Not Much to Say...Here Are Some Photos

There's a public park in the city of Palm Bay called Castaway Point Park. The park is along the Indian River Lagoon, our local section of the Intracoastal Waterway running up the full length of the eastern seaboard.

Within the park is a bay in the Lagoon called Palm Bay, which the city is named after. Lots of people who live here don't know that there is an actual body of water here called Palm Bay. The newest high school in the area, Bayside High School, is nowhere near the body of water called Palm Bay. Bayside High School is all the way across town, a good 10-15 miles from the bay. The name Bayside is kind of silly, seeing as how it's nowhere near ANY bay. (Interesting note, Bayside High School is in the news today because it was in total lock down this morning due to a bomb threat. Those silly kids.)

Back to Castaway Point Park; the park has been there for years, and the city of Palm Bay has threatened to work on it and create a nice walkway along the water, but in our 11 years here, we saw little action in the park. But on this day recently when Lovely Wife and I were out for a drive, she mentioned that they had finished the walkway, so we went to the park and walked on the walkway.

They did a really nice job of it too; it's very pretty and peaceful with a number of nice benches along the way for sittin', ponderin' and generally enjoying the view.

This first photo is looking along the new walkway in this park.

This second photo is nothing special, just a view of the north end of Castaway Point Park. There on the right were you see the big chunks of concrete, there used to stand an old restaurant that was here for many, many years but was more or less beat up beyond repair in the one-two punches that were hurricanes Frances and Jeanne in 2004. They ended up demolishing what was left of the restaurant.

Palm Bay and Sebastian, just to the south of us, were the recipients of the north side of the hurricane's eyes (where the worst winds are). Frances and Jeanne were one month apart and came on shore a mere five miles from one another; the hurricane equivalent of the same exact spot getting struck twice by lightning.

We KNEW we were doomed when The Weather Channel's Jim Cantore stayed in a Palm Bay hotel when the hurricanes were coming. When Jim Cantore comes to your town to cover a storm, believe me when I tell you it's time then to batten the hatches, folks!

Can't throw any purdy pictures at ya without at least one of them being of the Atlantic. This is looking south along the Atlantic coast on a windy day, from Ocean Park in Melbourne Beach, Florida.

Later, folks.

George Clooney Is A Scumbag

With the death of Charlton Heston the other day, I started looking up some things about the man. I wanted to write something about him and ended up with my post about Mr. Heston last week.

But when you are looking up information on Charlton Heston, you run into some problems. Well, much of what is reported in the news is reported by individuals that tend to be very liberal themselves.

So, Charlton Heston having long fought to defend Americans' gun rights from Americans determined to destroy the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution without using the due process of law, naturally raised the ire of liberal/progressive people who think that guns are inherently evil.

I came across many articles quoting none other than the much-loved George Clooney in comments he made about Charlton Heston.

See, Mr. Heston spent the last years of his life fighting Alzheimer's disease.

That's sad, but it is common.

What isn't common is the way Scumbag George Clooney made fun of Charlton Heston's Alzheimer's when George was accepting an award.

As reported at World New Daily from January of 2003:

In receiving a special film making achievement award from the National Board of Reviews, actor George Clooney joked that "Charlton Heston announced again today that he is suffering from Alzheimer's."

Clooney still had a chance to apologize for the bad humor day. When questioned about the remark by New York Newsday, Clooney sputtered: "I don't care. Charlton Heston is the head of the National Rifle Association. He deserves whatever anyone says about him."

I have always kinda liked George Clooney even though I knew he was really way out there liberal. He always seemed rather soft-spoken and respectful, despite his way left story telling in his movies.

Plus, even for a man, it's hard to dislike someone as handsome as George Clooney. Even us guys understand that George Clooney is a really good looking man.

But Mr. Clooney lost me with that quote. That's just stinkin' evil, to make fun of a man's Alzheimer's and then when questioned on the statement, defend himself by saying Mr. Heston deserved it because he worked with the National Rifle Association.

For me, George Clooney will be henceforth and evermore spoken of as Scumbag George Clooney.

I'm sure Scumbag George Clooney will be severely upset when he finds out about my views on him, but that's ok. I'm bigger than him, and despite my bad back, I'm sure I could take him in a fight.

There is a legal way to amend the US Constitution, but liberals know that they would never be able to pass an amendment to the Constitution banning privately owned guns, so they try to chip away at it here and there through the actions of activist judges like the cowards they are.

