Sunday, July 31, 2011

The Hidden Meaning Behind "Eye Yah"

My littlest has been growing by leaps and bounds. Not just with her size, but with her ability to talk and tell us what she wants. This is good because I stay lost with females, be they are 2 or 62, and I live with all of them. Anyway the baby has started a kind of language all her own. If you hear her saying "Eye Yah!" something is hard and she can't quite get it. So she (I guess) is projecting her will with a "Eye yah!" and trying it a bit harder. Which is funny, but it can quickly end in frustration so you better not laugh too long.

This can be putting on clothes, climbing up (on something that she may/may not have permission to climb up on) something (like the sofa or bed) or it could be a toy she wants to get to do something a certain way... and it is not working for her. It is amusing and it perplexes us as well, because, how did a karate chop (the "Eye yah") become my daughter's go to phrase? If you hear it... chances are my daughter is nearby. That or you have walked into a ninja battle...

Saturday, July 30, 2011

It Is Everybody's Fault

Oh lord... Seriously, I am starting to think that we really can't get anything done until after the deadline has come to pass. There is always a hope that someone will save the day at the eleventh hour, but more likely than not it is going into overtime. I blame everyone, because everyone has their heads up their respective asses. Compromise is going to have to happen. I don't see any other way around it. What does that mean? It means you have some stuff you like and some stuff you don't like but everyone walks away a winner (and a loser). I don't get why the folks on the right or left side of the aisle are so adamant that the other side is so wrong they don't care what happens to the rest of the country... this shit has got to stop.

If that is all our government is anymore, count me out, because that is just too crazy. Under that system of rule only the extreme right or left will control us. I think we are a middle of the rode kind of place, why the hell would we be anything else? My god, I can just imagine other folks looking in at us and wondering... or worse laughing and pointing, because we can't come to an agreement on pretty much anything. Instead of trying to make this side or that side bend to one way of thinking, are there any senators/congressmen out there reaching out  to the other side? At all???

Just a side note: I wrote this before the president and speaker had their speeches Monday night. They are still not playing ball. Neither side is ready apparently, because each side has to save face. I don't know why we have to go through all of this. I still fault both sides. I think the president came out looking better, but he also came off as a bit of a weasel. While Boehner looked like somebody had a gun to his head. I have a weak stomach for politics, I just want everything to work and I'll work too. I guess that will never happen. I know people are fed up with Washington. But they are always fed up with Washington.

Friday, July 29, 2011

Classic Film Friday - The Love Bug

Add this one to the "I can't believe I haven't reviewed this before" list. This movie, a live action film never fails to make kids and adults stop in their tracks and just watch the movie. Everybody loves Herbie (the VW Beetle) and it is hard to understand why. I have ridden in them before (no AC, AM radio, they are rather loud... and cramped) but it makes sense because it is like the "little engine that could".

And it plays on that so much throughout the movie, you can't help but love The Love Bug. It stars Dean Jones and Michele Lee and Buddy Hackett but really you watch for the little car what it does and you smile. This movie probably ranks in my top 5 for family friendly movies... and is not animated and it has something that even the adults like in it.    

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Cracker - Teen Angst

Me and my wife got into this long drawn out discussion about this song. She had never heard of it and I simply could not believe it. It is from 1992. Here is Cracker singing Teen Angst. We are still arguing discussing how she doesn't know the song...

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Ummm... Sure...


I know this is supposed to be an old story but man... if you look at the position those two are in... and then put it with "Let's Make Rabbits" well you could have yourself a porno right there is all I'm sayin...

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

I Have Been Water Fested

You know, as long as I had been here there are some things I have never done. One was go to any kind of Water Festival event, and the other was go on a boat. Well I could scratch both off my to do list in one outing. We (Mrs. Mad Hatter and myself) got an invite from someone with a boat to come out to the sandbar in Beaufort. I said heck yeah and we left the two little kids with the older big kid and off we went.

