Monthly Archives: March 2015

Accident

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Fat Cat + Hardwood Floors + string = Face plant into a wall

That’s right, I was playing with the fat one today, getting him to chase a string all over the house. I think it was actually driving him crazy, but in a fun hunting way. And he was catching the sting too, more often than not.

Well, at one point his momentum but had been too much. He slid past the string, claws dragging on the wood, and face planted against the wall. It wasn’t a hard hit, but the graceful cat species isn’t always graceful.

So, that’s physics of a cat for you boys and girls. Sometimes momentum and hairy paws for not mix well with hard wood floors. P=MV. The Mass of my cat (at about 18 pounds, Loki has mass) * Velocity (He had some good speed going) = Momentum (and a face plant).

And if you are worried about Loki, he’s fine. He caught the string again, and this time stole it from me.

Three Thing Friday

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1. Rough Day – This is probably going to be a really short blog (applause). For some reason, I could not sleep last night. I think that I got between two and three hours of sleep in total.

All day at work I was struggling to stay away, more so than usual. Coffee didn’t help. Getting up and walking around did help. I have no idea what was on my mind, but sleep did not come.

2. Under attack – I am not going to say that I was actually attack, but there were some interesting things said this week to and about atheists. First, some senator in Arizona wants to make church attendance mandatory. That is an interesting theory. I guess if one forgets about the separation of church and state, and the freedom of religion, this may be possible. But I would love to see them try and enforce this law. Hell, I wouldn’t even pay the fines. Or maybe I would go; I imagine I could fall asleep in church just as much as I could anywhere else.

The other thing that happened was that one of the idiots from Duck Dynasty used a very graphic story about a rape to talk about atheists. The story was pretty impressive. A family gets raped in front of a father. His wife and his daughter who then have their throats cut. This story is supposed to show that we atheists want the rapist to suffer. And he may be right, but it doesn’t mean that I will believe that they will suffer damnation. Personally if this were ever to happen to me (not likely, I mean a wife and kids? Odds are against it), I know that they would suffer in this world. And if this would occur, it would just be even more proof that there is evil in man, but no greater being. I guess we see what we want to see.

3. Cruuuuuuuuuuuuz – This guy scares me. He is like a fictional character, only not as smart. He compared himself to Galileo because he doesn’t believe in climate change. However, there is a difference. Galileo science behind him, unlike Cruz. Cruz could have compared himself to Pope Urban VIII. Now that would have been accurate.

*As tired as I am, I am not taking the time to do my usual second review, or even my first one. Deal.

Differences

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Today, for some unknown reason, I found myself thinking about the differences between how the English treat their children compared to how we, the American’s, treat ours, at least when it comes to death.

Surprisingly, I think Doctor Who started this thought process. Doctor Who, for those few who don’t know, is a science fiction children’s show from the across the pond. It started airing in the 1960’s. Well, a companion during the era of the fourth doctor named Adric died in his final episode. That’s right, a children’s show killed off one of the main characters.

While someone can argue that they killed him off in the early 80’s, I can also mention a more recent children’s story. Harry Potter. Harry Potter was a children’s story of sorts, and look at all the death and destruction that happened in those books. Harry’s parents. Dumbledore. Snape (my personal favorite character). Ron’s brother. The list goes on and one for the amount of characters killed off. George R. R. Martin may kill off a character a chapter, but he wasn’t writing for children. And people here were calling the Potter books too violent, and not just the religious fanatics.

What did we have here in the states? G.I. Joe who had the accuracy of storm troopers from star wars (and yet they always won). The smurfs (communists!) who built their only female character. Tom and Jerry…I hated that mouse.

My point is that we teach our children to fear death, while the British don’t seem to have that issue. They seem more accepting of the natural process. None of the Joes could kill their enemy, but if it was a British show, I bet you they would have.

I don’t know what this says about our cultures, but it sure says something.

