chickie and poor training.
The old stewardess snickered and told me that she was careful, as the law of gravity says that everything that goes up must come down.
I confessed to the older stewardess that when I was getting off the plane I got my pound of flesh.
I told the little chickie that she was rude, ignorant, poorly trained and that if she was MY grand daughter, I would have taken her over my knee and given her a good old fashioned spanking.
Everyone within earshot laughed out loud and she was humiliated.
One of the things about getting older is that there really isn't much a younger person can say when they get told they deserve an old fashioned spanking.
Besides, what was she going to do? Throw me off the plane that had just landed at the end of my trip?
Believe it or not, the older stewardess laughed out loud and told me that she wished she could have seen the look on the schoolgirl's face.
Obviously threatening to spank someone is a threat, but telling someone they deservee a spanking is something that is pretty humiliating and there really is nothing the person can say about it.
It's a pretty good weapon for an old man to add to his bag of tricks.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Sunday, August 8, 2010
I just got back from getting something to eat at the
supermarket and saw an old guy. He recognized me from a chat we had some time ago at the deli-eat in tables that are appearing in supermarkets these days.
The man was an old WW2 vet and fought in Italy with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, aka 'The Christmas Tree Regiment' because they were so highly decorated.
When we spoke at the deli, I had found out that he had volunteered while being held in a concentration camp out in Arizona even though he had been born in the States to parents of Japanese ancestry. Interesting man. Interesting life. Much like me, he had an elfin sense of humor. He is one of those guys that you simply look at and know he's a mischief maker from the word 'go'.
I told him that he could have a little fun by telling some of the newer members of the Legion that he had been in the Japanese Army and joined the Legion because the rules didn't specify which side you were on.
He surprised me by telling me he had done that a few times to newer members over the years and he told a few of the more gullible souls that he had been stationed on an air base where his job was to hand out crash helmets to outgoing kamikaze pilots.
He told me that one guy believed him and tried to get him tossed out of the Legion, much to the amusement of everyone that knew what outfit he had served with. It was a really funny story and he told it well.
Anyway, when he recognized me and waved, I went over and asked him how he was doing.
Meeting guys like that is a real treat, and I seem to have a pretty good knack for it.
These people are national treasures and we are losing them at an alarming rate.
Don't be afraid to address a guy wearing a WW2 ball cap. Generally guys like that have a little time on their hands and are more than willing to tell a story or two.
It's generally worth the time and effort.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
The man was an old WW2 vet and fought in Italy with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, aka 'The Christmas Tree Regiment' because they were so highly decorated.
When we spoke at the deli, I had found out that he had volunteered while being held in a concentration camp out in Arizona even though he had been born in the States to parents of Japanese ancestry. Interesting man. Interesting life. Much like me, he had an elfin sense of humor. He is one of those guys that you simply look at and know he's a mischief maker from the word 'go'.
I told him that he could have a little fun by telling some of the newer members of the Legion that he had been in the Japanese Army and joined the Legion because the rules didn't specify which side you were on.
He surprised me by telling me he had done that a few times to newer members over the years and he told a few of the more gullible souls that he had been stationed on an air base where his job was to hand out crash helmets to outgoing kamikaze pilots.
He told me that one guy believed him and tried to get him tossed out of the Legion, much to the amusement of everyone that knew what outfit he had served with. It was a really funny story and he told it well.
Anyway, when he recognized me and waved, I went over and asked him how he was doing.
Meeting guys like that is a real treat, and I seem to have a pretty good knack for it.
These people are national treasures and we are losing them at an alarming rate.
Don't be afraid to address a guy wearing a WW2 ball cap. Generally guys like that have a little time on their hands and are more than willing to tell a story or two.
It's generally worth the time and effort.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
When I get home from this tour, I will have Labor Day
weekend off and another summer will be over.
This one has seemed to have lasted about 4 seconds and I have no clue whatsoever where in the hell it went. It just vanished.
As we get older, time gets going faster and faster and faster yet.
As a kid, June meant the beginnings of a long summer of swimming and camping and fishing in the lake. Summer lasted forever until it FINALLY came to a well worn out end.
These days entire decades last about as long as the blink of an eye.
I am rapidly approaching the time to go and take a long dirt nap, and I am astonished at how short a lifetime is.
Mine has passed by in a matter of a few seconds.
It is amazing.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
This one has seemed to have lasted about 4 seconds and I have no clue whatsoever where in the hell it went. It just vanished.
