big cliché

Mmmmm. Divinity.

We had to make a batch tonight. It was non-negotiable. Especially after AB took the time to show us the way. Earlier this week, we runied two batches of candy. Two, people. So, we took another look at the candy-making episode and now know why our candy went so bad. And believe me, it was bad. So, with "sound science" on our side, we got out the basic ingredients and made that delightful Christmas candy that has no doubt confounded many a cook. This batch, however, is absolutely perfect--light, airy, nutty, and sweeeeet. Perfect.

In movie news, we just finished a fun one called Intermission. It was kind of like...well...I'm not really sure. It was a bit like Pulp Fiction in that all the characters were interconnected and kind of like Trainspotting in that all the criminals were immensely stupid, and it was kind of like the Kill Bills in that the laughs usually come at someone's expense--but without the chop-soky. It's good and worth a look, especially considering I'd never heard of it and literally picked it off the shelf because Colm Meaney and Kelly Macdonald were on the cover. Not bad for a buck. Tomorrow night: Big Fish.

And in a surprising turn of events, the POT? is new today! Can you believe it? Only 11 days since the last one, and it's up. I think you'll dig it, but one never can tell with these things.

Finally, can anyone tell me why the post counter on my dash board has been stuck at 365 for the last two weeks? I'm sure I've been well past 365 for some time now. Stupid blogger.

"A well-regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed."
— Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

There it is, folks. The entire text of the second amendment. Read it twice, then once more for good measure. Up until recently, say the last 100 years or so, there really wasn't much argument over what it meant. The controversy seems to stem from the introductory clause. However, it is my uneducated interpretation that says no matter what the first clause is trying to say, the second is pretty darn clear. If I may quote the Nuge, "what part of 'shall not be infringed' don't you understand"? And that is where I stand. Regardless of who you interpret the 'militia' to be, the right of the people...shall not be infringed--plain and simple. It has always been a twisted little fantasy of mine that if they were selling tickets to the time machine and you could only get one trip, I would go back to the weeks before September 25, 1789 just so I could say "hey, um, guys: you may want to rethink the wording on that second one there. Trust me on this." But they aren't, so we're stuck with it as is. So I've been thinking that maybe it is time I re-visit some of my long-held beliefs about how best to work with the antis to come to a nice compromise, despite the urge to vomit when I even think about working with Sarah Brady. blech. So here it is:

Rather than going with Nate G's "Arm America" plan, which I think is quite good, I think I will side with my all-time favorite automaton, Al Gore! You see, Nate's idea required arming every single American the day they turned 16 and turning them loose. "Sure" he says "the first three months or so would be kind of bloody, but the America that comes out on the other side will be leaner, stronger, safer and much more polite." Kind of like taking natural selection/survival of the fittest (or in this case "quickest draw") to the Nth level. Knowing that this would never ever happen, even in an Ameica where Chuck Heston was president and the NRA board and lifetime members made up the senate and house, I'm going to take Al Gore's idea and beef it up a bit.

First, everyone who has a concealed carry permit is exempt from the checks and their local card is upgraded to a national license--they have already done all the background checks, safety classes and proved to their state gov'ts that, at the absolute least, they know how to operate and fire their weapon while also being able to read the safety course booklet. Next, everyone else who wants to buy a gun (or currently owns a gun--no grandfather clauses on on this one, folks) is licensed--handgun or long gun--it doesn't matter. A gun is a gun. To get your license you must complete a comprehensive background check, mental fitness qualification, submit both thumbprints, two passport photos and a cheek swab for DNA analysis. Then after a 30 day waiting period, you are issued your "gold card". Not to be really made of gold, mind you, but worth it's weight in gold because of what it does for the bearer. This, of course, would all done at the federal level so Chuck and Dianne will get that warm and fuzzy they so desperately need. Did anyone give those two a hug yet?

