The Morning After

So I felt like crap yesterday as I got hit with the bug that was floating around my house all weekend. Will try to make it to work and stick it out for the week. Wasn't able t workout this morning but will switch to Tuesday and Thursday one week only.

The Iraqi elections were held this weekend, since I've been on the wrong side to the bathroom door to hear the TV I know nothing of how it went or how many were killed by the terrorists. That being said I question the rapidness of these elections. You see I think that Bush etal are rushing things a little because of the bitchers and nay sayers here in the states. Back in the post WWII days it took YEARS for the defeated to come back together and reform their governments. It took almost 4 years before Germany held elections and almost 6 years until they held them in Japan. Then we have Iraq which is going on less than a year before elections when parts of the country are still hostile.

Why are we not using the air power we have?? Why are we sending in our men and women to parts of the country which are not secure? Why are we not bombing these bastards back to the stone age, and why did we not do that in the first place? Simple: Politics. This way the poor terrorists have a chance at defending themselves. We hit several terrorist bases with bombs early in the game and the media and the left cried foul when the Iraqis said we bombed a wedding party, at 3am, 50 miles from the nearest town, in the desert, where satellites had confirmed terrorists activities. A wedding, so we stopped bombing sites and instead sent our boys in to die fighting hand to hand with these monsters. The enemy is not hiding in the sand, they are not in basements building suicide bombs or kidnapping random people, they are living next door to you, shouting and shaking a fist at a rally, helping fund the legal fees of captives at guantonamo bay. It is the lawyers in the ACLU twisting our legal system to take God out of the Pledge of allegiance, getting illegals and criminals millions in lawsuits against the United States. Do you have the right to protest, assemble and speak out, YES!!!! But why is it that during the Democratic National Convention in Boston, the 'republican' protestors were given an area to protest in and all went off without a hitch or complaint or media coverage but when the Republicans moved to New York and the 'democratic' protestors showed up there was screaming and spitting and general mayhem. "I will send these delegates to the bad sections of town if they ask me for directions, I will make them feel unwelcome in my city" these are quotes from protestors at the time. That is the enemy, these are the people destroying our great nation. These are the true hatemongers, if they put as much energy and actions into their community as they do against those who have different views then maybe this country would be a better place. Until then we will have friends, family and neighbors who care more about the treatment of terrorists and the rights of criminals than they do about the homeless in their backyard and the family who live in a van down the street.

Guess I am feeling a little better, off to work now!

Saturday

Saturday, 10am, I have been up since 8am cleaning and taking care of the boy. Thursday we had dinner at my folks, just me, the boy and my parents (wife at business dinner) and the next day I felt like crap. The boy was up at Midnight till 6am puking, when we called my folks house to see if they could watch the boy while we went to work my dad answered. He had been up all night puking and sent my mom to my sisters (where she watches my nephew) so her and the baby would not get sick. So we call my sister and my mom answers, she has been puking all morning and my sister is taking half a day so my mom can go home. This morning the boy is a bundle of energy, me thinks food poisoning but the mother says Flu...what do you think?!?!?!

OK time to log off as I am adding a new hard drive and a video capture card so I can transfer and edit video and then burn to DVD (the reason I bought this PC). My first project will be my niece's baptism from last week. Then I have several YEARS of video sitting on VHS, VHS-C and Hi8 tapes, from my high school days, college nights and 12 years of the boy......should be fun.

Smarts

The city up the road from Indianapolis was found to be the dumbest city in the nation (Fort Wayne). Then I thought to myself what is smart, I for one am not the smartest guy in the bunch (my wife is VERY intelligent) but I consider myself smart enough to be dangerous. I read, and keep up on current events (that interest me), I can appreciate art and music and have been seen enjoying the theater (other than movies) from time to time. I am a student of history and very Computer savvy. I got a D in psychology in college and math was never my strong point. I am street smart, can handle myself in adult situations (not the porn type) and was very good at contract language and translation during my union years. I can help my kid with homework, work under the hood of a car built before 1990 and operate a video switcher in live situations. While I do not consider myself in the top 10 of intelligent people I think I can hold my own in mixed company.

So what is smart? And who decided were the line is drawn?

PS SpellCheck was used on this and every post.

What City Please......

When I was younger and you would call the operator a person would get
on the line and ask what city you were looking for. That person was
usually locally employed and got you the info. Later when companies
started getting help lines the person on the other end of the line
could have been local but most likely lived in the city of the
company's headquarters and would help you from there.