Scumbag George Clooney has also publicly endorsed Barack Obama for President of the US. That is yet another good reason in the growing list of reasons that Barack Obama should not be elected President.

When evil famous horse's behinds like Scumbag George Clooney want you to be President, that cannot be a good thing. (I know it's not Obama's fault that Scumbag George Clooney endorses him.)

And Scumbag George? You and me, buddy. Any time. Any place. Messing up your hair is the least I could do for Mr. Heston. (Though weekends are better for me since I have to work for a living.)

Out Of Touch

Sorry, life keeps messing with my blogging.

BR 549 was the telephone number on Hee-Haw to call Junior Sample's used cars.

I watched a show called The 20 Most Redneck Moments, and they talked about Hee-Haw.

I loved that show, but then again, I'm from Louisiana and I'm male. A TV show with gorgeous, scantily clad women and lots of corny jokes. The show was perfectly aimed at knuckleheads like me.

They didn't specifically mention Junior's Used Cars, but that was always one of my favorite skits.

Guess you had to be there, but that show was WAY funnier than Obama putting his foot in his mouth again this week.

I guess I'm just a bitter man, therefore I cling to my religion and my guns 'cause the gov'ment ain't doing nothing for me.

Back in the days when I worked for Delta Air Lines, we used to joke about the lack of "pats on the back" or pretty much no acknowledgement for a job well done, so we would always joke that THIS would be the year Delta would give us a bonus. This bonus would be given by our supervisor and would consist entirely of Three "Attaboys."

So, in the spirit of the company bonus that never seemed to arrive, to Olga, Attagirl!, Attagirl!, Attagirl!

It's more than we ever got.

The Future Is Now (And a trivia question at the end)

Even engineers need to move forward and learn new stuff.

Though I'm an electrical engineer and I have an almost uncontrollable compulsion to want to know how things work, believe me when I tell you that if it's not something I'm interested in, I couldn't care less how it works or how to work it.

Example: cell phones. I HATE talking on telephones. I always have. I have a cell phone because they come in handy if I break down somewhere. But don't ask me how to send a text message, ok? Why should I sit there fiddling with typing in words on a number keypad when I could simply dial your number and talk in real time? Duh.

Another example: iPods. Don't get me wrong, I love music as much as anyone I have ever known, but I was doing fine with my portable CD player until Lovely Wife bought me a REAL iPod last year. I still have trouble fiddling with that little gizmo, despite loving the convenience of having every song from every CD I own on it. (Actually my trouble is with iTunes, not the iPod itself. iTunes seems very, very counter-intuitive to me, whereas operating the iPod itself is easy.)

The other night, though, I was dragged kicking and screaming a few steps closer to the 21st century when I decided to try to put some pieces of video onto my ipod.

Should be simple, right?

Wrong.

I found some videos on YouTube from Gibson, the good folks who made my Les Paul gee-tar, and wanted to download a couple of these nifty videos of the Gibson factory and a new guitar they released last year. (Here's a link to the Gibson web site and one of the videos online that will play on your computer, if you have a decently fast connection. This was the type of thing I wanted on my iPod, because I'm a dweeb like that.)

To make a long story short, I FINALLY found how to download video like this from YouTube to my computer, and then convert it into a format that my iPod can understand and play, and then be able to actually find these videos on the ipod and play them.

So, several hours after beginning what I thought would be a simple quest, I was up way past my bed time ('cause I'm like a dog with a bone once I get started) and have some nifty videos of the Gibson and Fender guitar factories and some selected videos of people playing this new Les Paul guitar I'd like to buy some day.

Moral of the Story: Even electrical engineers have to beat their heads against the wall when trying to learn new things about technical devices.

But by-golly, the lesson on videos to my iPod is learned, and learned well.

I think it's funny to see people do the two-thumbed typing on their phones to send text messages. In engineering school, we all developed a similar skill using our Hewlett Packard RPN calculators, to enter numbers and do the funtions on the calculator. Me and my fellow geeks at work still have this skill - when used on a scientific calculator.

At least that skill is useful, and should translate to me being able to email if someone puts a gun to my head and demands, on point of death, that I send a text message. That's the only possible way I see myself ever sending a text message, but who knows, last week I didn't see myself wanting to put YouTube videos on my iPod either.