Under my plan, the gold card is FREE, because we aren't trying to keep the less privelidged out of the gun clubs, and will allow you to buy any weapon you want! No more banned 'assault weapons', no restrictions on magazine capacity or caliber--if you want a RPG, you get an RPG! Woo-ha! Well, maybe not RPGs, but you get the picture. Now, to pay for all these background checks and DNA analysis, we confiscate and sell all the property of those who do bad things with guns. Remember civil forfeiture? Sure you do! There ought to be enough of them initially to pay for the entire program for years. When the money starts to wane, we reallocate the surplus prison money that will be generated by part 3 of my master plan. Part 3 goes like this: once every gun owner is licensed and the program is up and running, we summarily execute anyone caught with a firearm who is not licensed. All those gun criminals who are still waiting on death row? They're executed. Also, anyone who shoots another person or uses a firearm in the commission of a violent crime is executed. Steal a firearm? Yep, that's grounds for an execution too. Just like Judge Dread, we take a small percentage of every law enforcement department's compliment and make them into specially trained and equipped "firearm policy compliance officers" who have the power to execute anyone caught with a gun who isnt licensed. Just the mention of the name "compliance officers" would strike fear into those who would do bad things with guns and cause gun crimes to plummet virtually overnight.

Now I know that sounds like a lot of executions, but let's face it: these are the people who are choking up our already taxed prison systems. Yes, folks, these are the people who YOU and I are paying for on a daily basis who in most cases live better than our nation's poorest citizens. Where's the logic in a rapist or double-murderer living better than someone who's only crime is losing his or her job? So then, how about we be done with those people so we can stop wasting money on that part of our populace that will never be 'worth it' and invest in those who just need a hand up?

Finally, in the event of a self-defense shooting (outside your residence), if there is not enough evidence to prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the person doing the shooting had no other option than to shoot, then that person is also executed. I don't want any of you thinking that my plan gives a free ride to those who kill and try to use their gold card as a "get out of jail free" card. All existing laws regarding defense of home and personal property would still apply, so in OK, you could still shoot and kill an intruder in your home without fear of prosecution.

Well there you go! I figure that plan should keep everyone happy: We get a national firearms licensing system, so the anti's should be happy; I get to keep my guns, so I'm happy and the gun crime rates plummet so who wouldn't be happy about that? I like to think I've taken the best of both plans from Nate G. and Al Gore. Ahhhh, bliss at last!

By the way, you should also check out this link for an alternate viewpoint. Good stuff.

I would like to take a second to wish you all a happy Thanksgiving. Aimee and I will be spending time with family and friends, and I hope you will be too.

If you aren't, maybe you could help serve a meal to those who are less fortunate.

In either case, here's hoping you have a great day.

Yahoo! News - SpongeBob Kidnappers Seek Ransom for Doll

Now why didn't I think of this? I drove right past the giant SpongeBob at the BK on S. Western on the way home from Nino's this weekend.

Oh drat.

CNN.com - Safety regulators list top 10 toy recalls - Nov 22, 2004

Heads up, holiday shoppers who have to buy for young'ns.

Brady Campaign - BANK ROBBERIES, PALM BEACH MURDERS, AND NOW FIVE HUNTERS DEAD IN WISCONSIN

And so it begins...

Just for the record, I did not link to these people because I like their agenda. I did it so you can see for yourself their opportunistic brand of scare tactics designed to frighten people into bad legislation. These are the same folks who originally brought you "Handgun Control, Inc." which they changed to the new, improved Brady Campaign. Doesn't that sound so much more friendly?

This is the kind of thing that seriously makes me lose my cool and start the name calling, but I'm going to fight it. The reason it makes me so unbelievably angry is that they don't apply their twisted, sick, mangled logic to anything but firearms. I want to know why is it that if they are so concerned about the loss of life, that they aren't pushing for the ban of the cars these people used, the pants they were wearing or anything else that could have contributed to these crimes. Uncomfortable pants could've driven these guys over the edge. Cars kill about 60K a year on our nations highways. Why isn't the Brady Capmaign 'campaigning' for the ban of cars? Or how about the carnage when a plane crashes? Sure, less planes crash than cars (a lot less, actually) but when they do, they have a virtual 100% kill ratio. Why no bans on planes?

I have to stop this post now, or I will go off on these people, and I'm just not going to do it.

I hope everyone bought ammo this week. What? You didn't? For shame! I bought mine last night but then promptly shot them all up this morning. Really it was afternoon, but until I've had lunch it is still morning for me.