As we get older, time gets going faster and faster and faster yet.
As a kid, June meant the beginnings of a long summer of swimming and camping and fishing in the lake. Summer lasted forever until it FINALLY came to a well worn out end.
These days entire decades last about as long as the blink of an eye.
I am rapidly approaching the time to go and take a long dirt nap, and I am astonished at how short a lifetime is.
Mine has passed by in a matter of a few seconds.
It is amazing.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
One of the things I have watched over the years is
the growth of a lack of consideration for people.
Neighbor Bob loaned out his pickup for an hour a couple of months ago and whe he got it back there was a spot on the inside of the windshield where the borrower had taken a paper towel and wiped a hole in the cigarette smoke film.
Why didn't he just squirt a little Windex on it and clean the whole inside of the windshield? It would have only taken a minute.
Truth is, Bob had loaned out a machine to someone for no charge whatsoever. The borrower wanted to pick up a local garage sale purchase and probably could have stuffed it into their sedan or tied it to the roof or something.
By borrowing Bobs pickup, he had just had their life made considerably easier.
Instead of taking a small minute of time to wipe the inside of the windshield, they just took the lazy way out.
Today the same person asked to borrow it again today, and guess what?
Bob said 'no'.
I can't say as I blame him at all.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Neighbor Bob loaned out his pickup for an hour a couple of months ago and whe he got it back there was a spot on the inside of the windshield where the borrower had taken a paper towel and wiped a hole in the cigarette smoke film.
Why didn't he just squirt a little Windex on it and clean the whole inside of the windshield? It would have only taken a minute.
Truth is, Bob had loaned out a machine to someone for no charge whatsoever. The borrower wanted to pick up a local garage sale purchase and probably could have stuffed it into their sedan or tied it to the roof or something.
By borrowing Bobs pickup, he had just had their life made considerably easier.
Instead of taking a small minute of time to wipe the inside of the windshield, they just took the lazy way out.
Today the same person asked to borrow it again today, and guess what?
Bob said 'no'.
I can't say as I blame him at all.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Well, I woke up today and that is a good thing.
I am showered, shaved and have my first cup of coffee in me and I have to figure out what to do today. Actually, I am in pretty good shape.
I managed to get everything done I wanted, the house looks pretty good and I guess all I have to do is sit on my ass today. All in all it's a pretty good deal.
I just got word via my relief at work that I will not be involved in the Gulf clean up for my next tour, but I will be responsible for cleaning the tank we used and making sure we get back north in one piece.
At least I think we're going north. We'll see.
I wonder how Gunny Ermey did in the Garand match? I heard that this was his seventh.
I noticed that in the NTI he was shooting an M-14, one of the few that still shoots the old work horse.
I told the Gunny of the Marine Corps team that I was seriously thinking of shooting the NTI with an as-issued Garand. He asked me why I would handicap myself.
I told him that some time ago I had given up all hope of winning anything of a serious nature in the sport and now I shoot for fun. I would enter a match handicapped simply to see how well I could do with what I was in the mood to shoot that day.
I think he understood.
Yesterday when I finished pulling weeds I looked at the flower beds and it was sad.
This year I didn't plant my annuals because there was another plan in the offing and besides, the roof project took top billing.
I won't make thaat mistake next year. I am no longer letting anyone else run certain aspects of my life.
I'm glad I will have a day of rest and I will enjoy it.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
I managed to get everything done I wanted, the house looks pretty good and I guess all I have to do is sit on my ass today. All in all it's a pretty good deal.
I just got word via my relief at work that I will not be involved in the Gulf clean up for my next tour, but I will be responsible for cleaning the tank we used and making sure we get back north in one piece.
At least I think we're going north. We'll see.
I wonder how Gunny Ermey did in the Garand match? I heard that this was his seventh.
I noticed that in the NTI he was shooting an M-14, one of the few that still shoots the old work horse.
I told the Gunny of the Marine Corps team that I was seriously thinking of shooting the NTI with an as-issued Garand. He asked me why I would handicap myself.
I told him that some time ago I had given up all hope of winning anything of a serious nature in the sport and now I shoot for fun. I would enter a match handicapped simply to see how well I could do with what I was in the mood to shoot that day.
I think he understood.
Yesterday when I finished pulling weeds I looked at the flower beds and it was sad.
This year I didn't plant my annuals because there was another plan in the offing and besides, the roof project took top billing.