But seriously, if you want to text message me, just dial my dang number (my number is BR 549) and let's talk, OK? Saves us both time, effort, and annoyance.


















(I'll give three "atta boy!"s or "atta girl!"s to the first commenter to tell me whose phone number really was BR 549. Lovely Wife and Lovely Daughtgers are not allowed to play as this will seem to be cheating, though I know that Lovely Wife does actually know the answer to this.)

OK, ACLU, You Can Start Prying Now, or, Charlton Heston Has Died

What can one really say about a man as great as Charlton Heston? The man has done almost everything.

Heck, he's even way cooler 'n Chuck Norris, and that's cool baby.

Let's review for our younger readers, some of Mr. Heston's escapades (with pictures!):

As a young man, Charlton Heson was quite the looker; and this photo is from WAY before he had to start wearing toupees.

Charlton Heson made an entire sea part to save a whole race of people, the Jews, from being annihilated by the evil Egyptians. (While I still have trouble making a straight part in my hair every morning.)

Charlton Heston spoke to God face to face.

Then, after Charlton Heston and God whittled the commandments down to a mere ten, he had to open up a can of you-know-what on the sinners who started worshiping a golden calf in his absense.

Charlton Heston single-handedly destroyed the Roman Empire when he won the first ever drag race for pink slips and won. Of course, this was 2000 years before cars were invented, but he had THE baddest chopped chariot in the whole Roman Empire. (Side note, he also proved the truism that white horses are faster than black ones.)

Charlton Heston also destroyed the world's belief in evolution by outsmarting an entire race of apes. His greatest quote regarding all of this was when he growled, "Take your hands off me, you damned dirty ape!" This saying still has great power against any snotty apes 'til this day, and can cause heart attacks in them when repeated. Especially sensitive are apes that look strangely like Roddy McDowell.

Charlton Heston single-handedly saved the entire population of California during and after a horrific Earthquake in the 1970s. He regretted this action until the day he died.

Charlton Heston also, with the help of the National Rifle Association, fought valiantly against the forces of communism, liberalism, the ACLU, and various other evil-doers in trying to take away our Second Amendment to the US Constitution gun rights which promised that "...the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed,"
Apparently the forces of communism, liberalism, the ACLU, and various other evil-doers are dumb as rocks and wilfully try to ignore the simple statement "...the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed," and are consequently infringing all over the place, the rights of law abiding Americans to own guns.

So, now that Charlton Heston has died, this is the ACLU's best and final chance to take the gun out of Mr. Heston's cold, dead fingers.

But I doubt the pansies and wimps at the ACLU could find the strength to even take a gun from a dead man as great as Charlton Heston.

Sorry to see you go, Charlton. We'll miss you and your stalwart belief in America as it was meant to be.

Barbarella, aka Hanoi Jane, Endorses Obama for President

The other night, Jane Fonda was leaving a restaurant in New York, and was questioned by several waiting reporters as she made her way on the sidewalk to her limo:

REPORTER 1: "Jane, who are you voting for?"

REPORTER 2: "Who gets your vote?"

FONDA: "Obama."

REPORTER 2: "Oh, my God. Heaven help us all."

Obviously the second reporter was an Obama supporter who instantly realized that having the endorsement of a notorious American traitor is not good for the home team.

This story was first reported by the New York gossip web site TMZ.

Well, I thought that was funny anyway. Reporters have hastened to perform damage control to the Obama campaign after it came out that Mr. Obama and his family have attended the church of a long-time racist and anti-Semite for twenty years, and after the man retires, becomes an advisor to the Obama campaign. But having Jane Fonda declare her support for the man is unconscionable in their eyes.

Even Obama supporters know that Jane Fonda has cooties.

Sweet.

I Have G.A.S.

Guitar Acquisition Syndrome

I "borrowed" this photo of the actual guitar for sale at Sweetwater Music.

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I have several problems in wanting this guitar:
1. I don't have a spare $1400 to buy it.
2. It's a limited edition, so this spiffy blue one won't be around but a couple of months.
3. I want it really, really bad. (So bad that I'm willing to butcher the Queen's English even more than usual.)
4. This limited production blue model will be gone before I can save up $1400 to buy it, and this bothers me.

I know it's sinful to have lust in my heart.

I'm so ashamed.

Anybody got $1400 I can borrow?

I had a blue guitar once, and blue guitars simply sound better than other colors.