OH, This Is Good News

I stole this transcript form Rush Limbaugh, who stole it from CNN's Wolf Blitzer

RUSH: Let's go to the audio sound bites because CNN decided to do an in-depth expose last night to find out if anybody on the Obama auto team has any experience in the automobile business. They talked to Austan Goolsbee, one of these economic advisors, one of these Ivy League egghead members of the Obama administration, and Blitzer's question was this: "Okay, you have 21 members in your auto industry task force. None of them have any real auto industry experience. Five of them are cabinet secretaries. Nearly half of your members hold economic posts. Seven have ties to energy and the environment. Even the Treasury's senior advisor on auto issues, Ron Bloom, has no direct auto industry background. One member of the auto industry task force is joining us now, Austan Goolsbee. Is that fair that none of you has any real direct auto industry experience?"

GOOLSBEE: I don't think it's fair. I believe that Ron Bloom does have a significant amount of auto experience and that is within the government task force. The other thing that I'd say is the president made clear in his remarks, the US government is not trying to get into the business of running an automobile company.

RUSH: Oh.

GOOLSBEE: The intention here is to create the conditions that will be a bridge allowing these companies to restructure and become viable enterprises again --

BLITZER: Do you know...?

GOOLSBEE: -- in the future.

BLITZER: Do you know offer the top of your head what Ron Bloom's auto experience industry was?

GOOLSBEE: Umm... I... No, I don't know exact-- I believe that it was, uhhh, advising the unions and in working in the auto industry, but I'm (puase0 not an auto executive so I... That's not my area.

SWEET!

Saying Goodbye To March

I thought I would recap the month of March 2009 since we'll never see it again, although it will live on in history.  Lisa and I enjoyed many sites in and around our new home.  Yesterday we went hiking at the open space at Red Rock Canyon on the west side of town.  Open spaces are what most states call parks.  It was snowing early in the morning on our side of the city (northeast).  Lisa wanted to hike in the snow but by the time we got to the southwest side of town there wasn't any snow to be seen.  It was still a good time.  I tried to hone my photography skills but have a long way to go.  The area was pretty interesting.  It used to be an old Quarry so there were some unique rock formations.  After the hike we went to Old Chicago for a few beers and appetizers during happy hour.  We like to do that whenever we have a little extra cash.

On Friday, March 27th I had a snow day due to a brief blizzard.  I say brief because here in Colorado it snows like crazy for a day and is melted off by the following afternoon.  Lee and I spent 2 hours of the snow day at Target scanning old photos.  I like to post them on Geni (as I've mentioned before).  It's always a little bittersweet looking at old photos.  I love this one of Bryce, Brent and me at Dillion Lake.  It was taken in 1975 and believe it or not I still remember that day pretty vividly.  It was a great day, fishing with our Dad.

Lisa gave me a scare on the 15th.  She had been complaining of shortness of breath and chest pains for a few days but didn't want to go to the doctors. Finally at around 9 o'clock on Sunday evening she was feeling so bad that I didn't have any argument from her and I took her to the ER.  It was a little scary at first, the nurse and technician were joking with Lisa at first.  She's always making jokes with people in these situations.  Then as they ran tests everyone started acting a little dodgy.  Finally after a few x-rays and an EKG the doctor told us it was only a chest infection of some kind.  We then drove around town to find a 24 hour Walgreen (found it on the corner of Dublin Blvd and Union Blvd) and a Taco Bell at 1:30 a.m.

We also took a drive down Phantom Canyon Road between Victor and Canon City, Colorado.  That was a fun ride but one that wears you out.  Victor was also the scariest dump of a town I've ever been through, and I've been through rural Arkansas.

We also saw I Love You Man and Watchmen in the theaters.  We both agreed that I Love You Man was very good and the Watchmen was okay.

Overall it was a personally good month for me.  Unfortunately the same can't be said for the country.  As much as I would like to keep politics out of the blog, I feel like I have to include a little in just for historic purposes.  The President continues to run up our debt in some kind of spending frenzy the likes of which I've never seen.  He forced a private citizen to quit his job (the CEO of GM) and Congress has been running the equivalent of the McCarthy hearings, making corporations the scapegoat and excuse to broaden federal powers.  I thought the Patriot Act was bad.  Clinton accused the U.S. for being the cause of the drug wars raging in Mexico.  She seems to forget which country she works for.  Couldn't have anything to do with the rampant corruption of the local Mexican governments.  Everyday there's something in the news that turns me a little more bitter. 