Well it was a bit... trailer trashy... I don't mind, heck I spent many of my years growing up in a trailer. Basically everybody that has a boat... from the yachts to a kayak/canoe (and some others I wasn't quite sure about.) comes to the sand bar to drink and drink and pretty much drink. They also have a bunch of dogs (I would say keep the dog at home, but anyway) and a number brought grills. You wait for low tide and everyone offloads, and drinks, there may be some horse shoes or corn-hole but really it is all about the drinking. This made me feel better about my own drinking problem (self-proclaimed). I did not have a drinking problem at all, if you looked at any of these people. But it is all relative I guess.

The very next day (Monday) we were again invited to Motown Monday. The singer (Reggie Deaz) is in the same class and my wife and we said we were down with the Motown, why not go see the guy sing? So we went saw the band, saw some friends, drank a little (I was driving, so I stopped after 2) and it was so nice to break free. Oh my, how it was nice to break free!!! We were gone from 7pm-12am. No kids, no job, no worries. It was great. In fact it was so great we did it again last Saturday.

Which is why I didn't/couldn't update my blog... I was having too much fun to stop and tell anyone about it. And there is something to be send about that fact. Now, now I have to reel in those jet-setting ways, get back to reality and become the tax-paying citizen again (not that I ever quit, but you know what I mean). Maybe we'll do it again next year :o)


Saturday, July 23, 2011

From the "It Could Be Worse" department...

A guy a know, let's say a colleague, honestly way back... 15+ years ago, we both worked work the same company. I took over his job for a month after he left, then I went to work under him at a new job... which he left again. Anyway I found out through a mutual friend that he shot himself and he is now in ICU in Greenville SC. He is not expected to make it. I just can't believe it. He had a wife and kid(s), I don't know what caused him to think that killing himself was his only option. I know he was suffering with MS (multiple sclerosis), but still I think (I really don't know) he had something to live for.

I have never been close to this person, but still this is the closest I've come to anyone who attempted to take their own life. I makes you pause for a while. I'm just thinking what is he thinking? I guess we will never know. Now he is in ICU with his guts exposed (they can't sea him back up due to infection) waiting to die. I can't even imagine. Which is why... it could be worse.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Classic Film Friday: Easy Money

What is not to love about Rodney Dangerfield? Watch as he tries to reform from his gambling, smoking, drinking and philandering ways and go on a diet... it is an hour and a half of laughing at Rodney aka 'Monty' Capuletti as he tries harder and harder to win his mother-in-law's money (as described in her will). Nicky (Joe Pesci) is Monty's best friend in this adventure. I love the one-liners in this movie. And they don't always come from Rodney.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Fatboy Slim: The Rockafeller Skank

This is a blast from the not so distant past. Why post it now? Why not. Maybe if folks got along like the people in this video... things would be better. Just sayin'.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Offered With No Comment...

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Alcohol

Alcoholism runs in my family. We can trace it (my aunt has our lineage traced down 20 or so generations) to some native Americans, or Irish or who knows... The thing is I know I am predisposed to like taking a drink. And I do. This doesn't mean I get rip-roaring drunk or even a little buzzed... sometimes I go days or even (rarely) weeks without taking a drink at all. But usually I like to imbibe.

And I know there is nothing wrong with that. For now anyway. But I wonder, as I get older and my health is more of a concern if I should worry about it? I know a lot more than I ever wanted to about cancer and how what we take into our bodies can make us sick. And a part of me longs for a cold beer or cocktail at certain times. It just doesn't feel the same without it. Like say vacation, I would like to kick back with a drink. Again I'm not talking about being drunk, just the relaxation that can only come (for me) with a drink in my hand.

I really don't know. I don't know if it is worth it to live for a year or two longer or even 5-10 years if I have to do that while abstinent. My wife would likely try to convince me otherwise, but I am unsure. My father is likely dieing. Hell we are all dieing, but my dad I think has congestive heart failure, at least from the descriptions he gives me (edema and feeling short breathed a lot). Now I am not a doctor, so really I have no idea, but he paints a picture for me. He is trying to stay at work even though he collects social security because:

He has life insurance with his job, once he quits the life insurance goes away. He wants to take care of his wife, and that is the only thing he has.

