Here's a good rule of thumb for living in the midwest: when you buy a snowblower, always get one that's bigger than you think you need. You'll be glad you did when the $%&@*! snowplow dumps 4 feet of ice in your driveway! I know I was, anyway.

I usually hate talking politics, but I can't help it this one time. Feel free to ignore this post if you don't want to hear it.

One sentiment I hear a lot is the idea of the "liberal mainstream media". But if that's true, why is this story not the front page topic on all of the news sites? I stumbled across it last night on Yahoo news, but this morning it was nowhere to be found until I googled it. If you go to the CNN or MSNBS home pages, there are no links to it at all. You have to search specifically for it. (I searched "Palin travel children" to find it).

Why is this not front page news? She charged the state of Alaska $17,000 in per diems for days where she stayed in her own home, and expensed $21, 012 for plane tickets for her children and claimed they were on official business. And then, just before she was selected to be the VP nominee and after Alaska reporters asked for the records, Palin ordered changes to previously filed expense reports for her daughters' travel. So, she stuck the state will the bill to take her kids along with her on 64 one-way and 12 round-trip commercial flights, then altered the documents after the fact to lie about it and cover her ass. And she and McCain have spent the last 2 months talking about how moral they are, and how un-patriotic, un-American and un-Christian Obama is, and in fact how un-patriotic, un-American and un-Christian you are if you support Obama.

If this came out that Obama or Biden had done this, I have to believe it would be in screaming headlines everywhere. But at the time of this writing, there is no reference to it on the home page of cnn.com or msnbc.com. (To be fair, at the bottom of abcnews.go.com there is a text-only link for it in the "Other stories" box. It is between the "When in Kenya, trust the locals" link and the "Britney Spears' Driving Case Dismissed" link.) What is the main focus on CNN? "McCain in Sit Room: He's behind with less than 2 weeks to go, so what's McCain's strategy for the homestretch? He joins Wolf in "The Situation Room".

Hmmm. Liberal bias, eh?

Suspenders

For years we have had a car top carrier that is constantly in the way in our garage when it's not attached to the van. So when I do put it on the van for a trip, I tend to leave it attached for several weeks afterward, so I don't have to have it underfoot all the time. But that looks pretty dorky, and messes with the gas mileage, so eventually I take it off and try to figure out where to put it in the garage.

But no more! I went to the hardware store a few weeks ago and bought some rope, a few pulleys and some eye bolts, and now it lives safely on the ceiling of the garage.

I'll let you know and post some pictures if (when?) the whole thing crashes down onto the car some night!

I acknowledge and accept...

That I am a geek. Because I like this.

And on the plus side, if the earth, the solar system and possibly the entire Milky Way do get swallowed by a black hole created in Switzerland in the next few months, at least the scientists won't have to hear "I told you so!"

Can't stop the lame-ness

So, I want to blog. I really do. And sometimes I even think of things to blog about, but of course I'm never in a place I can do anything about it when that happens. I have to admit I've been highly unmotivated in life in the last few months, so when I go out and read my friends' blogs (yes, I do follow your blogs closely) I always think I should contribute something. But then when I sit down to enter something, I got nothin'. And then even when I think I do have something to say, I sit down in front of the computer and think, oh that's crap, no one wants to read about that!

Well, I decided today to shun this weird mental block. How? Not sure yet. I tried to figure out why I'm so apathetic lately, but I don't know. Am I sad or depressed? No. Mad at something? No. Sick? Still nope. Just some weird phase, I guess. Kind of like Chuck in Night Shift, when he answers the phone at the morgue with "Somebody died? Who cares?". But I'm tired of it, so it stops now. OK, now. Maybe....now?

Anyways, thanks for checking in once in a while, and I'll try to improve on two things: 1. Post more and 2. No more whining, for crap's sake!

Lame-ass!

Sorry I've been so lame about posting lately. I'm neither dead, nor injured; just distracted. But I will try to get better!

With one breath, with one flow, you will know...

Synchronicity.