March Blizzard

Photo courtesy of KOAA.com

Today has been interesting. It started to snow at one o'clock and hasn't stopped yet. It's 9:15 right now. The drive home was fun. The speed limit on Powers Blvd is 50. I did 20 to 30 mph all the way home. There are a few steep hills and on the one between S Carefree Dr and N Carefree Dr had about five cars stuck halfway up. Tires spinning they sat there askew as traffic wove through them. I drove Lisa's truck because the forecast was calling for the storm andI'm glad I did. It made getting home a lot easier.

Of course when i got home I had to sleep for a couple of hours due to the migraine I had all day. It subsided long enough for me to get up, watch American Idol, The Office and 30 Rock and type this. Now it's time for bed, by the looks of it, I'm going to have to get up early for the drive into work.

Best Friends

Best Friends
Originally uploaded by brian glass

A recent favorite of mine. It's from the morning after Lisa got back from Missouri. Moon couldn't wait to jump into bed with her and Lisa couldn't wait to choke Moon.

IPA

I'm not a big fan of IPAs but I thought this was interesting, it was sent to me by a friend of mine that's a brewmaster/UXO tech which is like putting the mouse in charge of the cheese.

From The Sunday Times
March 22, 2009
Old beer’s secret is ale at sea
BrewDog claims it is about to bottle the first authentic batch of IPA to be made in almost 200 years
Richard Wilson

A Scottish brewery claims to have produced the first authentic India pale ale (IPA) in almost 200 years by ageing the beer aboard a trawler in the North Sea.
BrewDog, a Scottish micro-brewery based in Fraserburgh, has used an original recipe to produce the ale, which was traditionally matured during the 100-day sea journey from Britain to India.
While many brewers still produce IPA on land, BrewDog’s owners James Watt and Martin Dickie decided to make the beer the old-fashioned way.
The pair prepared eight oak barrels which spent seven-and-a-half weeks aboard the Ocean Quest, a mackerel trawler captained by Watt, who is also a fisherman.
During the journey the casks were lashed by towering waves and covered in snow. One barrel had to be salvaged from the sea after it was washed overboard.
Dickie said that the traditional India pale ale contained higher than normal levels of hops and alcohol, which acted as preservatives. He added that the beer was given its distinctive taste by the way it aged in the barrels, which were tossed around and subjected to large fluctuations in temperature during the journey.
“It had to be drinkable by the time it reached India, which is why it was very strong and high in hops,” Dickie said. “Ours were at sea for seven-and-a-half weeks, so it’s not exactly historically correct, but it was the best we could recreate.
“With all the motion of the sea, the oxidation in the barrel would have been brought on quicker than if they were sitting in a warehouse. Some interesting flavours were also introduced, like the wood of the barrel, but also the fruity flavours brought on by the oxidation.”
Dickie said he discovered the 200-year-old recipe among his collection of books on beer.
He added that he had already received a number of orders for the beer, which is 8% alcohol and will be bottled next month.
“There isn’t another beer like that made commercially,” Dickie said. “It gives beer enthusiasts a chance to taste what a beer like that would have tasted all those years ago.”

New Ways To Be Annoyed

Congratulate me. I'm only about five years behind this trend. I have a Feedburner account and now you can subscribe to Life's Been Good To Me So Far and Riding. So, what are you waiting for? Now you can get me 24/7 (lucky you).

Facebook And The Problem With Addiction

Moon, our dog, and I are sitting here a little bored on a Saturday night. Lisa (my wife) is in Missouri visiting her niece and nephew. I'm not sure what to do. I don't want to watch a week old rerun of Dancing With The Stars. I'm tired of Facebook. I think Facebook is a ridiculous time waster and I complained for a long time that I don't get the point of it. I actually had a Facebook account for maybe a year before my friends and family started using it. I'm not bragging. I didn't do anything with it all that time, I actually forget why I had it to begin with. As soon as everyone else got on I slowly started being drawn to the dark side. Now I jump on there to check people's status every time I pass the computer. The bad part is, I still think it's stupid and haven't really found a good use for it. It does make a casual conversation with friends easier and an old friend from the Air Force days tracked me down a few days ago, which is neat. Generally I get on there and act kind of creepy. I have no idea why it has that affect on me. I'm quite the immature ass really. I get the feeling that if anything it's actually turning friends and family against me. I'm going to attempt to cool it a little. I noticed that I'm really the only guy I know that's on there so much so that's a little embarassing as well. I feel like a chick. A big bald, hairy-backed, creepy immature chick. Not a good place to be.