He likes to drink, he usually has his first beer around 10:30 on the weekends... Yeah, he is an alcoholic. But he has his reasons. Life is hard, he is still working at 68, at a very hot and nasty job, he works at a paint factory, he is a 10 year survivor of throat cancer, and his wife bitches at him (which makes me wonder why would he even care about her... why? because it is all he has). Now he doesn't drink on the job (I think) and never drinks and drives (I think). He also never has a very good car. So he is always fixing one of them. Usually 2 or 3 at a time. Which all of this means stress, stress leads to depression, depression leads to drinking.

So he has a long grocery list of reasons why he drinks, mainly it is to dull the senses to all the bad things so that he can remember the nice things better. I know that is a fantasy, but for him it works and like I was saying, he likely does not have long in this world anyway, why not go out happier rather than not so much? That is what I keep telling myself anyway.

There are multiple reasons why he should not be drinking. But why even begin to entertain them now? He is going to die, maybe not this year or 2 years from now, but eventually we all have to go. I can't make those decisions for him, if he is going to clean up and live the sober life, I'm all for it, but that doesn't stop me from wondering about myself.

I feel like I am walking a tightrope. Drink too much and you are a lush, don't drink enough and... well what kind of life is that? I don't want to alienate friends by being too sober or drunk, I just want to have a good time, live life as much as I can, and make the most out of the time I have on this earth. So do I walk that rope until I die or do I simply drop off, going the full sobriety route? Maybe I'll never know...

Monday, July 18, 2011

The Pennsylvania Trip

Well, the vacation was a mixed bag. We got to see some things, we got exposed to different cultures, we also caught some nasty bug up there and we came home with everyone sick. That part, really sucked, but I guess it happens to all of us. Looking back at the photos, I guess we had a nicer time than I remember. The negative and the last thing is remembered more than the positive. At least for me. Here are the pics:


 Ricketts Glen, a state park that has some spectacular waterfalls.


Like this one


Or this one, that the teenager is trying demonstrate how not to fall from a waterfall...


Here Songbird spots a place to call her own.



Then we went to Steamtown... a national park (who knew?)

Next we are at Kirby park to celebrate the 4th... and so was everyone else...



No doubt to see Augustus in stickers...

Or maybe it was the fireworks show.

On to Hershey Park, plenty of roller coasters and lines and mascots to keep you busy all day.


And the occasional race car ride...

And more mascots... This one with almost the whole family...

Overall it was a trip that I think nobody will forget... I won't anyway, we got to see a lot and do even more. I'm glad we went and even gladder we have these photos to remember how much we did...

Monday, July 11, 2011

Back From "Vacation"... I Need More Time

Holy Shit! Man that week blew by, we had fun, saw a few things and got rid of a few piles of money in the process. But I need some time to just be myself, let me relax a bit and chill out for a few...

Friday, July 8, 2011

Classic Film Friday : Flash Gordon

What the hell?!?! I could have sworn I posted a review of my all time favorite movie growing up as a child. Now I understand there is a remake in the works, and I've no doubt that the acting will probably be better, but there is a certain panache that you will never have because you don't have Queen singing your songs in the movie. So by rights, this was a classic when it came out in 1980.

Watching the movie now... well did I say it was a great movie way back in 1980? Year it has not aged well. But if you like campy, big budget sci-fy movies, then this has to be in your top ten list. Sam J. Jones is Flash, a quarterback for the Jets. HE is coming back to New York from vacation where he meets Dale Arden (Melody Anderson) as they will be share the small plane back to NY. About the same time that Ming the Merciless (Max von Sydow) is planning to destroy the earth.

The plane takes off but then the pilots are killed by a falling meteorite (Ming's doing) Flash takes the wheel and crash lands in Dr. Hans Zarkov's (Chaim Topol) greenhouse. Zarkov just so happens to have a rocket and he needs more people to operate the controls. So Flash, Dale and Zarkov are now in a rocket and heading to Mongo (Where Ming is). They promptly get taken prisoner.