Speaking of shooting, the new baby was perfect. Right out of the box it was dead on and not a single jam. Most "gun writers" say that you have to run 200 rounds through to properly break-in a new pistol but I say buy a Beretta instead. I recall reading once, in an article by some high-falutin' gun expert, that the only pistol he would ever buy and then carry without firing a single round first would be the 92FS. I can't remember which guy it was, but I remember he wrote for American Handgunner. All I need to do now is get a nice set of meprolights or trijicons and a holster.

I almost went with the Sig P239, but it seemed a bit too heavy and was way more expensive than the baby B. But the real consideration was the open slide on the 9000s. Every time I've had a jam before it was a stovepipe or failure to extract. Not to jinx myself, but I just don't see how the open slide on these pistols can stovepipe in the conventional sense. And even if they did, it would be so much easier to clear. Another bonus of the 9000s is that I can use my 92FS mag's in it. How tasty is that? One magazine fits 3 different firearms! Delicious.

Now that the shootin' is over, all that's left is the cleaning so I better get to it. As sweet as these pistols are, they still haven't started cleaning themselves.

Well it actually happened on the way back, but I'll get to that soon enough.

Thursday morning, I finally got word that the pistol I was selling on gunbroker had been received by its new owner and all was well. Once I got that email, I was off to the gun store to purchase its replacement. It may seem kind of odd to sell one pistol to buy another, but if I had been aware of the Beretta 9000s when I bought the Kahr, I probably would've been spared the trouble. Oh well.

So I get to the gun store and look for the guy who has always been cool to me even on the days he knew I wasn't buying anything. I figure they work on commission, so why not let old boy get something back for his trouble, right?

Anyway, we dispense with all the paperwork and while they are running my NICS background search, we have a few minutes to make small talk. Now previous to this occasion, like I said, he has always seemed normal. I don't know what switch flipped in his life recently, but it was apparently a bad one. I can't recall how we breached the topic, but somehow he dragged the conversation to September 11th. The next thing I know he says it was a "joke". Keep in mind that I'm only half awake, so the old bean wasn't processing at full speed, but I was still pretty sure that he had just called the most devastating attack on American soil a "joke". I must have looked at him like he was an idiot or something because he immediately explained that the buildings were insured, the insurance companies were insured and all the families were compensated. The whole thing was a "joke" compared to what could've happened--or what could still happen. He went on to ask which I thought would be a better target: buildings, or a 40-year old, poorly guarded nuclear reactor? Still mostly stunned, I answered that things could indeed have been much worse if someone had the means to pull off a Three-Mile Island or Chernobyl, as I immediately though of that reactor on I-40 outside of Little Rock, AR. Without missing a beat, he says "If I was one of those (he then uttered a phrase I will not use here) I would definitely be after the easier target, because If I was one of those (uses same phrase again) I wouldn't care about taking lives". By this time I'm starting to wonder if I really want to get into it with this guy, or get out of the store as quickly as possible. Before I can make a decision, one of the clerks shows up with my approval form essentially making my decision for me. She hands him the form, but he doesn't stand up, he just lays it with the other paperwork and continues his soapbox assault. He looks back to me and says "And that's what we as a Christian nation, 'cause essentially we are a nation of Christian people--or at least I am--have to understand; that the people who do these things have no regard for human life at all, not even their own". Friends, you could've heard a pin drop. How did he go from using profane, racial slurs to "I'm a Christian" without batting an eye? I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the best at keeping my language G-rated all day, every day, but this was just too much--there is a world of difference between a few occasional four-letter words, and the direction he was going. I understand his intent and where I think was trying to go with his little half-cooked concept, but he was failing miserably, and by default essentially implying that the whole of Arabic peoples are barbaric zealots intent on doing Americans harm. And in the same breath, he was implicating me in his little world of hate. Remember, he said we as "Christians". By this point, I was just plain lost. Where does a person start with this? Does a person start with this? I decided better of it and just made my way to the door as quickly as possible. There was no way I was going to change this guy's mind with anything I could have said in 10 minutes. He had obviously been thinking about this for sometime so I wasn't going to assuage him with my charm or even a commission at that or any other time.

Boy did he ruin a good thing. Buying a new pistol is supposed to be an enjoyable experience, but as I hopped in the cab of the big black truck I felt shame. Shame because I didn't rip loose on old boy and let him know exactly how I felt about his comments. Shame because I didn't tell him that he needed to find a new church if all he was getting from Sunday morning was hate, but most of all because as I was pulling out of the lot it occurred to me that this guy may very well be how a large portion of our country's population imagines us to be. If this guy is viewed as the face of Christian conservatism outside of the bible belt, the rest of us have a lot of work to do.

