Carnival of Madness

The LP’s VP candidate on Ron Paul. It’s not a very nice read. It reads like he’s applying for John McCain’s VP opening. Wayne Allen Root is what the LP thinks we should vote for in the 2008 election. Not gonna do it. As though Bob Barr (the guy who had the nerve to write a “Defense of Marriage Act” while being a divorcee) wasn’t bad enough, they’re also giving us Wayne Allen Root.Overall, after a great start to the Primaries with Ron Paul making it interesting, it’s getting damned depressing. McCain, Obama, Nader and Barr. I voted in the Caucus and once a year’s good enough. Well, back to the Pens game. They should win tonight and take it back to Detroit tied at 2-2 in the Stanley Cup Finals…

I saw Indiana Jones last night. It was an entertaining enough movie. It wasn’t terrible, but if they never made it, it wouldn’t have bothered me. Not great, not terrible. I think the big problem is that they’ve been making this kind of movie for almost 30 years and there was nothing all that new and original here. It was mostly just a way for the audience to hang out with Indiana Jones again and watch him get throw around, beaten up and all that. Also, early in the movie right after he survives a nuclear blast (in one of the cheesiest and coolest ways possible), he’s talking to some Army guys and I was just thinking that I know one of them. Suddenly I felt the urge to yell out “The Janitor!” Yep, the Janitor from Scrubs was a tough anti-communist Army guy in this movie. It was pretty cool.

Oh yeah! That was one way awesome article. Personally, my favorite line was:

The moral inconsistency necessary to deride sects like the one in West Texas – or any other similar organization as described by the mainstream media – while simultaneously chanting “USA! USA!” at a ballgame spins the mind.

Hahaha.This past weekend, Bob Barr was elected the LP Presidential Candidate. I don’t think this is the best move for the party. I just don’t think it’s a good idea to let a guy who voted for the Patriot Act to become the LP Presidential Candidate. He says he regrets his voting for the Patriot Act because he was given assurances by the Bush Administration that it would be used narrowly to fight terrorism. Yep. The Libertarian Party presidential candidate voted for a piece of legislation called the Patriot Act. I mean, any real libertarian would see right through that load of crap, even in the weeks right after 9/11. He stated that he got assurances from the Bush Administration and that he actually believed them. Ron Paul, who was in the same congress and got to read just as much of it as Bob Barr did voted against it. Of course, this doesn’t even cover all the crap Barr was doing during the Clinton administration, like harassing the president over consensual sex.

Well, Bob Barr, just another reason to stay home on election day and not bother voting. McCain, Hillary and Obama were reason enough. Bob Barr doesn’t make the ballot look any better. At least Michael Badnarik didn’t have a history of voting for unconstitutional bullshit; which I’m sure he wouldn’t have if he was a member of congress before running for president as an LP member.

Wow, it’s been a whole 10 days since I posted anything on here. Some of it was due to the fact that I was working a lot and didn’t have time. Some of it was due to the fact that internet seemed really spotty around here.So let’s see here. On Saturday, the 17th, I went to Eric’s bachelor party. It was cool. Except it went on a bit late. I got in around 2:00 in the morning, which for me is way too late. I mean, in the past I could get in at 2:00 in the morning. But these days I’m too old for it. Especially since I had to be up at 5:30 in the morning on Sunday. Anyways, we went to few bars after I met them at the bowling alley. I didn’t get any bowling done. After that it was going from bar to bar to bar, drinking and hanging out. By about 11:00, I was ready to go home, but I left my car at the bowling alley and was riding the party van.

So the next day, up at 5:30, milked cows and did a bunch of chores and then was outta here by about 9:45. Drove all the way to Des Moines with just one stop to get a little lunch at McDonalds. Saw Jennie’s graduation thing. She’s now a pharmacist, she just has to get licensed I guess. After that got some tasty ice cream and then drove home. Finally got some good miles on my car. However, it felt like being stuck on an airplane all day, especially during the graduation. At least airplane seats have cushions and restrooms nearby and women giving me water/pop…

Most of the week after that it was pretty much all work.