Odd things have been happening lately. Or actually I'm pretty sure they always do, I just have been noticing them more as of late. It seems to cycle like that. Little things that you only notice if you pay attention. Some examples:

1. Yesterday I was driving to lunch, and I was in a bad mood. I don't know why I was in a mood, maybe I was just tired. I flipped through all the radio stations and got either commercials or crap. Which is no surprise for Omaha radio stations. My last stop was the local college radio station which plays about 75% thrash metal and 25% good, cutting edge, listenable (to my tender 42-year-old ears) rock. They were playing those little recorded snippets from movies, which usually means they are about to play a song. I said out loud (I talk to myself all the time. I know it's weird, but at least I know I have an interested audience!) "I can't imagine what song they could possibly play to get me out of my shitty mood." Instantly the group Rage Against the Machine popped into my head. I don't know why, it's not like I'm a huge fan, but I really like a few of their tunes, and for some reason songs like Renegades of Funk and their great cover of Springsteen's Ghost of Tom Joad always put me right. Anyway, 10 seconds later the next song started, and guess what, it was Renegades of Funk! Haven't heard that song on the radio in months, maybe years, but there it was. And you know, it worked; I was happy again. Coincidence? Hmmmm.

2. One day this weekend I was minding my own business, working in the basement. When I am on my own my brain alternates between snippets of music, movie quotes and odd phrases. So the phrase "I'm not an actor, but I play one on tv." popped into my head and rattled around in there for a while. I have no idea why it did, it was totally random. At the time it seemed like kind of a funny phrase. Now today on my way to work I listened to the start of This American Life, and one of the segments was about John Hodgman. And Ira Glass's intro to this segment was: "Act 1: I’m not a tv star but I play one on tv”". Pretty weird, eh?

When I pay attention, I notice that this kind of thing happens all the time. Is it synchronicity? Coincidence? God? Kismet?

The poet Sting describes Synchronicity as...

A connecting principle
Linked to the invisible
Almost imperceptible
Something inexpressible
Science insusceptible
Logic so inflexible
Causally connectable.

But why? Is there somebody watching me, poking me once in a while to see if I'm awake? It's nice to think so, anyway.

Clowns = yipes

Click here to read the truth about clowns.

I knew it!! I've always known it!!!

The Obligatory Year End List, Part 2

I was going through my music catalog and realized my last post I missed some gems from last year. Iron & Wine - The Shepard's Dog is another disc I found myself playing over and over this year. If you don't know them, check it out. I can't find a song I don't like on it. Eddie Vedder released the soundtrack to Into The Wild, and if you like the melodic side of Pearljam, you'll like this disk. The radio hit Hard Sun is the best, but it's solid throughout.

I learned about Spoon this year with Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, and I'm hooked. My favorites are The Underdog, You Got Yr Cherry Bomb and Don't Make Me a Target.

Best album-I've-heard-multiple-great-songs-from-and-yet-for-no-good-reason-I-have-not-yet-bought: The White Stripes - Icky Thump, with the loud and raucous title track and the typically cool You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told). It's on my shopping list.

Best album-I-don't-know-much-about-yet-but-will-probably-buy-on-principle: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - Raising Sand.

The Obligatory Year End List

This year we spent New Year’s Eve with good friends, and we spent time playing around with my friend Dan’s new stereo, which is maybe the most amazing setup I’ve ever seen. It got me thinking about music, and some of the new music I’ve stumbled upon in 2007. My favorite album of 2007: Bright Eyes – Cassadaga. I’ve been following Bright Eyes for several albums now, ever since Lifted or the Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground and it seems like it all comes together with this latest release. The more I listen to it, the more I like it. The main single from it is Four Winds, but I Must Belong Somewhere is just as accessible, and somehow I can’t stop listening to Make A Plan To Love Me.

Another find I came across this year was Regina Spektor – Begin To Hope. A few radio-friendly songs (Fidelity and On the Radio) caught my attention, but once I listened to the whole album I was hooked. Some other highlights are the haunting Sampson and the quirky That Time which somehow seems to stick in my head.

The Shins’ Wincing the Night Away has really grown on me lately. The radio hit is Phantom Limb, but after I listened several times I found I like Black Wave and A Comet Appears every bit as much.

I have to go now, but I’ll be back soon with more tunes. I promise. Really!

And note to certain people who just last week did not believe I would really post a new blog message within a week. I did it with one day to spare! Maybe this means I can get past this writer’s block and start posting again? We’ll see!