Was that out of this world enough for you? No well good because it gets better. They meet the bad guys, Klytus (Peter Wyngarde) and General Kala (Mariangela Melato) as well as some want that want anything but Ming... Prince Barin (Timothy Dalton) a sort of woodland race and Prince Vultan (Brian Blessed) a winged hawk-man. Watch as Ming kills Flash (or thinks he's dead) only to come out of everything alive and listen to Freddie Mercury's vocals and Brian May's guitar. This movie is one of my all time favorites... I have it on DVD, you should too.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Vacation - Iron Butterfly - In-a-Gadda-da-Vida

I'm still on vacation and I was telling the teenager how they had this song that was really long like it took up a whole side of a vinyl record. Yes I know, it was my mom's record and yeah I also know that that kind of music pretty much was adored by people who took drugs and drank. But still, it is what it is. Enjoy some Iron Butterfly while I'm away.


Iron Butterfly In-a-Gadda-da-Vida - long... by 1236bigcat

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Buckwalter Place Greenway Trail - Thumbs Down

I know I'm really not here this week, but I must tell you, or not tell you about Buckwalter Place Greenway Trail. Well it sucked. I try to keep an open mind to these sorts of things I really tried. But all it really is... is a trail around a parking lot. It does not go far enough into the woods, and there is absolutely nothing of interest anywhere. I thought that it would go around the parking lot but at some point I thought it would veer off to a special place and you could see some wildlife or something. I got nothing. I'm sure that when this place was being pitch to the city council the fact that it has "Greenway" somehow made it better, but honestly you could walk around the parking lot of Wal-Mart or Target and pretty much get the same thing... without lob-lolly pines falling down around you. I'd give the whole Buckwalter Place Greenway Trail big needs improvement... at best. I had such high hopes for it, but I guess that was my own fault. Maybe I'm wrong, but really... let's just say it is the first and last time I'll ever make the mistake of traveling this trail again. It does have some kind of iPhone thing you can download, but I don't have that... so...

Monday, July 4, 2011

Happy 4th

I must say on this fine day... I'm glad I won't be home to watch all the amateur bombardiers light all their fireworks and scare the crap out of my dog. Not that I don't appreciate a good explosion or 20, because really I do, but the dog does not, she goes crazy, then she wakes everyone up not that anyone could sleep anyway, then the baby wakes up and that makes for even more fun. Yeah, sorry I'll miss that... I hope I miss it, I don't think they do that sort of thing in PA, lord I hope not...

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Vacation

So vacation is creeping up fast on me. Well not really vacation, just some time to see family, my wife's family up in Pennsylvania (last year we went to Mississippi and saw my dad). Which is cool, we will escape, for a week, and find out what it is like to go outside and it not be 1,000,000 degrees outside. Sounds nice huh?

It is the littlest things that mean the most I feel. But it will take me "out of the loop" not that the loop was any place to be to start with. There is something about going where there is no internet service, I mean it is quaint. We aren't going up to a cabin in the woods, in fact the parents live about an hour, hour and a half outside Philadelphia. But it will mean being less connected, not a bad thing especially when one is on vacation.

And that is the point right? So that being said my posting will be sporadic at best non-existent at worst. I really don't know. Which is another of life's uncertainties. And that is ok too. See you in a week internet. I'll try to keep it on the blacktop and between the ditches until then.

Friday, July 1, 2011

Classic Film Friday: Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

I found this movie quite by accident. Channel surfing and it just popped up on TCM. Songbird and I settled in and enjoyed it.

Hank Martin (Bing Crosby) is a Mr. Fix-it (and you have to know Bing is going to croon for us right?) he gets knocked out while he is riding his horse out to a client's house. He wakes up in the 5th century, in England. And that is where the comedy starts. Well especially when everyone thinks Hank is a powerful wizard, and there is a bit of a love triangle with Alisande la Carteloise (Rhonda Fleming) and Sir Lancelot (Henry Wilcoxon).