Then on Friday there was Eric’s wedding rehearsal and the wedding was on Saturday. Basically I got to wear a tux with a cowboy hat and a red vest. Add in my sunglasses and it really looked like I should have been in Vegas running a casino or a strip club. Maybe I should be doing that for a living. I still have the hat, so I could pull it off. Anyways, the wedding was great. No rain and a nice breeze kept us from sweating all over the Arboretum. After that was a trip in the Trolley. That was great. We had to stop at a retirement home so that they could visit one of her grandparents. Our side of the family just stayed in the trolley. This retirement home was on the top of a very steep hill. As he drove off the hill and back on to the road, the trolley got stuck. Basically the rear driver side got jammed on the hill. So we all stood around and eventually a person who lived nearby got a jack and some boards to help the driver get out of there. We did and then stopped by by a bar. I hung out for a few minutes, went to the restrooms and then got back on the trolley and waited for everyone else. I’m just not a bar person.

The reception was pretty nice. I got to sit at the head table; which was pretty cool. Um, what else, oh lots of free beer. I honestly don’t know how much I drank from 12 in the morning Saturday until 2 in the morning Sunday. It was a lot, but it was staggered over 14 hours. I didn’t get really drunk. I loved the fact that this was supposed to be a country themed wedding but only had one dance song that was country. Overall, the reception was nice and loud. It was in a hotel; which has a restaurant down the hall with a bunch of TVs, playing the Cubs-Pirates and Red Wings-Pens games. So I kept running over there and checking the scores. I was pretty disappointed by the hockey game. However, the Cubs-Pirates game was way cool. It started around 6:00 and it went in to extra innings tied 5-5, it kept going and going until it was the 14th inning. With a guy on 3rd, Jason Bay hit a single and scored the winning run. It was great fun. By then I think it was 11:00 at night. I had quit drinking by then.

After the reception ended at midnight, I went back to where I left my car. I took off the tux and put on comfortable clothes. I packed up the tux and sat there for a few minutes. I was gonna drive home, but I drank some more and realized I had too much to drive home. Eventually, we ended up at another bar. We came back and I just sat in there chair. I immedialtely fell asleep. All I can remember is sitting down and putting my feet up. When I woke up it was about 4:00 in the morning, I took off my shoes and socks and glasses and fell back asleep for another 2 hours, sorta. I don’t sleep in a chair very well. By 6:45 I had enough and realized I was sober enough to drive home, I had a few glasses of water and drove home, with a quick stop at Hardees for breakfast. I came home and fell asleep.

Sunday I just hung out and watched the Cubs-Pirates game. This game was as equally awesome as the day before because this time, not only did Soriano miss an easy final out of the game, which lead to the Pirates getting in the tying run; but they won in the 11th inning in basically the same manner as the night before. Jason Bay went up with a guy on third and hit one in to left field off of former Pirate Jon Lieber. Talk about cool.

Finally, after about 5 months being dog-less, we have a new dog. Actually a puppy. He’s about five weeks old and full of energy and totally not ready chase cows or anything yet. He bites and chews things a lot. When I was hanging out with him this afternoon, he kept untying my shoes. For now we have him tied up so that he won’t run away. He seems to like it here so far. I guess we got really used to Dawg since all he did was just lay around. The new dog has probably done more today than Dawg did in his last month around here. I kinda wish he was a bit older, it seems like puppies are a lot more work than old dependable dogs. But puppies generally last longer than old dogs.

