Thursday, May 19, 2011

End of the World

The end of the world is finally upon us(.. ) Thankfully, I have a heads up and a nice timeframe to get my house in order. In case you haven't been up to speed on this, the rapture will be on May 21st 2011, this Saturday. Then there will be a time period where we can warn others to get ready for some big, ugly event in October.
Facebook, where I get the majority of my news, is all over this. There are rapture parties, After-Rapture Looting parties and Post-Rapture parties. I've signed up for all of them. Tomorrow for breakfast I'm going to load up on the bacon, you know, the good stuff...the fatty dripping with grease bacon. I'll have an extra egg, no, two extra eggs; maybe just the yokes and throw away the non-fat whites. I've never tried a deep-fried twinkie. I may have that for lunch if I can find one. For dinner, a bacon-wrapped steak with fries and onion rings...and cheesecake...two pieces. In between meals, I'm going to have full-fat ice cream, no cone, just big bowls of ice cream. Friday's going to be fun

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Study: PCs hurt students' grades - Technology

You may want to stop and reconsider whether you think a home computer will help your child with reading and math.

A new Duke University study says North Carolina middle school students' test scores dropped after they got home computers, suggesting they spent more time playing "The Sims" than working practice math problems.

The study by Jacob Vigdor and Helen Ladd at Duke's Sanford School of Public Policy challenges the accepted wisdom that children who don't have computers at home are at a disadvantage compared with their wired classmates.

What a great example of a misleading headline. Reading the article and the cited report clarifies. It's when kids get distracted with socializing, not studying, that there's a problem. But that's part of parental involvement. For my family, the computer, which is the gateway to the internet, has provided more opportunity for a broad range of topics and research than we could get from going to a local library where there is no computer available. The News Observer gets a failing grade for this article.

Posted via web from brothero's fiefdom

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Pizza Mart in DC

Went to Jumbo Pizza yesterday, but it wasn't the one on the Travel Channel. Still, that was a huge slice of pizza! Today, went to the one featured on the travel channel. Another huge slice.But I think yesterdays was just as good, less expensive and the guys yesterday were friendly. Oh, they had beef pepperoni.&Go beef!!!!

Monday, January 19, 2009

Hope Is Over-rated

Today started out great! A non-work day in Germany! I grabbed the camera and headed out to take some photos of Mannheim. A couple miles into my jaunt around town, it started raining lightly. No big deal, I was sporting a waterproof jacket I bought in China a couple years ago. Thank goodness the Chinese make good knock-offs because that rain bounced off my jacket like bullets bouncing off Superman…cool.

About a half hour later the rain started really picking up so I begrudgingly retreated back to the hotel. Mesh running shoes and cold rain don’t mix well.

Unfortunately, I had no internet connection at the hotel and the TV channels were all in German (go figure) except for CNN International so I settled in to watch that. Great, another repeat of Inside Africa followed by a repeat of International Correspondents. After awhile I was sure I was going insane because I began repeating everything the reporters said. I reached a point where I think if I had a handgun I would have pulled an Elvis and shot the TV!

I pulled myself up out of the chair, threw on my jacket, put on boots this time, and made the trek to the nearest military installation, usually not a bad walk but it was raining icicle daggers and the wind was gusting at 100 knots. The only thing that kept me going were the cozy thoughts of hot coffee, a warm keyboard and the heat from a LCD monitor at the cyber café on the installation. I love the 21st century!

After what seemed like days, I finally made it to the installation and saw the friendly, inviting glow of the AAFES cyber café! I thanked God for the day, the café, the trees, the ground, the rain…okay, not the rain, but you get the idea, pretty much everything as I made my way to the magnificent entryway.

I reached for the majestic door handle, pulled and…nothing. Then I noticed a sign on the door. Closed for the holiday. As I looked around, all doors leading to warmth and possible entertainment were closed and had neat little signs proclaiming the holiday. My mind went numb, my vision went dark and hope seeped out of my soul and froze to the ground. No longer did the trees or ground or anything around me seem colorful and beautiful.

I’m sure I stood there, in front of those cold, rusting locked doors, in the rain, for a few hours, contemplating my next move. The choices were: stand in the cold, dagger icicle rain all day and night, or go back to the hotel and watch CNN Inside Africa and International Correspondents all day and night. Standing in the rain seemed more appealing.

Eventually, I turned around and slowly began to trudge back to the only shelter I knew, the hotel. At least there I would be greeted by the friendly face of Isha Sesay. Along the journey, a man in the shadows did take pity on me and allowed me to use his internet connection for a brief period. Strange that I had to sign some document in blood that mentioned my soul before I received access. Oh well, it’s probably nothing to worry about.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Bench of a Million Pieces

So I bought this BowFlex weight bench because using the coffee table just isn't cuttin' it. The table's too wide and I'm starting to scuff it and I can't hide the marks anymore.

I ordered the bench from Amazon.com because shipping is free. Go Amazon! Free shipping in this down-turned economy is like Christmas! And Christmas it really seemed because the bench was delivered today, only two days after ordering! What the?!?! How can that be? Don't know and I'm not asking. I don't want any extra charges.

I dragged the box in, quickly opened and was ready to start using it. But there was a problem. The weight bench was in a million pieces! I stood there in awe of the assembly people for a while wondering how a weight bench could be in so many pieces. How is that possible? It was as bad as one of those stinkin' Chinese made book shelves I bought a couple years ago. Took me two days and some alcohol to put that thing together.

Once the amazement and utter shock wore off, I started in on the assembly. It took about 20 minutes, lots of sweat because the tools are never adequate, and much praying so I wouldn't "lose it" in front of my youngest.

Now it's assembled...yay! But I read a tag that says the seat material is made out of cemented polyurethane. Cemented?! I thought that was only for sidewalks and driveways! I'll bet it's some cancer-causing crap, which would be ironic since I bought the bench to make me healthier.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Stupid TV

I had a little down time while on temporary duty so, while in my hotel room, I turned on the TV. Big mistake. The night consisted of watching a Discovery Health about a guy who had to have part of his skull removed (by a micro-saw) with a follow-on episode of a person who gets big ugly unexplained sores all over her body. Of course I could not change the channel because of the sick attraction to gore and strange things.

Once I came out of the trance, I turned to the next channel. It was about racist organizations in America with a follow-on episode about Gangs and guns.

By the end of the evening I was greatly depressed, obsessed with washing my hands every five minutes in case I inadvertently brushed against a deadly bacteria, and had a feeling of impending doom about walking out the door.

I think this is the hotel's way to keep people in their rooms and drink all their expensive liquor instead of going out and seeing the sights. Well, it worked.