I won't make thaat mistake next year. I am no longer letting anyone else run certain aspects of my life.
I'm glad I will have a day of rest and I will enjoy it.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Saturday, August 7, 2010
I asked another youngster to marry me today.
She flustered and immediately snapped "NO!"
I gave her a look of relief and said, "Thank God for that!Now I don't have to call off another wedding."
She looked perplexed.
I smirked."Everry time I ask someone and she accepts, I have to call off the wedding."
She took the bait. "Why is that?" she asked.
"Because I would never even consider marrying anyone stupid enough to marry me," I responded.
She didn't get it, but the woman about 6 or 7 years older than me in line did.
She laughed her ass off and chided me for picking on young kids.
When you get a chuckle out of an old lady, it's a pretty good day.
As for the kid?
She'll figure it out.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
I gave her a look of relief and said, "Thank God for that!Now I don't have to call off another wedding."
She looked perplexed.
I smirked."Everry time I ask someone and she accepts, I have to call off the wedding."
She took the bait. "Why is that?" she asked.
"Because I would never even consider marrying anyone stupid enough to marry me," I responded.
She didn't get it, but the woman about 6 or 7 years older than me in line did.
She laughed her ass off and chided me for picking on young kids.
When you get a chuckle out of an old lady, it's a pretty good day.
As for the kid?
She'll figure it out.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
As I rapidly approach the end of my life
there are a few things I am glad about today.
I got a few things done. I did the touch-up on the roof job the Amish did so spectacular of a job of a couple of weeks ago.
The other thing is that I enjoyed a sunset. I do so much love sunsets as to me they begin a new day. I am not a sunrise person.
Then again, if I wake up early enough, I will watch the sun rise.
Who knows?
My father died at the age of 57 and neither grandparent saw 60.
The DNA is against me, which is nothing to cry about because at least I saw life which is a pretty good deal in itself.
I do not have a whole lot of complaints.
One of the things about having the DNA against you is that if you have half a brain and use a quarter of what you have, you realize that there is no time for procrastination. You have to take things in as fast as you can.
I figured that out at an early age.
My father told me that he wasn't going to do a whole lot in life but raise a family and I guess he did that and did it well. He said that after the last kid was going well he'd be out of here. He was good to his word, he diaed when his youngest was in her senior year of college.
I'm glad I took the time to watch the sun set tonight.
It could very well be the last one I ever see.
Of course, I hope not.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
I got a few things done. I did the touch-up on the roof job the Amish did so spectacular of a job of a couple of weeks ago.
The other thing is that I enjoyed a sunset. I do so much love sunsets as to me they begin a new day. I am not a sunrise person.
Then again, if I wake up early enough, I will watch the sun rise.
Who knows?
My father died at the age of 57 and neither grandparent saw 60.
The DNA is against me, which is nothing to cry about because at least I saw life which is a pretty good deal in itself.
I do not have a whole lot of complaints.
One of the things about having the DNA against you is that if you have half a brain and use a quarter of what you have, you realize that there is no time for procrastination. You have to take things in as fast as you can.
I figured that out at an early age.
My father told me that he wasn't going to do a whole lot in life but raise a family and I guess he did that and did it well. He said that after the last kid was going well he'd be out of here. He was good to his word, he diaed when his youngest was in her senior year of college.
I'm glad I took the time to watch the sun set tonight.
It could very well be the last one I ever see.
Of course, I hope not.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
I am getting ready to go back to sea and help
clean up the mess in the Gulf.
I'll probably wind up just being another mannequin in a big window dressing, but we'll see what happens.
As I am in the Gulf, I will be out of internet range except for short periods of time.
I'll do thee best I can what I hhave.
Who knows?
With time on my hands, I just may write something intelligent for a change
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
I'll probably wind up just being another mannequin in a big window dressing, but we'll see what happens.
As I am in the Gulf, I will be out of internet range except for short periods of time.
I'll do thee best I can what I hhave.
Who knows?
With time on my hands, I just may write something intelligent for a change
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Friday, August 6, 2010
One stop shopping isn't.
As usual, whern you have a project you generally have to go to more than one place to get all of the parts.
Yesterday I had hoped to snag everything I needed at Homeless Depot, but there was one thing they lacked, whic sent me to another store.
For the life of me I can nnot figure out why the world isn't easy.
Then again, maybe it is me, as I do not always do things the same way Martha Stewart and Bob Villa do.
