Bony Fingers

Since I got the new machine, we've sorted out most problems except Window Mail sends but I have to go to Webmail@RoadRunner to get incoming email.

I printed out all my contacts from the old machine and now I'm starting to type them all in - shouldn't take more than a month or so. When you type your fingers to the bone, you get bony fingers.

I also printed out all my eldest grand daughter's logins and passwords, then entered them, trimmed them off so they'll fit her wallet, and killed the doc.

There's always a method.

The New Computer

Well, the new computer finally arrived, and I'm about to go at it with a shotgun.

It won't receive emails, I can't find my internet favorites from the backup, when I loaded my music from the backup it doubles every song - hell, I can't even figure out how to get at a saved document.

I don't give a damn what anyone else says, VISTA is definitely user-hostile.

The California Fires

I have a friend who lives in La Jolla that I've been keeping in touch with - by looking at the current maps it appears that he's going to be OK.

He's a member of the Patriot Guard who ride with veteran's funerals and keep unwanted people away. This morning he's going to ride to Qualcomm Stadium - not for evacuation purposes but to see what he can do to help.

Compare this to New Orleans. In Southern California, the average Joe is doing anything he can to help his neighbors and local companies can't do enough for those displaced. In New Orleans after Katrina, thousands sat on their fat asses, blaming the government while not doing a damn thing to help themselves.

That still pisses me off.

And have you noticed that even the fire doesn't want to go into Mexico?

Max McGee Passes Away

Max McGee, who caught the first touchdown in Superbowl history, passed away yesterday at age 75.

He was on his roof with a leaf blower cleaning it off when he slipped and fell off (what was a 75 year old man doing on the roof?).

McGee was a story by himself - on the night before Superbowl I, McGee wasn't scheduled to play so he went out and got absolutely shitfaced. The next day, early in the first quarter, Vince Lombardi put him in, with one of the worst hangovers he'd ever had.

Of course, not long after entering the game, Bart Starr threw a pass to him that he caught one-handed in the end zone to go down in football history.

Now, I'm a Chicago boy born and bred, but I've spent enough time away from the U.S. that I've developed a liking for the Pack as well (as long as they aren't playing the Bears). This is a heresy that would get me tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail of I was still in Chi-town.

Being the Old Fart that I am, there's two jerseys I'd love to get - the Bears 51 and the Packers 66. these are Dick Butkus and Ray Nitchke, respectively. I just have to be careful where I wear them!

If you ever saw the movie "Hooper", it was Ray Nitchke who hit Burt Reynolds on the helmet and shattered it. And he would have had to pull his punch on that!

Nelson Day

If anyone wants to invade England, today would be a pretty good choice. 105 years ago today, Horatio Nelson defeated the French and Spanish at the Battle of Trafalgar, and the Royal Navy has celebrated this date ever since.

I figure about 3/4 of the Navy will have a bellyfull of rum today, giving an invader at least a running shot!

Of course, the Royal Air Force won't be celebrating, so be prepared to get your ass blown off.

The Nobel Whatever Prize

So AlGore has won a Nobel Peace Prize. Has anyone taken the time to examine the criteria for the awarded of this prize?

When Alfred Nobel established the peace prize, he wrote that it should go "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses".

In his will, Alfred Nobel wrote that the peace prize should, among other criteria, be awarded to whoever had done most for the abolition or reduction of standing armies. In its application of this criterion in recent decades, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has concentrated on the struggle to diminish the significance of nuclear arms in international politics with a view to their abolition. That the world has achieved little in this respect makes active opposition to nuclear arms all the more important today.

AlGore has contributed to significant "global warming", buying "I Can Pollute" certificates, while preaching his ecological religion, yet he's awarded an award that, according to the requirements, he wasn't even eligible for!

For those who don't keep track, the Earth's orbit around the Sun is not a circle, but an ellipse which periodically brings the Earth closer and causes warming - this has been going on for millions of years, followed by ice ages.

Massive hurricanes were supposed to rip the United States to shreds this year, but the only ones causing were 2 or 3 that hit Mexico.

Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill never won the award - I'm surprised that they missed out on Ho Chi Minh and Pol Pot!

That Was Fast

Well, my new computer turned out to be an anchor. Even Boy Wonder couldn't get it to work, and he's been doing hardware for about 10 years. He called the Dell Tech Support who tried to run him around until they get his email address - he works for Dell!