I have no earthly idea what I could've done in my life to deserve the blessing of having Aimee in my life. Seriously, I don't have a clue. It isn't like I was one of the "good kids" in school or attended church every Sunday, although I was never arrested (while in school, that is). Nonetheless, here she is. And I am thankful for every single day I spend with her. Infact, I prefer her company to anyone elses and I'll make no excuses for it.

To say she takes care of me would be an understatement and injustice. She does the bills, the budgeting, takes care of everything in the house, including decorating (and I think she's done a dang fine job of it) takes care of our fatpup, who is a handful all by herself, and still finds time to come up with new, creative ways to screw the credit card people out of money left and right! She completely designed our deck and awning and came up with the materials list, down to the last 2X4, which was spot-on. Before that, she designed all the landscaping, including ten trees and a full-on flowerbed with a tiny rock garden. She hand-finished every piece of furniture in our office (except the bookshelves) which includes the desk and hutch, a printer stand, a filing chest and a writing desk. She has planned every one of our vacations since we've been married; arranging the plane/train/automobile reservations, lodging and of course saving the money for the trip in the first place.

I could go on and on, but I'm sure by now you're just about to be sick from all the sugary sweetness, and it is 5:19a.m. after all, so I'll just throw in one more important detail which is, of course, that she has stuck by me through everything, good and bad; smart and downright stupid, for the last eleven years and some change. And that is probably the true measure of the woman--she's still here.

To answer the obvious questions: No, I'm not in trouble for doing anything stupid, our anniversary is not for another five months and her birthday was last month.

It was just that tonight when I sat down to a "tremendously magnificent" dinner that she had prepared while I was out running around the hood (and subsequently showering, lest you think I sat down to dinner all sweated-up and stank) I was reminded just how blessed I am, and it occured to me that I needed to give mad props to my main squeeze in a way that the whole world can see.

Yahoo! News - Swiss youths smoke most dope in Europe:

"...failure to engage with the future"? Isn't that just a fancy way of saying that they're lazy and have no motivation?

Tonight, I finally did something I have been wanting to try for a loooong time now. No, I'm not talking about playing the role of "Princeton" in the Sooner Theater production of Avenue Q.

Now stick with me, because I'm about to put together a string of words that may be very strange to some, but trust me on this: it works. Tonight, I made dark chocolate covered candied jalapenos! Oh my gracious are they good! I'm sure I can't be the first person to do this, but I googled it, and couldn't find anything exactly like what I was going to do. The idea hit me after watching a cooking show where they visited the Godiva chocolate studio and they were making candied grapefruit rind that were immediately lavished with their own brand of chocolate sex. It occurred to me that I could probably do the same thing with jalapenos and it just might work. Seriously, people have been making jalapeno jelly for years now, so how bad could it be, right?

Here's what I did to arrive at this spicy, chocolatey goodness that will smack you down and call you Susan: I seeded and veined 3 peppers (remember, this was the trial run) after cutting them in half lengthwise. I then simmered them in simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water) with about a teaspoon of vanilla and about 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon. This went on until they were cooked, but not mushy--about 25 minutes or so. You should've smelled the kitchen while they were cooking! Then they were transferred to a wire rack to cool. Once I could handle them, I sliced the halves lengthwise into 1/3" strips. I then melted some Hershey's special dark chips in the micro and took the strips for a swim in that sensual pool of deep, dark brown chocolate indulgence. Aaawwwww yeah, peppers, get your narrow butts that cacao infused confection! Mmmmmmmmm....tasty. Yeah, that's it--don't be stingy with that chocolate lovin'.

uh...Sorry about that.

Some of you may be thinking that there is no way you can take a pepper, coat it in chocolate and have it turn out as anything other than...well, not good (while the rest are probably thinking "He's finally lost it"). Like I said, you gots to trust Old Wayne on this: the sugar takes the heat right out of the peppers, which aren't all that hot anyway. I find red jalapenos are much more mild than their younger, greener brothers. Any of that cool pepper "crispness" is also dispatched by the simmering. All that remains is that mildly spicy jalapeno flavor, that is actually quite well suited to chocolate, or at least I think it is. I'm taking the lot of them to work tomorrow, so maybe some of the hd hepcats can vouch for the overall tastiness of this grand experiment.

