If I could have time in a bottle....

I couldn't take it anymore. I don't know if it was the crappy weather all weekend, the fact that I stayed in Friday and Saturday, or that the Eagles once again lost, but last night I had to get out of my seclusion and venture out into the great wide open.

Or in this case, head to Pie-Casso for a pizza for dinner. Which is just what I did.

And what is pizza without beer I ask? So the flavor-du-jour was Stella Artois. A fine beer and one I'm used to drinking from the draft or if you prefer, draught. Last night, it came to me in a bottle. This gave me the opportunity look over the label. It seems those crafty monks in Belgium have been brewing beer since 1366.

And the 1366 really caught my eye. As it turns out, myself, my friend Hari and Stella Artois were all born in the same year. Ok, technically Stella is 600 hundred years older than the two of us, but we were all born in '66.

This year Stella turns 640 years old, or perhaps already did? Later this year, and there isn't much of this year left so later is right around the corner, Hari and I turn....well, you can do the math.

Ok, I'll say it, the big FOUR-O. Not really old by brew standards or redwood trees, but in human years we've reach that all too significant midway point. And I've been waiting a long time for this.

You see when we were younger, Hari could always hold it over me that he was "older than me." And when you are young, you want to be old. And when you are old, you want to be young. Now the tables have turned. No longer is Hari "older than me"...ok, well he still is, but now "I'm younger than you!" That is the important part. And for the rest of our lives I will always be "younger than you."

So I know it's a bit early, but let me be the first to say Happy Birthday Hari - you old man, from one-not-quite-so-old-man.

You too Stella.

Testing 1-2-3

It seems that Bloggers problems are intermittent, since I have been able to post twice since they first started happening. Still, it's a pain in the you-know-what, so I'm writing this as a test to see if I can actually post twice in a row......

Rainy Saturday

As I mentioned in the previous post, which I guess I could call the postpost since it appears below this one - THAT IS ASSUMING BLOGGER STARTS TO WORK AGAIN AND ACTUALLY POSTS ANY OF MY NEW BLOGS!!

That's right people, I seem to have a small glitch that is keeping me from posting anything new. I'll write this anyway, maybe someday next week you will get to see it.

I'm not alone in my problem, I've been to the blogger help forum and a lot of people have the same thing happening. Unfortunately, there hasn't been an answer posted yet....

Too bad because I've broken from my normal routine of going out for coffee and decided to stay in. I'm half fueled for take off, T-minus 1 more cup and we have liftoff.........


EDITORS NOTE: This is the second blog that I wrote yesterday. Originally I was unable to post either of them without getting errors. This morning I was able to post the first one, but not this one. Tonight I was able to post it.

It seems the problems are intermittent.

Saturday Morning Sixties

So I'm up before the sun on a Saturday, not sure what that says other than maybe I had a boring Friday night?

Regardless, it was partially intentional, for it allows me the opportunity to listen to Saturday Morning 60's with Michael Tearson on WMGK. Thanks to the Internet I can catch this program anywhere I am.

This is a throw back to the days of free form radio. Radio the way it should be. For the most part I know all the artists, but I rarely know all the songs. He seems to announce the artist and song for every song, either before or after and also often gives a little liner note material to boot.

Sure I had the Rolling Stones this morning - "Children of the Summer" was the song I think? But I do remember it was the B-side to Jumping Jack Flash.

The Who - Boris the Spider. How often do we get that during the standard "classic rock" shows?

Hendrix, Howlin' Wolf, Procol Harum - but all songs you don't normally hear from them. Since it's Halloween weekend, he's playing multiple versions of "season of the witch".

All good stuff if you like rock. Saturdays 6-8am. Internet. Check it out.

Coffee time.

Simple Questions

You know how when you hear your own voice recorded, you are always a bit surprised by what you sound like? This in a nutshell is a perfect analogy for today's blog.

We have an opinion of ourselves, and also an idea of what our friends think about us. What type of person they think we are, our personalities and beliefs. Of course, when we actually ask them what they think, we can be a bit surprised by what they say. Much like hearing our recorded voice.

For example, I think I'm an hyper-intelligent, extremely lovable, worlds most under appreciated athlete, who will some day be a millionaire.

You think I'm an ignorant, sometimes funny, cold and distant, mediocre at best athlete, who will never amount to anything in societies eyes.

What? You think that about me? Bastards, all of you!

And I think subconsciously we are always aware of the fact that their perception of us is different from what we think it is, so we don't ever bother to ask. We are afraid to know the truth. It's a bit of a blow to the old ego to find out what your friends really think about you, because it's never the same as what we think it is, not necessarily better or worse, just different, but that's enough to bruise our ego.

Which is perfect for me. You see, I'm trying to attain enlightenment and to do that you must destroy the ego anyway. So this could be a real opportunity for growth.

Actually I'm being a bit misleading. I'm not interested in hearing what type of person you think I am, in fact please don't offer up you opinions voluntarily! Especially you PinF.