Today most likely you will get someone on the other side of the world
with a computer screen and enough English to get by. I have had this
happen twice with 2 different companies. First was Dell when I had to
reinstall Windows, I got a hold of some woman in India that I could
not understand. I called back several times before I got a clear line
with someone who understood what I was saying. This morning I found
that my DSL access was down and had to call SBC for help. I got a
hold of someone in the Philippines who had me reset my computer and
portal then told me he had run out of options on his screen and would
have to have someone call me back at a later time. I pay a lot of
money every month to have fast Internet access and when I call for
help I get someone I can hardly hear (half a world away) or understand
(English as a 2nd language) that just follows the prompts on their
screen in hopes they fix something. Now I told them to call tonight
between 7pm and 10pm when I get home from work, however when I called
them to check up on it they had the trouble ticket and call time set
to their local time (11pm instead of the 9am when I called) so I
wonder when they will call me? I'd let you know but I am not sure
when I will be getting access back at home.

Not THAT pisses me off.

Home Again

Yet to Chicago this weekend fir a baptism. Had a fantastic time, stayed at the Navy Pier, hit happy hour with the family, hit the bars with brothers, sister, wife and cousin, walked around millennium Park, Michigan Avenue, Navy Pier and Downtown Chicago, ate at ESPN Zone and watched the Falcons (son's favorite team) lost to the Eagles, oh well. Have pics and funny story but have to go to work....more later....

________________________________

Johnny Carson died this weekend, but I feel he died when he left his show over 10 years ago. That is not a slam in any way. To me he was Late Night TV, I only caught the last 10 years or so of his reign as King of Late Night but I felt Leno, Letterman, O'Brien, Chase etal where always pretenders to the throne. He signed off with class and then disappeared from the public until today when we remember the man he was. I can respect that, he said he lived in the public eye for 30 years and he didnot see the need to pop up on TV anymore. Good for him and good for the family that he was able to spend time with for these past 10 years.

Inauguration Day

Today the President starts his second term. Love him or hate him and
everything in between, today is the day that shows the world that
democracy works. Celebrate it, and respect the office if not the man.

PS: Watching the Speech on side by side monitors in the newsroom, I
see NBC and ABC showing the President and respected guests. On CBS
they cut away several times to show protesters being escorted away.
And they say CBS shows no bias.....

Inauguration Day

Today the President starts his second term. Love him or hate him and
everything in between, today is the day that shows the world that
democracy works. Celebrate it, and respect the office if not the man.

PS: Watching the Speech on side by side monitors in the newsroom, I
see NBC and ABC showing the President and respected guests. On CBS
they cut away several times to show protesters being escorted away.
And they say CBS shows no bias.....

New Pet Peeves

OK here are my new pet peeves starting with:

"Jumpers", when working out on a weight circuit there are about 20 machines that are set up in order so you start a muscle group and make your way threw it until you hit another muscle group and so on until the end. Now I know not everyone uses every machine (I only use 11) but there is an order to them in which you should do the exercises. Except there are some people that just jump on any machine and bounce from side to side until there workout is complete. They are called jumpers and can mess up anyone's routine without a thought. They piss me off, I understand someone doing 5 machines will jump over me while I do my 11, and I understand that people doing more than one set will either stay on their machine or come back later, but I hate these people I see walk in, then jump on a leg machine then jump on upper body, go back to a different leg, then arms, then calves, then upper body again and throws off everyone's rhythm.

"Friends and The Today Show", I love the Today Show, I think it is funny, entertaining, intelligent and informative. I worked Master Control for NBC for 9 years and had to watch it every day. Now I watch it to catch up on the world before work. The one thing I have noticed lately is using clips from Friends to promote an upcoming piece. While they may have worked when Friends was still on and was having an upcoming episode on this subject, Friends is now off the air. I have seen them do this 5 times now. Today was a clip of Ross at his Divorce Attorney after his 3rd marriage. They play the scene and I think that maybe that actor is on the show or NBC is promoting a new DVD or guest appearance on Joey. Nope, they are talking to divorce lawyers today and it was a way to remind people that NBC used to be the number 1 prime time network and noone could touch Thursdays on the Peacock. Guest what people, CBS is the prime time power house and with Survivor, CSI, and Without A Trace, it shall dominate Thursdays for a long time to come. Will and Grace has not been funny in years (I'm Gay, I'm Gayer, hahahahahha) and ER is now past it's prime (sad to say as I have watched it from day one). Give up the Friends Ghost NBC.....