All that said, the recipe at this point is not perfect. Some of the syrup kind of stays with the pepper, so it makes the chocolate coat a bit more difficult to secure in place on said pepper. Secondly, I think I might have to skin them on subsequent batches, because the skins tend to add a bit of bitterness, and they don't add much in the way of mouth feel. The important part is that I have confirmed my initial theory that chocolate covered jalapenos are indeed a viable confection option.

Oh yes. Kelly is back.

And he's not pulling any punches, candy-coating, or generally trying to appease the masses in any form so you should consider yourselves on notice. It just ain't G-rated. Or R-rated for that matter.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
Lewis Carroll (1737-1832)

Whew. I finally got the POT??? updated, but I must let you know that it is a bit different than the rest. So if you are squeamish around sutures just don't go and I'll let you know when it is safely relegated to the archives. If you don't want mangled thumb on your mind all day, but you still need a tasty photo fix, here's a lovely red curried chicken with steamed veggies--a.k.a dinner. Coconut milk is do rich and decadent it should probably be illegal!

Well for being on-call, it wasn't that bad. Except for the 07:00 wake-up pages on Saturday morning. I think I've mentioned I am a shift lead for a helpdesk. There are four of us so at least one weekend a month I get the pager and the cell phone and assume ultimate responsibility for whatever happens on the HD for the weekend. Translation: if the fecal matter hits the air circulation unit, it is MY fault. In accordance with our "service level agreement" with the client, our helpdesk must be staffed to a certain level every day of the year. Yes, that includes Christmas and Thanksgiving. So when someone calls in sick on the weekend, it is up to the on-call stupervisor to find someone to cover that shift. Usually, having to find a cover takes at least an hour and I have to call every single employee we have just to listen to lame excuses. That is the part the gets me the most--the excuses. It usually goes like this: "Hi, XXXXX, sorry to wake you up on this fine Saturday morning, but XXXXX is sick today and I need to know of you can cover XXXXX's shift". Rather than getting a "Sorry, Wayne, I can't do it today" which would be direct, to the point and very appreciated, I get this lame crap like "Oh...well...I think I have something I need to do today, but I need to check with my spouse, so why don't you call me back if you can't find anyone else." All I want is a "yes" or a "no". Is that so freaking difficult? It would seem so. Fortunately, this weekend, I was able to find a taker (God bless him) on the first call! And he didn't even give me any guff--he just asked what hours I needed to cover. So like I said, for an on-call weekend, it wasn't that bad and I knew the job was dangerous when I took it.

In other weekend news, I got to spend some time at the range with the one, the only: BeardKing--and his beard is still rather kingly, I might add--and his buddy, Double D. Or at least that's what I'm going to call him for now. Anyone who was a reader of the now defunct "FreakyUselessCrap" blog he piloted for a short time may remember that he was going to purchase a CZ75 in .40. I finally got to fire it this weekend and I must say that CZ makes a fine weapon. It is a full-size pistol that fires very nicely indeed. However, in the firing, I was reminded of a few things. Most notably that when it comes to recoil, I have been a bit spoiled by the relatively mild punch of the 9mm. Also of note is that I am really, really used to my trusty 92FS. Don't get me wrong, the CZ is super sweet, but I have been firing that Beretta, almost exclusively, for over a year now and I guess I needed something for contrast to remind me how much I dig it. Finally, I now recall one of the reasons I switched from .45 to 9mm. The 9 is much easier on the wrists. The .40 recoil is a bit more punishing, and I suspect so on the pistol as well. But I am sure with practice and a year or so on the range, I could adapt. But why would I want to now that I have two and soon to be three weapons in the same caliber that can all utilize the same magazines? The point of all this is that it was good to hang out with Kelly, I love my beretta, and when it comes to recoil, I guess I'm just a weenie after all.

