The Love/Hate relationship with Christmas

I love Christmas. I love the cold, and the snow, and the trees and the lights and decorations and food and, and, and...

I hate Christmas. I hate having to shop for gifts, fighting for a parking space. I hate cleaning the house. I hate trying to figure out what everyone wants for gifts. I hate depleting my bank account to make everyone happy. I hate cooking for everyone. I hate not knowing who is going to show up to exchange gifts.

This year is even worse, because Mom is gone. I thought that it wouldn't be, since we survived through Thanksgiving (that's another Charlie Foxtrot for another post), but it's tough without her. She's the one that got all the decorations out and took care of the house. There's still nothing up at home. Not a lick of decoration to show that it's Christmas. I guess we just don't care all that much.

I did get some stuff for my Girlfriend. I figure that about $125 worth of stuff will keep her from bitching at me too much. I hope she's happy with what I got her, otherwise she can just suffer. It's not like I'm rich or anything like that.

Caulking and stripping

I don't know about you, but our current administration seems to be the most arrogant and most incredibly naive ever. Daily, we get treated like a bunch of children that don't know how to take care of ourselves, then we get told that we need to do things like put air in our tires and caulk and weatherstrip our homes.

We get told that we need to have the government give us healthcare; tell us that CO2 is a pollutant, even though trees thrive on it; tell us that everything is the previous administration's fault, even though everything that's going on now is a direct result of this administration's policies; and we have a president that can't get out of campaign mode or talk without a prompter.

I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it any more. I'm going to get out this campaign season and do something. I'm going to make sure that Chuck DeVore boots Boxer out. I'm going to keep Fiorina and Whitman as far away from government as possible. I'm through with the fake conservatives, or as Mike Church calls them, DeceptiCons. I'm going to support and vote for the real conservatives. The era of bullshit is over.

Another "duh" survey.

Considering one of my earlier postings, this is an obvious conclusion.

Created by Recipe Star

Sometimes I like a little something soft.

In the local market, we've had a smooth jazz station on and off for the last few years. I'm a big smooth jazz guy when I'm trying to de-stress from all of the BS, and the only way I can get it is through by subscription to Sirius Satellite Radio. Since Sirius changed and made their online feed a pay thing for all but Lifetime Subs, I had to find another way to get my smooth jazz fix, so I put together a "station" on Pandora. If you want to listen, just plug in to my station, and you'll come up with a well-seeded "station" that will play all of your smooth jazz favorites. This way, I can be anywhere, and there's a way that I can listen to smooth jazz, even if there's no station near.

It's the most muslim-unfriendly beverage EVAR!!!!

Bacon-flavored vodka. I'm jumping out of my skin at the thought of this. Too bad it's only in the PNW, but seeing that I'm in California, we're probably next.

Go see for yourself: http://www.bakonvodka.com/

Another surprise... NOT!

I am a: Glock Model 22 in 40 cal

What kind of handgun are YOU?

Here's another surprise.

You are a Social Liberal (60% permissive) and an... Economic Conservative (80% permissive) You are best described as a: Capitalist Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid

Can I get a parachute?

As the DJIA, S&P 500, and NASDAQ all head for the basement, with their chart curves looking like a BASE jumper's dream, I had to take a look at the markets during the last administration.

Here's what I found:

In the "Worst economy since the Depression", in October 2008, the DJIA was at its highest point EVAR!!!!!!

Between January 2001 and October 2008, the DJIA gained 2000 points.

Between the lowest and highest points during the Bush administration, there was a 6400 point increase. The lowest point was in September 2001 (gee, what happened then?)

As of the close of the markets today, the DJIA is lower than it EVER was during the Bush Administration.

I know I'm not the first to say this: IMPEACH OBAMA!

So are we going digital on 2/17 or not?

So Congress, in its infinite wisdom, is going to push back the digital TV transition for another 4 months, to June 12. So the 18 months worth of ads from the FCC, NAB, NARTE, etc.; and the ads and bumpers from the local stations; and all the ads in newspapers and magazines; and the live tests (at least by my local stations) with big graphics on their analog feeds essentially saying "You're Fucked After Feb. 17"; and the "nightlight provision" that allows TV stations to keep their analog signals running at a lower power if they're not in the 700 MHz section that's going to public safety is all for nothing.

When the FedGov offered the $40 coupons for converter boxes, didn't they expect every single house in the US to take them up on their offer? Did manufacturers and retailers not expect to sell them?