An Aerial Tour Of My Youth

Dad and Mom recently took a drive through Martinsville Indiana. I did some of my growing up in that area. It's not far from Bloomington, a fact I like to mention when I want to sound cool, John Mellencamp was practically our neighbor (although I'm not sure he was living there around the time we were).

I decided to check out the old neighborhood on Google Maps. Very little had changed on our block. I would like to get back there some day and see it from ground level. In the map you can see the old bridge and the creek I used to ride my bike up in the summer. It's at the top of the map. I don't remember there being that many houses across the street.

Our house was the middle one between Barbra St and Oliver Ct. The corn field across the street is still there.

Who would have thought that looking at a satellite photo would make you nostalgic.


View Larger Map

Potpourri

Lisa left to go on a camping trip with her brother and his kids tonight. She'll be gone for four days camping in, of all places, Missouri. She's gotten a little better with the Costochondritis she's had for about a week now. Better but not over it. I'll be worried while she's gone but she refused to leave her brother hanging. She's stubborn that way. It's very endearing.

I've been going through all of these crazy distractions lately. A trait I get from my father is this desire for some kind of hobby. It usually involves cars or trucks and I usually bother those around me with the details of plots that more than likely will never come to pass. A couple of my half-baked obsessions right now are an AEV Brute - It's a conversion kit to turn a TJ Jeep into a pick up. There's even an optional Hemi V8 conversion kit for it. It's stonkin' (which I believe is Scottish slang for bad assed). I would settle for a cheaper, low mileage Jeep to work on a little too. Or a 1999 or 2000 Toyota Tacoma, just like Lisa's. I've even been thinking of fixing up Lisa's, you know a tasteful little lift and some custom wheels. I like the new trend of black wheels.

Since our relocation several of these day dreams have focused onfour wheeling. I tend to fluctuate between muscle cars, 4x4s and motorcycles depending on time of year, location or just what's in front of me at the moment. I was actually toying with the idea of buying my old F-150 back and updating it. Our proximity to Moab and the mountain trails right here in our part of Colorado have my short spanned attention right now.

Of course here in a few weeks I'll be wanting to break out the motorcycle and ride. Last month I had my attentions turned on the new Yamaha Vmax. That thing looks pretty stonkin' too. At $17,000 dollars it's a little out of my price range however. Right now I can't afford a new back tire for the FZ1. Who knows, maybe in a few years. The beautiful thing about motorcycles is I can usually afford a pretty awesome ride and get something shiny and new for a decent price.

Now that I've got that off my just maybe I'll stop bugging Lisa with my annoying fantasies.

Lisa's Trip To The ER

Isn't she cute?

Lisa and I were at the Emergency Room last night until one in the morning. For the last few days Lisa has been have brief bouts of shortness of breath. I finally convinced the stubborn Taurus to let me take her to the ER. I know it must be bad when she is to the point where she agrees. Last night she was just too weak to argue. We got there around nine, the doctors ran some tests and found out she has a case of Costochondritis. Man was I relieved. Her heart looked fine and there were no blood clots, two outcomes of the symptoms she was suffering from.

Today I stayed home to take care of her and she has behaved and slept most of the day. She's doing better I'm happy to say. She should be as good as new in a few days.

Sorry, I'm A Hater (Can't Be Helped)

Don't bother reading this if you are a) a fan of President Obama or b) sick of listening to me whine about President Obama. My blog as I've written before helps me release frustration and the last few days I've been feeling it. I'm not sure why I feel compelled to complain about things when I'm sure I'm unable to change anybody's mind or when it in fact doesn't accomplish a damned thing. Surely there's something more positive for me to write about. I guess I feel some kind of passion for this so for now it's fun (sorry).

The way I see Obama, he is either the worst kind of politician (the kind he railed against during the campaign) or a big naive doofus that's more like me than JFK. On the surface it seemed like he actually thought he could go in there and through sheer will of personality change Washington D.C. single-handed. That sounds like something any guy sitting around the bar would argue, the old "if I ran the country" thing. Second in popularity right after "I love you man". That's why I liken Obama to me, not because I think I could do as good a job as him but because I think he's doing as bad a job as me. As much shit as I like to talk, I know full well I don't know the first thing about running a country, and more and more it seems to me that's the case with Barrack.