Getting a late start is a drag. I will have to plug away for a lot longer tonight to make up for this.
Then again, I could probably just wash the Miata and the pickup and call it a day.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Yesterday I had hoped to snag everything I needed at Homeless Depot, but there was one thing they lacked, whic sent me to another store.
For the life of me I can nnot figure out why the world isn't easy.
Then again, maybe it is me, as I do not always do things the same way Martha Stewart and Bob Villa do.
Getting a late start is a drag. I will have to plug away for a lot longer tonight to make up for this.
Then again, I could probably just wash the Miata and the pickup and call it a day.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Thursday, August 5, 2010
I saw something at Camp Perry that was sad.
It was a guy that I have knbown for years. He's a member of my shooting club, and I have been only an occasional shooter for the past couple of years, as I have found myself too busy here at home and at work.
I hadn't crossed paths with him for a while and I saw him on the range, shooting the NTI match.
He started telling me that I was almost the only person I knew anymore.
So and so was now in the nursing home, someone else had died, another guy was crippled and so on. It was sad. All of the people he mentioned I had shot with at one time or another over the years.
It was sad to see him on the range that day. He looked like a lost puppy.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
I hadn't crossed paths with him for a while and I saw him on the range, shooting the NTI match.
He started telling me that I was almost the only person I knew anymore.
So and so was now in the nursing home, someone else had died, another guy was crippled and so on. It was sad. All of the people he mentioned I had shot with at one time or another over the years.
It was sad to see him on the range that day. He looked like a lost puppy.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Went to Perry
and the younger guys got a boot out of my pickle suit.
Not bad for 58.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
It is a little after 0300 and I am up and
headed to Camp Perry
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Monday, August 2, 2010
I just finished digging the stumps of two trees out
this afternoon and it was an interesting project.
Most people would cringe at theway I removed it; I used a chain saw and 4 sacrificial chains, all of which are resharpenable for a low price of sittin on my ass with a file.
I dug out a little and came in at an angle and cut the roots as best I could and then it became "Fighting Seabees" time, which means I tore the srump out with a nylon strap and a pickup truck.
The reason I call it "Fighting Seabees" time is because Neighbor Bob and I consider the movie of that name to be a First Class Second World War propaganda film. One of the Duke's guys hops in a bulldozer and pushes a Japanese tank off of a cliff. The camera zooms in and we get to see a couple of fat Mexicans dressed as Japanese soldiers in thick glasses and buck teeth ride a rolling tank down a cliff side.
The movie is hokey, and when we do something as cro magnon as tear a stump out with a chainsaw and a pickup, we grin and it is inevitible that one or the other of us says "Fighting Seabees time".
We got both stumps out and nobody got hurt, and that is a good deal.
I was going to write a long entry tonight, but I just got a call from the neighbor on the side opposite of Neighbor Bob and I have been invited to a first class dinner of a filet mignon grilled and I'm outta here.
Good night.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Most people would cringe at theway I removed it; I used a chain saw and 4 sacrificial chains, all of which are resharpenable for a low price of sittin on my ass with a file.
I dug out a little and came in at an angle and cut the roots as best I could and then it became "Fighting Seabees" time, which means I tore the srump out with a nylon strap and a pickup truck.
The reason I call it "Fighting Seabees" time is because Neighbor Bob and I consider the movie of that name to be a First Class Second World War propaganda film. One of the Duke's guys hops in a bulldozer and pushes a Japanese tank off of a cliff. The camera zooms in and we get to see a couple of fat Mexicans dressed as Japanese soldiers in thick glasses and buck teeth ride a rolling tank down a cliff side.
The movie is hokey, and when we do something as cro magnon as tear a stump out with a chainsaw and a pickup, we grin and it is inevitible that one or the other of us says "Fighting Seabees time".
We got both stumps out and nobody got hurt, and that is a good deal.
I was going to write a long entry tonight, but I just got a call from the neighbor on the side opposite of Neighbor Bob and I have been invited to a first class dinner of a filet mignon grilled and I'm outta here.
Good night.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Neighbor Bob did it again.
I do not know how he does this, but he has an absolute KNACK for calling me when I am sitting on the toilet.
I can vary my times daily, but as soon as I am busy, he will make my phone ring. I swear he has the bathroom bugged or somethiing.
It's not too bad these days, though because he calls my cell phone, which is always in reach.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
I can vary my times daily, but as soon as I am busy, he will make my phone ring. I swear he has the bathroom bugged or somethiing.