It was amazing the change in the techies! I should be getting a new machine by the end of the week. Hopefully I can get something to transfer all my address book over - I've been keeping just about everything else on an external drive.

Of course, this means that I will still have to play with VISTA. Boy Wonder loves it, but I think I'd rather get a job shovelling up behind a herd of Great Danes and Newfoundlands!

OK, I'm Lost

I got a new computer today, and it's going to take a while to get it set up.

Of course, being new, it has VISTA OS on it, so I'm freakin' lost - I'm an old fart who still misses MSDOS 3.11. Once I get this sucker figgered out and get all my old software re-installed (if it will let me) I hope to be back.

If I end up in a mess, there may be a scream for help here!!

This Is Just Wrong

Hillary's campaign staff has a new member. Mr Sandy (sox, jocks and in the coat) Berger is now listed as as "unpaid consultant" for her election campaign.

As a Senator, Hillary has access to lots of classified material; and if she wins her party's nomination, the amount of classified material she will have access to will skyrocket.

As a member of her campaign staff - unpaid or not - what's to prevent Berger from getting access to this material, with or without a security clearance?

The Clintons have already showed the nation for years that laws don't apply to them. This situation worries me - a lot!

A Short-Term Memory S&G

It's been so long since I've done an S&G that I'm trying to remember how I did them, so I'm going to start out slowly and see if I can get better at it. Listening to VH1 Classic should help.

Don't you just love the way official lies - better known as Political Correctness - has come up with a dating system of CE and BCE, denoting the Common Era? Just curious, but what would this "Common Era" be based on? You think it could be BC and AD??

And I know I'm an old fart, but I can remember when we had Soldiers, Marines, Sailors and Airmen. It seems we don't have them anymore - just "Warfighters". I have a feeling that term came about thru the laziness of the media - too hard to actually identify the troops.

Anyone out there remember when body counts - mostly inflated - were kept of the enemy during the Vietnam War, and how the media thought that was disgusting? Now the same media revels in keeping their own body counts - of American dead and wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Each of the above tend to give me a nasty attitude, but the last one really gives me the shits!

Oakland Airport

Once again, the airport at Oakland, instead of bringing a plane to the sky way into the terminal, forced a plane load of our returning military to get off on the tarmac and stand there for four hours. This has happened once before there, when they made the military wait for around three hours.

Their excuse? They were "worried that those on the plane hadn't been vetted for weapons". even though they went through both Frankfort and JFK with no drama.

The anti-military bias of the Oakland / San Francisco area is absolutely pathetic and those members of the military involved - or the DOD - should bring suit against the airport and the individuals who made this decision.

This must not be allowed to stand.

UPDATE: Apparently a politician from Florida has asked for an investigation into this. My question: why a Floridian? Where's the California Congresspeople, Senators or Governator?

Being Neighborly

So far this hurricane season, there's been four or five hurricanes and tropical storms that have hit Mexico and caused considerable damage.

I think it's only right that we help out. We have around 12 million "hard workers" here who call Mexico home, and the bonus is that they already speak the language.

Judging by the number of Mexican flags in the immigration protests, you'd think they'd be proud to go down there and help.

Or am I just being a sarcastic son of a bitch - - again??

Not the Rock Hall of Fame

Every couple of months or so, Boy Wonder has to do the custody thing with the Wicked Witch of the North, who lives in Canton, OH. I went once to see the Football Hall of Fame - well worth the visit.

Now, I love music - I've got around 1,400 CD's. I'd been thinking of going with him on an overnighter in order to get to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but I just had a look at who's in and who's out.

Did you know that over half of the people and groups in the Hall are either Rap, Soul, R&B, Blues - even Country. There's also one hit wonders like Buffalo Springfield.

Who's not in?

• George Thorogood
• Ted Nugent
• Jethro Tull
• Grand Funk Railroad
• Jimmy Buffett
• Alice Cooper
• Deep Purple
• Joe Walsh
• Steve Miller Band
• Ozzy Osbourne
• Thin Lizzie
• Ten Years After
• Stevie Ray Vaughan
• Warren Zevon

And a bunch of others who are actual rockers.

I don't think I'll waste my money - Hard Rock Cafes have more tributes to real rockers.