"Weekend Gas Prices" Gas around here is about $1.70 give or take 10 cents. I pass by 7 gas stations on the way to work and see a difference of .20 for unleaded, and that is within same companies!! My problem is the fact that even if gas is down to 1.62 on Tuesday come Thursday it will be back up to 1.89 for the weekend. Now the gas companies claim it is an honest price increase, but I cry BULLSHIT on them. It is a way to rip off travelers and then take their time dropping back down to the previous low. Fill up on Wednesday and fuck the man!!!!!

Bliss

Today marks the 12th Anniversary of our marriage. I could not be luckier. While every marriage has it's ups and downs, I would not change one thing in the past 12 years!!

I Can See Clearly Now....

After several days of rain and flooding enough to call for a Federal
Emergency, the sun was out today. Bright, clear, blinding to the
drivers sun!!!!! What a treat to see and a surprise, for a moment I
had forgotten what that big golden globe was. Hope the sun is
shinning by you!!

Another quiet week that has left me tired. I am getting ready for the
newscast and then a sports special for my Colts, who are playing New
England this weekend. Wish them luck!!

Sorry for the lack of updates, the head has been silent. Maybe more
when I have had a full 8 hours of sleep.

Till Next Time, True Believers

Huh??

I sent several posts here via e-mail but none posted, interesting. Nothing of major importance but they were posts made this week instead of you all visiting and seeing the same post since Monday. Must look into it.

Nothing interesting in the rear view mirror this week. We have had some massive flooding here, all the rivers are several feet above flood stage and hundreds of people are out of their homes. There are certain places here that traditionally flood, and flood badly every year. You would think they would move, then I here an interview with one of the home owners. His parents built the house in the 40's and when they died he got it. Now he has been trying to sell it for over 5 years and noone will buy as everyone now knows the flooding problems and do not want to have to go through that every year. I feel sorry for these poor people, stuck in homes they can not sell yet put tons of money into them every year to clean up after the floods. See it is times like this that I feel the government should come in and buy the land and let it go back to nature and maybe it might help reduce flooding both up and down the river. So instead of flushing our tax money into the welfare department or serving special interest groups, here is a way to save money. Create a new wetlands, help contributing members of the community and SAVE the money usually spent on police, fire and public works to evacuate the areas, drain these homes and rebuild/repair the roads and infrastructure after every flood.

Just a thought!

Weekend Roundup

Wow, wrote a post and it was boring so I will not bother you with it. Instead this tid bit:

Why do people who oppose your views try to explain these to you like you are a little child? Why having a 'discussion' about taxes and state funding for education and bond issues it turn onto the ACLU and PC and everything that I hate. In doing so the girl (yes girl as she has not lived long enough to grow out of Daddy's wallet and experience life outside the golden bubble) says quote:

"Yes, I miss the days when everyone was Catholic and our neighborhoods were white and the school children did not have to deal with other cultures but their own."

Now that may seem shocking but she said it sarcastically (she's a Democrat) and a few of us had just gone to the absurd while denouncing a tax increase for schools, we didn't have air conditioning, I never had a Computer at school, I was never able to use a calculator in math class, I went to Christmas Concerts and never heard of Winter solstice, we spoke English in all our classes unless you took Latin, French or Italian.

But when she said that I blew a gasket!!!!

"Yes I miss the days when I could practice my religion without fear of retaliation because I said Merry Christmas on State Property, I miss be able to understand the employee at the Restaurant, Department Store and Help Line, I miss my son not being able to learn history without a Liberal Spin on it and I hate that fact that in 5 years you people and your ACLU and other outlets, who are forcing PC down our throat and promoting other cultures at the detriment of ours, are going to look around and find that we will have no culture left and when I walk down the street in December I will be saying, "Ola amigo, come' esta, Happy Kawanza and Winter Season."

Silence never sounded as great!

Another Day In paradise

Snow this morning, snow I did not expect, so up at 7:30am to shovel the drive way so the wife can get to work. Now I am hitting the computer to load up the MP3 player with new music to work out to and do a little browsing.

Had a few frazzled days this week. Yesterday my head was up my ass all morning. Not Fridayitis but just beat down. This week however I am keeping to one "resolution" and that is keep updated on local politics. While I do not know the players or all of the issues, I have made an effort to visit the new governors website and the new session of the State Legislature has started and I stopped by there to see what bills are coming up. So much BS in politics it is a wonder how anything gets done.

On the work side it is busy busy. We have a pre-game show with the Colts on Sunday, in which I am the moral compass for Indiana. We have a 5 second delay box and I am the man with the button. If you knew me in everyday life this would be the funniest thing in the world to you as my mouth should have a 5 second delay. But then again maybe that is why they picked me, if I hear anything I might say I hit the button. Chances are slim we will need it but in today's society the powers that be feel we need it and I do not blame them for not wanting to pay several thousand dollars in fines because some fan likes to say Fuck.......