It's not too bad these days, though because he calls my cell phone, which is always in reach.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
getting back into the swing of things blog-wise
is difficult after the trip because the rhythm of things was upset.
This is a very important pieceof my day and it is a section that requires a certain amount of discipline.
When the internet acess is lost on the boat then the whole day feels like something is missing. After several days it becomes frustrating.
you get the net back, you have to start the disciplinary track all over again.
Anyway, I am going to Camp Perry either tomorrow or Wednasday. I want to visit the guys and maybe I will interview one and post the interview here.
I seem too get along with senior NCOs out there for some reason.
Maybe I will post the time the Marine team talked me into wearing my old uniform sometime. O hadn't worn it in public for 32 years and I did it as a favor to the guys.
You have to remember that this was the uniform I was spit on back in '73.
Yes, I will post the entire story, although it mmay be a repeat. If it is, it still is worth posting.
Anyway, Perry will be a good thing for me to do.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
This is a very important pieceof my day and it is a section that requires a certain amount of discipline.
When the internet acess is lost on the boat then the whole day feels like something is missing. After several days it becomes frustrating.
you get the net back, you have to start the disciplinary track all over again.
Anyway, I am going to Camp Perry either tomorrow or Wednasday. I want to visit the guys and maybe I will interview one and post the interview here.
I seem too get along with senior NCOs out there for some reason.
Maybe I will post the time the Marine team talked me into wearing my old uniform sometime. O hadn't worn it in public for 32 years and I did it as a favor to the guys.
You have to remember that this was the uniform I was spit on back in '73.
Yes, I will post the entire story, although it mmay be a repeat. If it is, it still is worth posting.
Anyway, Perry will be a good thing for me to do.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Sunday, August 1, 2010
I am watching an old movie.
It is 'Bathing Beauties' with Red Skelton and Esther Williams.
It came out in 1944, during WW2.
There is a scene in it where Red Skelton wearing a pink tutu and dancing with a group of ballerinas. Of course, it is a comedy and there is a candy wrapper that gets stuck to him and he passes it on to another dancer but it eventually comes around to him in the end.
I wasn't paying attention to the candy wrapper, I was paying attention to Red Skelton dancing with ballerinas.
He pulled it off wonderfully.
What talent!
Just to make sure you readers are not thinking I am reminiscing and am stuck on the old days, I think you guys ought to think that another scene that came out of Hollywood that I admire is Cheech Marin wrestling against the Invisible Man.
Still, I wish there were more people like Red around.
His sign off line was "Good bye, and God bless."
What a genuinely neat guy.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
It came out in 1944, during WW2.
There is a scene in it where Red Skelton wearing a pink tutu and dancing with a group of ballerinas. Of course, it is a comedy and there is a candy wrapper that gets stuck to him and he passes it on to another dancer but it eventually comes around to him in the end.
I wasn't paying attention to the candy wrapper, I was paying attention to Red Skelton dancing with ballerinas.
He pulled it off wonderfully.
What talent!
Just to make sure you readers are not thinking I am reminiscing and am stuck on the old days, I think you guys ought to think that another scene that came out of Hollywood that I admire is Cheech Marin wrestling against the Invisible Man.
Still, I wish there were more people like Red around.
His sign off line was "Good bye, and God bless."
What a genuinely neat guy.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
I'm listening to a CD someone gave me almost a
year ago.
I have never been one to chase technology and I gave up on new mediums right after cassettes came out. When everyone changed from that to CDs I decided I had had enough of having to go out and buy a new music library.
Anyway, I just got the combat laptop set up so it can play CDs and DVDs and it's acceptable, as I have no need for a huge, 800 watts per channel stereo system.
The CD was a favor sent to me by an old high school classmate. She was the one that set up reunion 40, which I was at sea for and missed.
All of it is music ala 1969.
She has my thanks, it's a pretty nice CD.
It also sounds pretty good on the combat laptop.
Which leads to another interesting question.
A couple of years ago I made a set of headphones to show some kid how we did things back in the old days. I made them out of magnets, wire, a coathanger and a couple of tuna cans. I wonder it the puny laptop produces enough ooomph to drive them.
It will be a perverse meeting of Old School and new technology.
I might dig them up and find out.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
I have never been one to chase technology and I gave up on new mediums right after cassettes came out. When everyone changed from that to CDs I decided I had had enough of having to go out and buy a new music library.