In movie news, since last I wrote, we've watched Dogville, Shrek 2, and Runaway Jury. All three were good, but the stand out in my mind was Dogville, hands down. The premise is a young woman (Kidman) stumbles in to this tiny, very out of the way mining town, or what's left of it, with a population of like 23, after shots are heard in the valley below. Obviously, she is in some kind of trouble and certainly not from Dogville's closest neighboring town. No sir, she's from "the city". The town's protagonist (Bettany) wants to try to user her arrival in the town to illustrate his concept of acceptance, for he feels the world is missing that. For some reason I can't recall, he holds weekly meetings in the town's mission hall to discuss all matters of morality, philosophy and just the human condition in general. He puts it to the town at one these meetings that by accepting this woman into their tiny hamlet, they would be demonstrating the greatest form of acceptance there is. Or something similarly high-minded. The most unusual aspect of the film is that the entire thing is played out on a soudstage that has the layout of the town stenciled on this one-hundred foot by fifty foot stage. (Those dimensions are rough guesses, by the way). Looking at it from above, which is the first shot of the film coincidentally, it appears as if you were staring straight down at a blueprint of the town, complete with stenciled labels for everthing from the street names to the gooseberry bushes and even the dog at the end of the street. There are parts of buildings set on the stage so the characters will have a point to interact with when needed, but there are no walls or doors, so the actors must all pantomime opening doors and windows. It sounds strange, but I found it to be original and absorbing at the same time. Here's a screenshot that may help illustrate the concept. This shot is what "day" in Dogville looks like and when it is to be night, they just turn down all the lights except those that are directly above the "houses", which kind of mimics interior lighting. That chunk of building floating in the air is the bell tower on the mission house--which they use quite frequently in the town. The acting in this movie is very, very good and everyone in it is at their best. AND if you squint your eyes just right, you can even forget Kidman was in To Die For or Moulin Rouge. Blech. What a pair of stinkers. The only casting mistake was....well, I can't really tell you, 'cause it would be a major spoiler. Sorry, kids, but I just can't do it. One thing to be aware of, as mentioned in the previoust post, this movie is about two hours, fifty-seven minutes long and there are some pretty intense scenes, so put the kiddies to bed. Mkay?

Scott Peterson was just found guilty, by a jury of his peers, for the murder of his wife, Lacy, and their unborn son, Conner. For the crime of murdering his wife, he was found guilty of murder in the first degree and for the crime of murdering his son, he was found guilty of murder in the second degree. Turns out the P.R.O. California can convict a killer after all. Or at least after O.J. Oops, did I just type that? I guess I did!

That's what I've gotten done today. And I'm glad! I slept in, had a little breakfast and we will soon be off to do something I rarely get to: go out on a weeknight! GASP! We aren't "going out" going out, but rather taking a few this evening to look over some items to put on the Christmas list. Yes, peeps, I said "Christmas list". It is indeed that time of year again. So I have to get my ducks in a row 'cause if I show up to Thanksgiving dinner without a list for my family, there will be some pain involved, I'm sure.

Today is Veterans' Day. Everybody knows a vet. How about we all take just a few to thank those who have served. Especially those WWII guys-n-gals who are leaving us at a pace that is all too quick. Most of us are children of Viet Nam or Korean War vets, so this would be a great day to give old Dad or Moms a call.

And fly or display a flag, for Pete's sake.

FOXNews.com - U.S. & World - Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat Dies

Ladies and Gents, you may once again rest your pretty heads soundly, for the fear of smallpox being released on an unsuspecting world has been...addressed. Which can only mean one thing: I finally finished Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow. Truth be told, it was good times for everyone because Aimee had as much fun watching as I did playing. She likens it to watching an action movie that I get to control. I have to agree, which is why I am pretty well spoiled for all other games, despite the technical glitches of the game, which are really few and far between. I can hardly wait until next May when the third installment comes out.