I do however want to know how you think MofC/AofC feels about these 3 simple questions. The idea came about while watching the whole FlushLimbaugh/M. Fox controversy on the news this morning. I didn't really feel l like aggravating my carpal tunnel syndrome typing about Rush, so I decided to go in this direction.

How do you think Chuck feels about;

1. Stem cell research
2. Abortion
3. Gun control

Simple questions.

They're all simple, it's only the answers that are difficult.

Chuck out.

The Answers

This blog is only temporary filler.

Because of the chronologically backwards nature of Blogger, I'm putting this in to be edited later.

I believe

"I believe I'm innocent" - Jeffrey Skilling.

And therein lies the rub to borrow a phrase from my old (old) friend Willy. What is the underlying force in mankind that causes him to believe in something? To believe in something when everyone else believes the opposite?

And I'm not talking about knowing you did something wrong and lying about it. Everyone who's in prison will tell you they are innocent. They've been saying that since the minute they were caught, right up through incarceration. And of course, a couple of them probably are, but that's a blog for another day.

I'm talking about actually believing that you have done nothing wrong, or are continuing to do the right thing, as in the belief's our President has. He also suffers from "Believeatitus."

And while I personally don't have a problem believing the President can continue to believe his own non-sense, I do have a a hard time believing the rest of the Republicans can continue to defend him the way most of them are. In their case, I think they are lying and just playing politics.

And all of this brings me to my favorite topic, one that I haven't blogged about in quite some time. One that is overflowing, a cornucopia, has a profusion of people suffering from "Believeatitus" - organized religion.

Organized religion is nothing but beliefs, which is fine. I have no problem with that either. If you feel better by believing in some sort of higher power, or creator that is all fine by me.

Personally, I believe;

That organized religion is proof that mankind only uses 10% of his grey matter.
That if you knock on my door an offer me a pamphlet about why I should believe in your God, that I should have the right to roll it up and shove it down your throat, even if you are a little old lady.
That Jesus was an enlightened being.
That Jesus's followers weren't enlightened beings, which is why they have screwed up everything he taught them. They didn't understand it.
That we have been fighting wars for thousands of years over a piece of ground that isn't really all that special. I'd take the Redwood's of California over it any day.
That if the Middle East was a Christian region, we wouldn't be at war right now and would have all the oil we want.

I guess I believe a lot of things and many more I'm too tired to list. Maybe we could all just agree to disagree and leave it at that? I believe we could, but maybe I'm suffering from Believeatitus.

Football news

T.O is fighting with his receiver's coach.


It's happening faster than I could have ever dreamt of!

Only questions, no answers and a statement thrown in

Gas prices are continuing to drop. Why? Why now all of a sudden?


Dow Jones is apparently setting records. Seems to me, the last time the stock market was setting records was around 98-02. Everyone was getting rich from over inflated tech stocks wondering when it would all adjust. The Government was running a surplus instead of a deficit and the worst thing happening was Bill lied about getting a hummer. I certainly felt a lot more positive about the record setting stock market and the economy overall then. How about you?


Pro or Con? It is seeming more likely that North Korea did in fact test a nuke. Had they not (and again, maybe this question is irrelevant now) would it have possibly been better to just act like they actually had one, instead of announcing to the world they didn't?


This guy today who won the Nobel Prize - Muhammad Yunus. That's a good story! Bully for you! (No question there.)

Friday the 13th

Been a looooong, sloooooow week here at work. My employment might disappear as fast as the leaves have. I've decided to head the words of that wise sage of Media - Tedman O'hara. He told me a couple of weeks back, "it's never too late to start."

Of course without the rest of the conversation, that's a little vague. What I had said to him as we were having our coffee, was that I wasn't happy here at work and that I might have to leave if things didn't improve. I then mentioned that it was typical of me to leave without actually having another job lined up which isn't really the smart thing to do.... which leads us to his comment that "it's never to late to start (to do the smart thing)." Then he laughed, you know that laugh that only Tedman has.

I don't know, I'm feeling something dumb coming on!

Saturday October 7th

The day may have started out a bit cold and fall-like in the morning, including a bit of frost on the cobwebs on my railing...

But later it turned out to be sunny and warm. Here you see me doing what I do best. Drinking and smoking.

Now, if I can only have a strong finish Saturday night.....

More to come.

Listen to the band....

So after 3+ weeks of wondering when my sister and two kids were actually going to spend the night in OUR new house, last night I finally got my wish!

My sister, the Marlboro-smoking-asthmatic-nurse, has a cough like a fog horn. It echoes out from the bottom of her tar-infested-aveoli-restricted lungs every so often throughout the night, guiding the ships safely home.

Handling the top notes is the little one, the human cuckoo clock who runs 9 minutes fast. Every hour at 51 past she lets out a nice little 30 second wail.

Maybe they will go back where they came from, and Uncle Chuck can get some sleep.....