Then on Monday we have the Governors inauguration, which we are carrying live and I will be directing. I like this guy and he seems to have good business sense. He worked on Reagan's staff at the White House and has taken lots of people from the business world to rebuild our government. More with less is his motto and if that means lower taxes and better distribution of the budget money then more power to him. Plus he wants to put Indiana on Daylight Savings time, as we are the only state (along with Arizona) that does not change our clocks. One minute we are on Eastern Standard Time the next we are on Central, very confusing to this New Yorker.

Enjoy the day and the snow if you got it

Prom Night

Don't know why this story popped into my head but here it is:

The year was 1988 and I was going to Prom. We had a nice group of friends that were sharing that weekend, pre-/post- and day after prom (Rye's Playland, were they shot the movie Big was in our backyard). So anyway I said I would take care of getting the limo. When I started looking into it my grandfather (Pop-Pop, mother's side) heard about it and told me he would take care of it. Now my mother's side is 100% Italian, I am the 2nd generation born in the US, my mother the first and my grandparents were born in Italy (same on my father's side except they were born in Ireland). My great-grandparents brought their families over on the boat and through Ellis Island and settled in Brooklyn. Being Italian in the early 1900's and living in New York City you have certain relationships with certain elements of society. My great grandfather had an early relationship with the Black Hand (pre-Mafia). He owned a horse and cart and would walk the streets sharpening knives and scissors and at night when he worked in his shop certain men would come to gamble in his small backroom (he had no choice and I am told my great grandmother prayed the entire time he was in the same building with them). Apparently that association continued through the rest of the family as I grew up with great uncles who were wanna-be's, actually made and one who did some time for murder (button-man).

That being said, my grandfather took care of the limo for us and on Prom Night this huge stretch pulls up and a big gentleman gets out. Now he was not big fat or big football player, just a big presence of a man. The limo was beautiful, but none of the windows rolled down as they were VERY THICK and permanently in place. We had a great time that night and were to top it off at Dangerfield's (Rodney's comedy club in NYC), one of the girls took care of the reservations. We show up and there is a huge line going round the corner (a 2 hour wait we learn) but our driver drops us off and says he'll see us when we come out and we walk to the door. We tell the man at the door we have reservations and would like to see our seats. The man laughs and says that all the people there have reservations and we had to wait in line. We argue for a moment and see that he is not moving and start towards the end of the line. Our driver appears and asks were we are going. We tell him what happened and he tells us he thought we had reservations and we said so did we. With that he takes me back to the front of the line and confronts the bouncer at the door. He tells the guy to get the manager, the bouncer starts to brush him off and the guy says something I never heard, he disappears and out comes another guy.

Manager: Can I help you?

Driver: Yes, my young friend here has reservations tonight, it's his prom.

Manager: All these kids have reservations, they will have to wait.

Driver: I am sorry, do you know who this kid's grandfather is?

Manager: Excuse me?

Driver: Can I see you inside a moment.

With that they disappear, and then the bouncer comes out and motions to me and my party to move our asses and get in there. As we walk in, our driver walks out and tells me he'll see us later. As we walk into the club there are 3 guys carrying tables to the front of the stage (yes just like in Goodfellas) and they bring us our first round (of non-alcoholic) drinks for free. We then sat and watched as Andrew Clay (later the Diceman) regaled us with his comedy stylings.

We finished with a carriage ride through Central Park (the driver got one for our group and one for me and my date) and we arrived safely home at 3:30am. My memory goes fuzzy sometimes but I will never forget that conversation or that night for a long time.

Thanks Pop-pop!

The Lowering of a Nation

I saw a strange site the other day, flags at half mast on the White House, Capitol and other government buildings. At first I had to wonder who had died, and try as I might I could not figure out who it was. Then, while getting ready for the Noon Show I saw that it was for the Tidal Wave victims, and I was disappointed.

I feel bad for those poor people over there and it truly is a tragedy of the greatest scale. That being said, say a prayer, send money if you wish and that is the end. We should not be sending millions over there to help fund extremists and terrorists. What is he saying you ask, well most of the regions hit by this Tidal Wave are either in the midst of decades old civil wars or have governments unfriendly to the US (one or two had rejoicing in the street on 9/11). Most of the aid going there is already sitting on docks, rotting, while the warlords and gangs divided it up, take there cut, supply black markets before it heads to the relief centers. Pre-Gulf War if a disaster had hit Iraq and we sent millions to Saddam to help his people, how much would have gotten to the people?! Just because we do not know the names of these despots does not mean they are not as bad or worse than Castro or Saddam.