Speaking of video games, last night while we were at the wm in Moore (yes, I said Moore. You see, the wm that is less than a mile from my home is so grubby and overrun with college idiots, and one rude stocker in particular, we drive the 7 or so miles to Moore to shop in the relative paradise of their clean, college-student free haven for late-night shoppers such as us) I noted this line of odd-looking characters lurking about the electronics department, and one very strange individual who kept circling the store, pushing a modified shopping cart with a five foot pole topped with helium-filled balloons sticking straight up from the basket. The cargo area was covered in this cardboard apron thing that effectively made it into a rolling billboard, but rendered any storage capacity of said cart unusable. After a few minutes of thought, I remembered that it was just before midnight, and said odd-looking characters were, in fact, the Halo2 junkies anxiously waiting in line to get their geeky little hands on their own strange brand of crack. Sure enough, the next time I saw the strange-cart guy wandering about, I read his rolling billboard which informed me that he was indeed the, and I am not making this up, “Halo2 Release Team”. The reason I wasn’t immediately tipped off was that old boy was like 55 at the youngest, and there was only one of him—certainly not a "team” of any sorts. If I had been paying attention, I could’ve gotten one of his coolio Halo2 pens for DMan, but I really thought he was going to ask me to donate to United Way or something, so I was doing my best to avoid him. Oh well, I’m sure DMan found his own copy of Halo2 and has no time for pens or things written right now anyway.

In movie news, we checked out Girl With A Pearl Earring Sunday, and it was quite good. Not knowing what to expect of it, I can say that I was pleasantly surprised. Everyone involved did a great job, especially Scarlett Johansson and Tom Wilkinson. The cinematography was the real show-stealer though, and you shouldn’t expect any crazy plot twists or freakiness in general. It was, probably to its own demise, a very placid period movie in which no one is blown up, shot, kidnapped or any of the other things that Hollywood seems to make prerequisites of its "blockbusters". But it is full of solid acting and a good story. Overall, certainly worth the 99-cent rental fee.

We just finished another good flick, Mystic River, which may have bumped House of Sand and Fog from the prestigious "feel good movie of the year" pedistal. Good cast, good (albeit depressing) story and inspired direction. I'd tell you to go rent it, but I'm sure Aimee an I were the last two people in America who hadn't seen it. Also well worth the 99 cents.

Tomorrow night's selection: Dogville with Nicole Kidman, which promises to be, if nothing else, worth the 99 cents on running time alone. Where else are you going to get almost 3 hours of movie for less than a dollar?

I've got a new POT? in the works as well, but it is going to require some tweaking, a-la-Andy Warhol. It should be good practice for my 'digital darkroom' skills, but I'm going to need a few hours to work it up and at the rate we're watching the movies, I may not get to it until this weekend.

To my mad cookie-making skills! This is why you have no post tonight. The cookies had to be made. I can't fight it. It is the cookie way.

Well, it was the cookies and the trip to the grocery after work. Left is sugar cookies with real lemon icing. On the right, of course, choco-chip macadamia nut.

Drool, people. Drool.

Yahoo! News - World Photos - AP

Greeeeaaaat. Now the Brits are in on the name-calling.

I've been reading 'round the blogs, and I must say there is a lot of bitterness among the Kerry supporters regarding the outcome of Tuesday's election. Bush supporters have been called "stupid", "assholes", "shitheads" among other things, and we have been damned at least a dozen times. That is a lot of anger. Rather than responding in kind, I have a few observations and one suggestion.

It seems that every poll up through October showed the two candidates in a dead heat. Literally neck and neck all the way through. Zogby even predicted that Kerry would take it. How is it then, that with most of the polls showing them so close, the President's job approval rating still quite low, and record turnouts at the polls, that the republican candidate won?

Common statistical logic should've dictated that the vote count would have more directly reflected the polling data, resulting in a much, much closer race. Why didn't that happen? There are about 3 reasons that come readily to my mind.

First, the polls were just plain wrong. Entirely possible, but probably not that wrong--the President took 51% of the popular vote when the polls never had him at more than a 1 point lead at any time during the last two weeks of October--or at least none of the polls I saw.

Second, the democratic candidate was the wrong guy for the job and failed to convince his own party members that he was indeed the one they needed to vote for. This would mean that democrats, not entirely sure of Kerry's ability to govern this country, went to the polls, and after checking to make sure they weren't being watched, secretly checked the box for George W. Bush. Now you and I know that isn't what happened. If there is one thing I noted about Kerry supporters it was that they would've voted for a yellow dog before voting for the President. Hmmm...does that term sound familiar?