Anyway, I just got the combat laptop set up so it can play CDs and DVDs and it's acceptable, as I have no need for a huge, 800 watts per channel stereo system.
The CD was a favor sent to me by an old high school classmate. She was the one that set up reunion 40, which I was at sea for and missed.
All of it is music ala 1969.
She has my thanks, it's a pretty nice CD.
It also sounds pretty good on the combat laptop.
Which leads to another interesting question.
A couple of years ago I made a set of headphones to show some kid how we did things back in the old days. I made them out of magnets, wire, a coathanger and a couple of tuna cans. I wonder it the puny laptop produces enough ooomph to drive them.
It will be a perverse meeting of Old School and new technology.
I might dig them up and find out.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
My notes came back from Kinkos
a couple of days ago. Five copies of my diary of working in the Gulf.
I made 5 copies.
One has been sent to a woman I went to high school with
one has been sent to a supervisor that I trust for his perusal
One is in my safe along with the flash drive it is recorded on.
One is being read by Neighbor Bob
The other is on my desk.
I will post none of this stuff here because I will not risk embarrassing my employer in any way. Although there is nothing on it that would, one can never tell how something will be taken completely out of context. I'm not afraid of my employer, per se, but one can never tell about the way a customer would react.
Maybe when this mess is over and done with, I might consider it, but certainly not yet.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
I made 5 copies.
One has been sent to a woman I went to high school with
one has been sent to a supervisor that I trust for his perusal
One is in my safe along with the flash drive it is recorded on.
One is being read by Neighbor Bob
The other is on my desk.
I will post none of this stuff here because I will not risk embarrassing my employer in any way. Although there is nothing on it that would, one can never tell how something will be taken completely out of context. I'm not afraid of my employer, per se, but one can never tell about the way a customer would react.
Maybe when this mess is over and done with, I might consider it, but certainly not yet.
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
It is not evven 0730 yet and I ahve already started
something.
Pretty neat!
Half an hour ago I was taking morning coffee in the driveway, and Lo and behold! I saw with mine eyes, organs of vision, a true target of opportunity! The guy that called the cops on me for telling him I was looking for land mines. He's walking his dopey little dog, one of those yappy little things that I'd like to grab by the ears and punt about thirty yards.
I grabbed my weed digger upper, the one that looks like the bayonet, and started going after a couple of weeds. When he was right next to where I was digging, I looked wide eyed at the wees I was digging and said "OH MY GOD!" I put my tool down and with my fingers started gently moving dirt and twigs from the base of the weed and said to him, "You do not want to be here." Then I started gently blowing dust from the base of the weed.
He paled and took off.
I finished my coffee and grabbed cup number 2 of 2 and waited outside.
Sure enough, the cops showed up.
It was a different officer, and he was friendly enough and we chatted.
When I asked him if he was having a quiet Sunday morning, he replied that he was until this call came in. He also mentioned that this was the fourth or fifth time he had called the department on me.
He said he was 'going to have a little talk' with the guy.
This is good, becausenow I can do wverything under the sun in front of the bastard and he won't dare call the cops on me about anything unless he finds a dead stripper in my trash.
Maybe not even then!
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
Pretty neat!
Half an hour ago I was taking morning coffee in the driveway, and Lo and behold! I saw with mine eyes, organs of vision, a true target of opportunity! The guy that called the cops on me for telling him I was looking for land mines. He's walking his dopey little dog, one of those yappy little things that I'd like to grab by the ears and punt about thirty yards.
I grabbed my weed digger upper, the one that looks like the bayonet, and started going after a couple of weeds. When he was right next to where I was digging, I looked wide eyed at the wees I was digging and said "OH MY GOD!" I put my tool down and with my fingers started gently moving dirt and twigs from the base of the weed and said to him, "You do not want to be here." Then I started gently blowing dust from the base of the weed.
He paled and took off.
I finished my coffee and grabbed cup number 2 of 2 and waited outside.
Sure enough, the cops showed up.
It was a different officer, and he was friendly enough and we chatted.
When I asked him if he was having a quiet Sunday morning, he replied that he was until this call came in. He also mentioned that this was the fourth or fifth time he had called the department on me.
He said he was 'going to have a little talk' with the guy.
This is good, becausenow I can do wverything under the sun in front of the bastard and he won't dare call the cops on me about anything unless he finds a dead stripper in my trash.
Maybe not even then!
my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
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