Oh yeah, his name is Jack; which is a name dad gave him since it was taking me too long to come up with one. I just keep thinking of that Rolling Stones song “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”. I also tried rollerblading today for the first time in about two years. If the driveway wasn’t covered in rocks, I would have done more than just the sidewalk. I’d like to do it more often since I think I’m done with the whole knee injury thing from about 18 months ago. I wore knee pads this time; which I had quit doing because I thought I’d be ok. Other than that, all is well for now, except that the Pens lost again. I have a bad feeling about this. I hope this is like the 71 World Series, where after two losses on the road, they pick it up and win four of the final five…

Ugh, it seems horribly wrong that the Pirates play the Cubs about 20 times a season and then only play the Phillies about 6 times a season. Fucking expansion, inter-league play and realignment. I think the Brewers belong in the NL, but really, it would have been better to just stick with the 1993 and before format. Sure it’d be harder for the Bucs but at least their schedule would make some sort of sense.Or, hows about this for the NL:

East:
Pirates
Phillies
Mets
Reds

North:
Cubs
Brewers
Cardinals
Rockies

South:
Braves
Marlins
Astros
Nationals

West:
Diamondbacks
Giants
Dodgers
Padres

Except for the Rockies in the Central and the Reds in the East it all makes perfect sense. Get rid of the ridiculous Central Division and have only Division champs in the playoffs. If they add two more teams to the AL, then it’d make even more sense:

AL

East:
Yankees
Red Sox
Orioles
Blue Jays

North:
Indians
Twins
White Sox
Tigers

South:
Royals
Rays
Rangers
?

West:
Angels
Mariners
Athletics
?

See it makes a lot more sense.

On the other hand it might just make it more convoluted and confusing…

Well I got the stimulus money in my bank account this morning. I already spent about $461 of the $600 I got. I put $250 on the car and then spent $211 on some present for Jennie’s graduation thing. It’s way too much money for her, but oh well. I guess that’ll cover her for Graduation, birthday, 2007 christmas and 2008 christmas. I remember that I didn’t spend much on her at Christmas, I think it was about $30, way less than what I spent on everyone else. But that was because she didn’t have an apartment to put all her stuff in at the time. Now she does. This thing I bought her isn’t gonna be taking up much room. In fact that’s kinda the point.So I now have $139 left. I’m thinking a new pair of glasses would really hit the spot. The ones I have now are 5 years old, part of the frame fell off a few days ago and the lenses are a bit scratched up. I mean, I got new sun glasses two years ago and the prescription for them are still good for another 9 days. So I should go get a pair of regular glasses before I would have to get a whole new exam and such. On the other hand, I might just wait a year and get new glasses during my exam. It’d save me money in all.

I suppose that’s all for now..

Well, John Van Benschoten lost again, big surprise. Sadly, the Pirates win streak ends at 6. They lost 8-1, meaning they didn’t have the offense to take a real lead. JVB has proven once again he’s just not good enough to be a starter. A reliever? Possibly. But a starter? Nope.I think it might also be time to consider trading him. Perhaps the best player we could get is the infamous troubled minor leaguer Cash Considerations. There’s also his brothers Past Considerations and Future Considerations to think about acquiring too. Personally, I think Cash is probably the best of the Considerations brothers. I’d put him in my fantasy team, over his brothers. That is if I gave enough of a shit to actually play fantasy baseball. But both Past and Future, doesn’t have the future potential that Cash does…

Then there’s Player Tobenamed-Later. He’s one of those guys who gets traded a lot and really doesn’t help most teams he gets traded to.

Ugh, stuff is expensive. It’s an absolute out rage that it cost $30+ to fill up my little gas tank every month. Last time, I think I spent about $28. I gotta drive to Des Moines this weekend for Jennie’s graduation and that’ll probably cost some more money. And there’s still 19 days left this month. The cool thing is that I entered my gas info on my spread sheet and it’s saying that my gas mileage is getting better. It’s about 3 more MPG than it was last time. Way awesome. Considering that my driving habits are no different thatn a month ago. Of course I might have the hotel costs up a bit. If I just drive on Sunday morning and then drive back right away, that’ll save me a bundle. Then I put the costs of the dentist about $10 over what it was last time, just to protect myself in case the price has gone up. I know that next fall, I’m gonna have a huge bill because they’ll be doing a huge X-Ray thing (which I’ll just get back a month later. Then there’s the $300 the guvmint is gonna send me, so that’ll help out a bit.In other news, while I was out getting some of my hair removed for the wedding and eating a brot for lunch and hitting on girls that think I’m fuck ugly, the Pirates won again, raising their win streak to 6 games and with another win tonight they’ll be 19-19. After the Braves tonight, they’ll be going to St. Louis to face off against a good team. The Cards have been tough this year. It’ll be nice to see if the Pirates can get two or three wins out of them. Then there’s the Fucking Cubs this weekend. They gotta get at least one win at Wrigley this weekend. If they sweep the Cards and Cubs….holy shit, that’d be fucking awesome.