It's time to tell your Congresscritters and Duh Prez to let the DTV transition go on as planned with the Feb. 17 deadline. Call the Capitol and the White House and let them know that Public Safety is counting on the Feb. 17 deadline, and that the American people have known for years about it.

So what?

I don't know about you, but 1-20-09 was probably the most "meh" day I've had in 8 years. Well, yeah, I was running around like a chicken with my parts cut off trying to get a stream set up so that the resident Obamatrons in the building could watch their messiah on the big screen in one of the meeting rooms. I had to go off-site to get one fucking cable to plug the computer into the in-house sound system so that "The Anointed One" could be heard through out the room.

I was busy with actual work, and didn't really care what he had to say, even though what little I did catch of it was a whole lot of symbolism and very little substance. When I was at my desk, I was listening Andrew Wilkow playing Ronald Reagan's Inaugural speeches, which made me feel far better about this country. I heard Limbaugh and Hannity talking about the poet and the gay bishop, and did a Nipper and a WTF when I heard the "poem." The poem made no sense, and the prayer was so racially charged that I was disgusted.

Oh, and to the Left, who never missed a chance to talk shit about GW; payback is a bitch, motherfuckers.

Another "What 'X' are you" survey...

What military aircraft are you? F-15 Eagle You are an F-15. Your record in combat is spotless; you've never been defeated. You possess good looks, but are not flashy about it. You prefer to let your reputation do the talking. You are fast, agile, and loud, but reaching the end of your stardom.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

Liam Neeson opens a can of whupass (Taken Spoiler)

That's Taken in a nutshell.

Liam Neeson plays a father whose daughter is kidnapped by human smugglers in Paris. It's a nearly 2 hour thrill ride, with a little intrigue, a little detective work, and a whole of dead bad guys.

Neeson plays Bryan Mills, a former CIA operative that is trying to get to know his estranged daughter, Kim , played by Maggie Grace. Kim goes with her friend, Amanda, to Paris for the first leg of a European tour. They meet what they believe to be a fellow traveler, Peter, at the airport, and share a cab with him. He turns out to be the spotter for the white slavery ring, and soon after a couple of thugs break into the apartment the girls are staying at and kidnap them.

Bryan goes to Paris and begins to look for Kim, using all of the skills that he learned in the CIA. He confronts the kidnappers, and proceeds to kill them, keeping one alive to gain information from in a rather unique way. He finds out that Kim has been sold to a broker of girls that caters to rich Arabs, so he infiltrates the party/auction where the girls are being sold. He sees her on the block, and forces one of the guys to keep bidding to win her.

As he tries to leave, he's attacked by the broker's thugs, who try to kill him. He puts the beatdown on these guys, and kills the broker before going after his daughter, who is in the hands of the Arabs. There's the obligatory chase through the streets of Paris along the Seine, and Bryan jumps from one of the bridges onto the Arab's boat, where he proceeds to kill everyone onboard to get Kim back.

I've left out some stuff to get you to actually go and see the movie, which you had better do.

Dumbassed Ads

I hate commercials that insult your intelligence.

The one that I currently find particularly annoying is the "Downy Ultra" spot where the hand is pulling clothes out of the bottle cap. The voiceover says something like "Can a little cap soften all this?" Well, if you count the clothes, it's a pair of socks and 3 shirts. I would ferdamsure hope that a cap of softener is going to soften 5 items of clothes.

Indians Fire #4

Morning briefing was the usual blahblah. Wx hotter and drier. RH coming up, but above 2k' still dry. RH in the low teens to single digits low, high teens to mid 20's high; temps mid 90's low, mid 80's high.

Division assignments all say "continue line construction" except for Div. U - "Prep and hold for possible firing"; structure groups - "provide structure protection for firing ops in Coleman Canyon"; and there's a burn group to fire out Coleman Canyon.

New pictures are up.

Air ops:
A/A FW - 166.6875
A/A RW - 130.200
Briefing - 128.475
Helibase Deck - 163.100
Torch Base - 134.875/171.1375


I'm leaving at about 1500 to head home. I'll post everything that I have left when I get back in.

Indians Fire #3

PM Briefing: Burnout tomorrow if the line gets completed. Wx getting cooler with a little better RH/Fuel Moisture recovery at lower elevations, but above 2000', it's still going to be hot and dry. The marine layer will come in, but that's part of an inversion, and we all know that above the inversion, it's warm and dry.