Every presidential election is regarded as the "most important election" of our times. I've always been a fan of the Billy Joel song We Didn't Start The Fire. I've always thought that there wasn't anything we couldn't get through. As a result I've always voted with my convictions as a Libertarian even when people I know have gotten down right irate at me and accused me of throwing my vote away. I believe however had I known things were going to get this bad I would have voted for that crazy old guy, hindsight and all being what it is.

I sincerely hope I'm wrong and someone comes across this entry in a year and thinks I'm just a huge wanker. I'm mean obviously things will get better, it's just a matter of time. Watch the reaction of Wall Street whenever Obama or one of his economic advisers makes an announcement and I think you'll see a strong argument for less interference from the Federal Government. I think things would get better sooner if they would stay out of it. For those keeping count the tally of jobs bought with your $787,000,000.00 is 25 policemen in Columbus Ohio and 8 highway contractors in Arizona (and a few miscellaneous sign makers). That job in Arizona is over a million dollars to convert mileage signs on the interstate from Tucson to Mexico from kilometers to miles. The interstate is about 63 miles long. I heard this story this morning on NPR. It was reported cute and clever, like some kind of human interest story. It makes me kind of sick.

Well, as I predicted, I feel better. As usual I've worked through my fears and doubts via my little blog thing and I should be fine as long as I can keep from watching Lou Dobbs. It's what I had to do to help me get through the Bush years. When, by the way, is this country going to get the President we deserve? I guess as long as you guys keep voting for them we'll all keep suffering. We need a real voice of change and hope, not just another poser.

My Second Favorite Holiday

While Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday I think I'm becoming pretty fond of St Patricks Day. As you may have noticed I even made up a special banner for the blog in celebration. While it's basically one of those beer company holidays like Cinco De Mayo it's been around long enough to earn my respect. Like Cinco De Mayo I think it's one of those holidays we celebrate more here than in the country of origin. While I'm not particularly fond of Cinco De Mayo I think March is the perfect month for a party based around beer. Maybe it's the timing or maybe it's the fact that I like Smithwick's and Guinness better than Corona and Tecate (ick). Whatever the reason, I've been blessed by the fact that my new favorite restaurant, Old Chicago, is having a "mini-tour" of Irish beers. All I have to do to get a St Paddy's day t-shirt is drink 8 Irish beers. I can do that standing on my head (literally, I did that once in the Air Force, I don't recommend it).

Quite Night

I'm hanging out with the dog tonight. Lisa is at her water aerobics class. It's pretty enjoyable.

Lisa getting ready for the hike

The past weekend was a pretty good one. I should say my weekend, Monday and Tuesday. Lisa and I went to Rampart Reservoir up by Woodland Park. We did a little "hiking" and drove around the roads on top of the mountains. We ended up taking Rampart Range Road which was one of those job corp jobs from the 1930's. It's funny how many roads there are built across the tops of mountains in the US, all put there during the depression. The scenery was inspiring and relaxing.

Tuesday we went to the movies. We haven't been in awhile. We saw The Reader which was not what I expected and was actually pretty good. I'm still not going to see that damned Slum Dog Millionaire though. I refuse.

Tuesday night I grilled a steak and veggie burger for Lisa and we pounded back a few Guinness's. Not a bad way to end the weekend.

The Day In History

These are some of the headlines I woke up to this morning on my Yahoo webpage.

Dow industrials fall below 7,000; lowest since '97

Obama to launch healthcare push with new secretary

Big snowstorm blankets eastern United States

And Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson lost a bet and ate dog biscuits on a German talk show.

One of the problems with the loss of print newspapers is that internet news articles never last. I'm sure in a few months or a years time the links to these stories won't last. I just got a wild hair to note them.

Hello March 2009

We rang in the new month with a little celebration last night. Lisa's brother Chris and his fiance came down for a little barbeque, I made up some pulled pork and beef and grilled salmon for Lisa. Before the meal we went to Old Chicago for a few beers on the St Paddy's Day mini-tour. I had Smithwicks and Murphy's. Man I love Old Chicago.

It was a pretty good evening.