Lastly, and where I think the real crux of the matter lay, is that democrats just didn't get out to the polls. Or at least the young and newly registered democrats. There was supposed to be this mass exodus of young voters who were motivated, staunch Kerry supporters descending upon the polls like never before, ready to win the election for their candidate. Every news agency I know of has plainly stated that these folks just didn't show up. Either they decided voting just isn't fun, especially when there are hours spent in line to do so, or that Kerry already had it in the bag, and their vote just wasn't needed. Two nights in a row the news agencies have been talking about how the republicans motivated the religious vote like never before--to the tune of 3-4 million. If all these young voters had done their thing, I think it would have countered the religious vote, at least, (resulting in a 2000esque legal battle) or even turned the tide for Kerry.

But they didn't. And Bush gets a second term. And I'm glad he gets a second term.

So my suggestion is this: the next time you want to make a personal attack against us for exercising our constitutionally guaranteed right to vote, just like you did, or call us something hateful or derogatory because we did indeed vote for Bush, maybe you should look first to your own party who, in the end, let you down.

I know some of you read Jefe's blogs and have probably seen the Wigu link. I have never linked Wigu because I'm just not a fan of 'serial' strips. Overcompensating.com, which Jefe hipped us to a while back, is not serialized and is indeed worth a look--and very linkworthy, even at this early stage in its development. Cast your gaze to the right and you will see it just waiting there for your eager clicking. I particularly enjoyed the "cooking is hard" strip.

Similarly, now that the election is over, I decided to keep that linkspace (formerly Dubya's hangout) active and plug whatever my favorite site of the moment happens to be. For now, it will be the fine folks who bring you Rock River Arms. My AR-15 is made by them and I have to say it is top-notch all around. So if you are in the market for an AR-15 that won't break the bank and has a top level of fit and finish. Check them out. And if you find yourself in the OKC metro area one fine weekend, drop a line and we'll see if we can arrange some time at the range to get your .223 groove on. Sure, I could've gone with Beretta since they are the finest arms maker in the world (suck on that, Colt and S&W) but that would've been a waste because you already know their URL, don't you?

BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Arafat's health 'suffers setback'

Could we be seeing the beginning of the end of an era in Middle East history? I think we'll need to keep an eye on this one.

4 more, baby! And that's all I have to say about that. For now.

Dare I say it? With Ohio looming as just about the last the last of the battleground states, 10890 of 11477 precincts reporting and Bushy with about a 102K lead, I know what I'm thinking. But dare I say it out loud? At 01:03 cst, I think I feel comfortable projecting that George W. Bush will do it. And let's face it: if I'm wrong, it aint' like I'll be the first guy on the block. And if it gets really bad, I can probably delete this post before most of you read it!

I'm going to go make a sandwich and watch to see if I'll be eating crow in the morning or smiling all day long.

Well maybe not your lives, but certainly your future. Hopefully, by the time you read this, I will either be on my way to the polls, or will have already cast my ballots in what has to be the greatest civic duty an American can exercise: voting in the presidential election. Yeah, military service ranks right up there, but honestly not all peeps are cut out for 4, or more, years of service to Uncle Sugar. Everyone who is old enough to serve in the military is able to vote, and there's no boot camp involved! So I don't want to hear any lame excuses come Wednesday. Mkay? Remember, people, your vote does count. I was listening to the news earlier today and they reminded us that Florida was decided by just over 500 votes in 2000. 500! There are high-schools who graduate more seniors than that every year. It boggles the mind. I know, some of you are thinking what does my vote count, even in a close election, when we have the electoral college? Well, your vote does count in determining which candidate your state's electors will vote for when they go to the state capitols in December. But now that we've touched on that, let me tell you why I think the electoral college is still the way to go even after all these years.

Everyone remembers 2000's popular vote was won by that other guy. But that didn't make him president. All that proved was that our nations most populous cities loved him. Without an electoral college, the will of a dozen or so immensely populated states could rule the entire country. The electoral college ensures that those of us in 'fly over' country are not effectively ruled by the major population centers on either coast. Check out this map, and you can hopefully see what I am talking about. It perfectly illustrates why the electoral college is still necessary, even though some people scoff. All one need do is take a look at the ratio of red to blue counties and it becomes clear that while he may have won the popular vote, Gore obviously wasnt' the choice of the country--just those liberal strongholds like New England, L. A., Seattle and a few other densly populated areas.

So I say again: GET OUT AND VOTE! Tell your friends to do it, too. Make sure you do everything you can to get those bodies motivated to go the polls. Your future does depend on it.