It is time to tend to our needs here and let abroad worry about abroad. It is time to stop sending aid to countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America and put that money into the inner cities. Help fund and support schools, homeless shelters, small business, farming and research. Take the money that was supposed to go to these countries that now hate us because of Iraq and take some families off the street and into a new home. Fund police to go after gangs and drug dealers. Beef up the Border patrols, fund the immigration department, kick illegals out and rebuild our infrastructure.

Bring home out troops not on the war front. Troops in Japan, Germany, France, England and South Korea. Billions are spent every year to keep troops abroad. We are not wanted so lets leave. Bring them home, support and relieve the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Take the others to train and defend our border with Mexico. Take that money saved to secure our airports and seaports.

Sure I am in a rant but I am feed up with bullshit policy and wasted money in our government. I live paycheck to paycheck and have to worry about certain parts of downtown because of another round of budget cuts to the local police department. But then my federal tax dollars go overseas as aid to countries like Japan, Kenya, Somalia, South Korea, it is just so frustrating.

And just for the record here is a link to flag position and manner of display:

(m) The flag, when flown at half-staff, should be first hoisted to the peak for an instant and then lowered to the half-staff position. The flag should be again raised to the peak before it is lowered for the day. On Memorial Day the flag should be displayed at half-staff until noon only, then raised to the top of the staff. By order of the President, the flag shall be flown at half-staff upon the death of principal figures of the United States Government and the Governor of a State, territory, or possession, as a mark of respect to their memory. In the event of the death of other officials or foreign dignitaries, the flag is to be displayed at half-staff according to Presidential instructions or orders, or in accordance with recognized customs or practices not inconsistent with law. In the event of the death of a present or former official of the government of any State, territory, or possession of the United States, the Governor of that State, territory, or possession may proclaim that the National flag shall be flown at half-staff. The flag shall be flown at half-staff 30 days from the death of the President or a former President; 10 days from the day of death of the Vice President, the Chief Justice or a retired Chief Justice of the United States, or the Speaker of the House of Representatives; from the day of death until interment of an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, a Secretary of an executive or military department, a former Vice President, or the Governor of a State, territory, or possession; and on the day of death and the following day for a Member of Congress. The flag shall be flown at half-staff on Peace Officers Memorial Day, unless that day is also Armed Forces Day. As used in this subsection—

(1) the term “half-staff” means the position of the flag when it is one-half the distance between the top and bottom of the staff;

(2) the term “executive or military department” means any agency listed under sections 101 and 102 of title 5, United States Code; and

(3) the term “Member of Congress” means a Senator, a Representative, a Delegate, or the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico.

Another Beginning

So the new year has already started without us. So far so good. Spent Saturday in my PJ's all day cleaning under the tree and finally playing one of my new computer games. The family decided to watch a movie and The Return of the King was suggested as I got the super hyper deluxe version on DVD. It was then that it dawned on us that I had received the super duper hyper deluxe version of The Two Towers last year and we have not watched that one. So it was Two Towers time! Mr. Jackson added an additional 50 minutes to the film so it was way over 4 hours, quiet the investment of time! But well worth it in the end. The added footage actually added to the film and were sorely missed in the theatrical release. After is was over and the boy went to bed we looked through the special features. Now the set comes with 2 disks of special feature (6 parts for all the movies) and we will eventually watch them (plus each deluxe set had an added disk for a total of 9 DVD's full of stuff). The movies however contain commentary (you must watch each movie at least 4 times to hear all the commentaries) by several people and we selected the actors commentary and jumped to several big scenes to hear what they had to say. There were a few funny stories told by the actors playing Gimli, Theoden, and Eoymer, Eljiah Wood and Sean Aston were with Andy Serkis (Gollum) and were so into political commentary that they turned us off to it. However the actors who played Merry and Pippin were HYSTERICAL!!!!! Clever commentary, jokes, stories and a few actual serious notes, Jackson should have let them do the whole movie by themselves. While Eljiah, Sam and Andy were jumping all over themselves with terrorism and war 'insight' and covering up scenes they were not in to finish a thought, the other two would tell good stories involving the actors on screen if they were not. All in all a great movie made even better by the directors ability to add onto the DVD.

Sunday was the start of our new household rules. Neater first floor, healthier eating and more meals as a family. Today I woke at 7am and worked out. So far so good!

Cheers.