I guess that’s all. Better get back to work and stuff. Yeah.

Wow, such a huge contrast between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pens had a full house at the Mellon Arena. The crowd is just really in to the game. Meanwhile, at the Pirates games so far this season, there seems to be a real lack of excitement about them until last night’s game. I guess having a four game win streak will help bring in the fans. Sadly, today, the rain pretty much ended any chance of a game this afternoon. So tomorrow there’s gonna be two games to watch. Hopefully McLouth and X-Man will help bring about a seven game win streak by this time tomorrow.But yeah, the Pens game was awesome. They are just kicking ass right now. It was a real nail bitter because the Flyers got a goal right before the end of the 2nd period to tie the game at 2. About half way through the third, the Pens scored to take a 3-2 lead and then when the Flyers took out the goalie to try to get a one man advantage, the Pens went down and sealed it and got away with a 4-2 win. Oh yeah, there was a kid dying of cancer that Versus interviewed, who got to meet Mario Lemiux, Dan Rooney and Ben Rothlisberger up in Lemiux’s private box. How awesome that must have been. If he wasn’t dying, he’d probably the luckiest guy in the world. I wish I could have done that. But since I’m alive and doing fine they’d never let me do that.

So since the game’s over, I switched over to ESPN Sunday Night baseball with the Twins and Red Sox. It’s kinda sad to think that the Twins have less than two years left at the ol’ Metrodome. I mean, it’s not the most attractive baseball stadium, but really I can’t imagine the Twins playing their home games anywhere else. Can’t look at it without thinking of the 91 World Series, the homer hankies, the Kirby Puckett home run (the Jack Buck call “And we’ll see you….tomorrow night!”) and the Jack Morris 10 inning shut out win in game 7. It’s hard to believe it won’t be there anymore. It’s the one place that shouldn’t be torn down…

Basically a few weeks ago, after I had paid for the MLB Extra Innings, I was really confused about the blackout of Cardinals and Brewers games. Basically I had them on Dish Network, FSN Midwest (Cardinals) and FSN North (Brewers/Twins). Because the Pirates will be playing the Cardinals this week and I don’t like missing games, I decided to look in to why the hell there were no Cardinals games in Iowa on DirecTV when they were on Dish Network. Turns out, whatever package I had on Dish, allowed access to Midwest and North. Pretty cool ‘n all. But on DirecTV, even after paying for MLB Extra Innings, I would have to pay for the Sports Pack to get Brewers and Cardinals. We get Comcast Chicago for Cubs and White Sox games with the basic package. You pay an extra $10 a month and you get the Cardinals, Brewers and Twins too. It’s not a lot of money for the Sports Pack. If you’re a Cards, Twins or Brewers fan, that’s great. It’s way cheaper than paying for Extra Innings. The real bonus for me is that I’d get FSN Pittsburgh too with the Sports Pack and I’d get more coverage of the Steelers and Pens too.Still, the MLB blackouts are kinda stupid. I mean, if I pay for Extra Innings, Cardinals and Brewers should just come with it. It’s costing me enough as it is. I kinda wish I could just cancel all my regular programming and just have sports. Maybe get the news channels, Sci-Fi, Comedy Central, Discovery, locals, ESPN channels and then the rest Sports. But because I’m not the only one using it, I have to get programming for other people too.

The really seemingly crazy thing is that if you live in Idaho and pay extra for the Sports Pack, you can get Cardinals games. For the Geographically challenged, Idaho is really far away from St. Louis, MO. On the other hand, if you live in Orlando, FL you have to pay for Extra Innings in order to get Tampa Bay Rays games. Even though Tampa is only 85 miles away. Ah well, gonna have to think about this for a little while…