Freqs: NIFC Command 1 and 2; NIFC Tacs 2-7; R5 Tac 5; A/G:167.95

Found out during the day that the repeater on Comm 60 was programmed wrong. The right channels are there, but #1 is still the old (now wrong) channel, and the PL tones weren't programmed right - encode only, which does no good - and only a single PL instead of being selectable.

Vehicle and foot traffic over the phone line between the trailer mall and the SitStat tent broke one of the pairs. One down and 3 to go.

The data feed is working great, which is why I'm lucky enough to post here.

Camera battery went dead, so it's on the charger for now. I'm going to get one that takes AA batteries so I can BBS (beg, borrow, steal) them from Supply/Comm/etc.

Indians Fire #2

Morning Briefing was the usual BS. Apparently the plan is to control the fire long enough to put completed line in on the east side of the fire from Milpitas Road to Arroyo Seco Road along Reliz Canyon and Vaqueros Creek just outside the Wilderness boundary. Minimum Impact Suppression Tactics (MIST) are being required inside the Wilderness, but outside, it's all SRA, and the 12' wide McCleods are having a free-for-all. There's a map showing the last time that there was a fire, and some of the areas in the Wilderness haven't burned for 90-100 years. The IC wants the line put in by tomorrow, and made a comment about a "fire show" which leads me to believe that they're going to draw a line around the wilderness and fire it all out. They'll probably do this at night to make it a low(ish) intensity fire, but it'll burn into the next day.

I've got an album of pictures that I'm uploading as I go along, so check back regularly to see what I've added. Click here for the pictures.

Indians Fire #1

Okay, I arrived here about 2100, after winding my way around on narrow bumpy paved roads, and a dirt track that's barely wide enough to have 2 cars pass, much less 2 trucks.

The official GPS coordinates for where I am right now are 36 03.77'N x 121 18.12W. I'm about 50' from the row of trailers housing the command team.

Found the 3 most important places in camp: Supply, Food, and the T-Shirt vendor.

Took a bunch of pictures of the helibase. FHL is letting the FS use their helipads, which are nice and paved. There's a few ARNG units out here playing, so I wasn't surprised when I saw them firing blanks in a scenario as I was driving in.

I got the quick and dirty from the guy that I'm relieving about what's going on with Comm 60.

Checked in with the OES Comm Support unit that's here, and the Div Chief said that the plan for the fire is basically this: Draw a big line around it with dozers and hand crews, and fire it out. This about the same strategy that they used on the Zaca fire, but this time they're a little more serious.

There's hotshot crews, engines, watertenders, dozers and helitack crews from just about every forest here. There's a load of other agencies here, too: Kern, SBarb, Ventura, and lots of CDF crews and engines. I'll wander around camp tomorrow and get a few pictures. Now, I'm going to see about getting a place to bed down for the night.

I like to do a lot of surfing around, and reading other people's blogs, especially when there's nothing better to do, which is why you see my Blogroll. On one of the blogs, there was a linky, which took me to this:

You Will Be a Cool Parent

You seem to naturally know a lot about parenting, and you know what kids need. You can tell when it's time to let kids off the hook, and when it's time to lay down the law. While your parenting is modern and hip, it's not over the top. You know that there's nothing cool about a parent who acts like a teenager... or a drill sergeant!

Would You Be a Cool Parent?

So there you are. I don't have to wonder if I'll be a cool parent, since I've already been there, done that, have the scars and worn out the t-shirt.

The moonbats are flying again in Hollywierd.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,350916,00.html

NEW YORK — There's another side to Alicia Keys: conspiracy theorist.

The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter tells Blender magazine: "'Gangsta rap' was a ploy to convince black people to kill each other. 'Gangsta rap' didn't exist."

Keys, 27, said she's read several Black Panther autobiographies and wears a gold AK-47 pendant around her neck "to symbolize strength, power and killing 'em dead," according to an interview in the magazine's May issue, on newsstands Tuesday.

Another of her theories: The bicoastal feud between slain rappers Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. was fueled "by the government and the media, to stop another great black leader from existing."

WTF? Alicia Keys is black? You could have fooled the living shit outta me. She's about as white as I am when I've got a good tan going. She's whiter than "High Yellow" So who put these nutty conspiracy theories into her head? Has she been listening to the Poverty Pimp Chorus of the Reverends Al, Jesse, and Jeremiah?

Bring me a real black soul singer, like Sade or Anita Baker. Not the fake ones like Alicia, or Amy W(h)inehouse.

Sorry that I haven't been posting much, even though I said that I would. Here's something to tide you over from Day by Day: