Happy New Year!

2010 is here!

Paranormal Activity

Good creepy movie. If you like the scary stuff it's a good choice.

Merry Christmas

Hallmark Holiday Cheer

We Wish You a Merry Christmas



Jingle Bells



Rockin around the Christmas tree

Happy Birthday

to the United States Marine Corp. 234 years young.

Wife's First Hunt

via my wife's brother-in-law

----

My sweet husband invited me to go hunting with him this year.
I Couldn't believe it...the first time ever!
I never thought he'd be willing to share his 'guy time' with me
And being the thoughtful man that he is, he even gave me an opening day present.
He calls it 'The First Timers Lucky Hat'. I'm so fortunate to be married to him.

I have attached a picture of me in my lucky hat

Some details about the new Microsoft stores

From a list I'm on...
--
Here are some yet-to-be-officially-revealed details about the Microsoft stores.

1. Instead of Apple's sheer walls of glass, Microsoft's stores will have brushed steel walls dotted with holes -- reminiscent of Windows security.
   
   
2. The store will have six different entrances: Starter, Basic, Premium, Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate. While all six doors will lead into the same store, the Ultimate door requires a fee of $100 for no apparent reason.
   
   
3. Instead of a "Genius Bar" (as Apple provides) Microsoft will offer an Excuse Bar. It will be staffed by Microsofties trained in the art of evading questions, directing you to complicated and obscure fixes, and explaining it's a problem with the hardware -- not a software bug.
   
   
4. The Windows Genuine Advantage team will run storefront security, assuming everybody is a thief until they can prove otherwise.
   
   
5. Store hours are undetermined. At any given time the store mysteriously shuts down instantaneously for no apparent reason. (No word yet on what happens to customers inside).
   
   
6. Stores will be named Microsoft Live Retail Store with PC Services for Digital Lifestyle Enthusiasts.
   
   
7. Fashioned after Microsoft's User Account Control (UAC) in Vista, sales personnel will ask you whether you're positive you want to purchase something at least twice.
   
   
8. Xbox 360 section of the store will be organized in a ring -- which will inexplicably go red occasionally.
   
   
9. DreamWorks will design a scary in-store theme park ride called "blue screen of death."
   
   
10. Store emergency exits will be unlocked at all times so people can get in anytime they want even if the front doors are locked.
    

Project Valour-IT

It's that time of the year. Time to bring out your inner geek, crack open your wallet and send some of that hard earned money to Soldiers Angels for Project Valour-IT. Valour-IT gets voice controlled laptops to wounded warriors so they can communicate while they recover. The 'competition' starts today and ends on Veterans Day. If you can afford it, even $5.00, please donate.

http://soldiersangels.org/index.php?page=project-valour-it

Morons everywhere

What moron schedules a training exercise on 9/11 near the spot that POTUS will be speaking at?

The truly sad part? The White House is upset at CNN for reporting the "exercise".

Today

It's September 11th, 2009. 8 years later.

I still remember what I was doing this day in 2001. One of the developers walked in and mentioned that a plane had hit one of the World Trade Towers in NYC. Went online and found coverage from the BBC. Needless to say I didn't do much work that morning. To this day there is still rage inside me.

Three years ago I took part in Project 2996 with a memorial of Kathy Bantis. For some reason I managed to miss the fact that they were doing memorials again this year.

Please take some time today and read the memorials at Project 2996.

Never forget.

Independence Day

It was a gray and rainy day around here. Spent it with a friend at her party. Came back home in the evening and the weather cleared for some awesome fireworks.

Beautiful Noise

More of the Moon

I see you

Important Womens Health Issue

Do you have feelings of inadequacy?
Do you suffer from shyness?
Do you sometimes wish you were more assertive?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, ask your doctor or pharmacist about Margaritas.

Margaritas are the safe, natural way to feel better and more confident about yourself and your actions. Margaritas can help ease you out of your shyness and let you tell the world that you're ready and willing to do just about anything.

You will notice the benefits of Margaritas almost immediately and with a regimen of regular doses you can overcome any obstacles that prevent you from living the life you want to live.

Shyness and awkwardness will be a thing of the past and you will discover many talents you never knew you had. Stop hiding and start living, with Margaritas.

Margaritas may not be right for everyone. Women who are pregnant or nursing should not use Margaritas. However, women who wouldn't mind nursing or becoming pregnant are encouraged to try it.

**Side effects may include: Dizziness, nausea, vomiting, incarceration, Erotic lustfulness, Loss of motor control, Loss of clothing, Loss of money, Loss of virginity, Table dancing, Headache, Dehydration, Dry mouth, And a desire to sing Karaoke

**WARNING: The consumption of Margaritas may make you think you are whispering when you are not, may cause you to tell your friends over and over again that you love them, may cause you to think you can sing, make you think you can logically converse with members of the opposite sex without spitting.*

* Please share this with other women who may need Margaritas. Thank you. *

Mr Moon

Happy Odd Day

http://www.oddday.net/

Dwayne Coleman - Zion

Found this via Twitter. Powerful.

(soon to be) Mama Goose

Morning Goose

Look what welcomed me to work this morning

Snow Leopard

Plans for tomorrow

For those in the neighborhood this weekend (and by neighborhood I mean near East Dundee, Illinois)

G.A.T. Guns

2009 FACTORY SHOOT!

MARCH 7 & 8, 2009
GUN GIVE-AWAYS & RAFFLES
MEET THE FACTORY REPS
SHOOT THE GUNS IN OUR RANGE
WE WILL HAVE AR's

---

This is the place I buy most of my guns (all but 2 if I can count right). Nice people, good selection, very competitive pricing (usually 5 to 10% less than the Cabela's that is 5 miles away). Always less than MSRP.

My son and I will be there Saturday morning. Look for the guy in the Home Depot/Tony Stewart hat. That'll probably be me!

Sauce for my wife

Notice the warning...

Daytona 500

I was so psyched waiting for this race. It seems like forever since Homestead. The race wasn't bad. The 18 was probably the car to beat. Smoke in the #14 looked strong - at least for the first half of each run. Newman's #39 looked good till he went 2 laps down with tire issues. Joey got the #20 Home Depot Toyota lots of tv time. Too bad it was while he was crashing into the inside wall.

Jr OTOH showed that he will never be as good a driver as his dad. Stupid driving to take out 9 cars - including the 18. Nascar should have parked him but an Earnhardt can do no wrong...

The weather came and Matt Kennseth ended up winning. Sad as a couple of cars (the 14 and 24) looked to be coming on strong.

I was really enjoying the race. Plenty of action. It was even good to see Jr screw up. Even better to see Vickers call him out on it. SHR got an 8th with the #14 - not bad for a new team.

Can't wait for next week.

It's time

Today we reach the symbolic 1234567890th second of Unix time. Here in Illinois that is at Fri Feb 13 17:31:30 2009

Check for yourself with Perl:

perl -e 'print scalar localtime(1234567890),"\n";'

Candle

Turbaconducken

Turbaconducken. That’s right, a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey, all wrapped in bacon

Yummm - bacon.

How big is a Trillion?

From twitter:

One could spend a million a day since the day Jesus was born and still won't have spent it all

Dinner

Sausage Pizza - Yum

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi

Imagine if Bush had said something like this...

Do something good today

Send some money to the folks in Kentucky or Arkansas who are dealing with the ice storm. Every little bit helps. My donation went to the Red Cross - Bluegrass Area Chapter. Thanks to Michelle for the link.

--

February 2, 2009

Mr. Al XXXXXXXXX

Dear Mr. XXXXXXXXX:

Thank you for your generous donation of $80.00, paid with your Visa. Without the support of people like you, Bluegrass Area Chapter - American Red Cross would not be able to accomplish its mission.

Once again, thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,
Bluegrass Area Chapter - American Red Cross

Bummer

blogs4bauer.com is in trouble



I guess there is no kill counter tonight. At least 24 won't be in 3D like Chuck. Stupid NBC.

Foot prints in the snow

Saw these today



And the source

Ice Flow

Outside my doctors office this morning

He's everywhere

Even on DVD at Target

The Stimulus Bill

Aka the load of pork shoved down America's throats.

The Democrats in Congress should be ashamed of themselves. CBO reports 7% will actually reach the economy this year (just how will this stimulate anything?) but there is 350+ million for STD research? Thankfully all the Republicans and 11 Democrats decided to take a stand.

If one of these fine people is your rep - please drop them a note of thanks today. Peter Roskam - yours is in the mail.

Glad I play Left 4 Dead

More here

The perfect girl for Thing1

Her name is KoriBeth

If you open it

Plan to drink it.

That was the advice from a winemaker when we toured his vineyard several years ago. So tonight we did just that.



Rebel Red has a wonderful flavor. Wine snobs probably won't like it but it was excellent.

Skateboarding in Kabul

A long time ago I spent my spare time doing a couple of things - playing basketball, swimming, and riding my skateboard. Loved it. Streets, ramps, whatever. Managed to never break anything :)

Instapundit points to a place one might have never expected kids skating - Kabul, Afghanistan.

No room at the inn

Ok - the gun shop. Stopped at GAT Guns on the way home from my father-in-laws house today and there was no parking spots available. The large snow mounds didn't help but every available spot was full. People were playing create-a-space. I was planning on buying today but I guess it was not meant to be.

A Reason to own a iPhone

A Ballistic Computer

Of course I'd want one of KAC's SR-15s to go along with it...

Via Macenstein

Cardinals vs Steelers

Congrats to both teams and their fans. This is the Super Bowl I was hoping for (once my Bears were eliminated). I have an interesting conflict. Do I wear my Cardinals jersey or my Steeler's coat? Or both? The coat got a number of comments out shopping today - even a not so nice one from a Ravens fan...

Go Cards!

Obama and the Titanic

Time Magazine Editor Richard Stengel glowingly called Barack Obama "a Titanic figure".

Which is great as we all know how well the Titanic turned out

More here -

If handguns cause crime, mine’s defective

Handgun Podcast

A simple statement that is just so true. The podcast is worth listening to.

Some things just make sense

Bad Weekend at Home

If you were a shredder or a router.

The wife was cleaning up and shredding old papers when the shredder made an awful noise.

The shredder, a nice crosscut model was fed a vaccination tag.



The shredder survived (kinda). The tag, did not.



Out in the garage I was putting away some Christmas stuff when I knocked my router off the shelf. It's over 20 years old. Sad. I had wanted a new router but now this way...



That router had been a part of book shelfs, molding, a fireplace mantle, cabinet doors, and so much more.

Man of the Year

Sarah Palin

Happy New Year

May 2009 be full of joy, good health, and love.