Three Thing Friday

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1. Mega-churches – Down south, in the great state of Alabama, there is a mega-church called World Changers Church international, and the pastor is asking his member for donations. Now, this isn’t shocking, but the reason that he is asking for these donations is that he wants to buy a new jet to replace his old one.

If this pastor was using this jet to do good in third world countries, I may be able to understand, if not agree. But the older plane had problems on its flight to (or from) Australia, which as far as I know is not a third world country.

If the pastor was trying to spread the word of god to a third world country, I might understand. And this is not a rant against religion, but I don’t understand how people can think that donating 10% of their paycheck to these mega-churches can possibly bring them happiness. Ok, some of them are trying to do good, but most of them are just trying to make a fortune. The 10% does bring happiness, just happiness to the pastors.

2. Scientology – Apparently there is this HBO special coming out soon showing how evil scientology truly is. There are interviews with formal members, and no chance for the current members to defend their church. They were offered the chance, but no one took them up on the offer.

How do I know about this? Well the higher members of Scientology have taken to attacking this special, which is the only reason I know about it at all. If they kept their mouths shut, it probably would have come and gone with hardly anyone noticing it.

But no, they had to come out and try to tear down their former member and the director. Maybe scientology isn’t all bad… who am I kidding, of course they are.

3. Some Good – Just so it doesn’t seem like it am completely bashing organized religion in today’s Three Thing Friday, I admit that it has, and still does, some good. The new Pope, for example, is steering the Catholic church in a good direction. There are some mega-churches who actually help the local communities. Other churches actually practice what they preach. Just because I do not believe in a higher power does not mean that I cannot acknowledge the good being done by people who do, but people also have to see all the wrongs being committed by some organized religion.

Not accepting gay marriage. Treating people as second-class citizens. Killing people because they do not believe in the exact same god. These are things that need to be acknowledged and stopped.

One Unhappy Cat

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Today was a stressful day for Loki, and for myself as well. Thanks to a snowstorm, Loki’s appointment with the vet was postponed to today. Loki does not travel well. Getting him into a carrier is not actually that hard. Sometimes he just walks in; today I had to give him a little push. It still wasn’t a lot of work; in fact, it may have been the easiest part of the stressful day.

Once I got him into the car, I had to listen to him meow the entire trip to the vet. And he has such a sad meow. I hate hearing that meow. At the vet he got his shots, a quick check up, a weigh in, and only hissed a few times. I was told that my cat is overweight… ok, I knew the vet, and I told him ahead of the visit that Loki was overweight, but the vet confirmed it.

I was also hoping to adopt a cat today, so we decided to see what would happen when Loki met this new cat. It did not go well. There was a lot more hissing, Loki tried to hide even more into the cat carrier, and the female cat almost ran away.

Now, all this may have been due to Loki’s stressful day, and I may try to bring the cat home another day, but it was not a good start. I am worried about bringing her here, and then having to return her. I do not like test runs with animals.

And I know me, I would hate to return her.

A Sad Day

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Yesterday was a sad day for me. I opened up a bottle of Jersey red for the first time in a while, and it was a lot less work than usual. This is the first of the new release I have had to open. In fact, that is the reason that is was a sad day. Heritage has moved away from corks and into the screw caps for their wine bottles.

Now, there are reasons to move away from the corks, even the synthetic corks. I understand this. The screw caps are actually better for the wine. It will last longer than if bottled with the cork. Storing the bottle on its side (like one is supposed to) causes corked bottles to leak on occasion, which I learned working at a liquor store. This is less likely to happen with the screw top. However, the real reason that Heritage went to the screw top, it is cheaper for them. Corking bottles, even if you have the right equipment, can get expensive. With the corks, the wine is less likely to spoil and leak, potentially saving the owners some of their stock, which means more income and more profits.

But twisting off a cap is not the same as popping the cork. I only had one, and I already miss the cork.

But I guess what is better for the business will always triumph over the fun of the cork.

Three Thing Friday

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1. Jeremy Clarkson – Ok, Jeremy Clarkson can come across as a dick. For those of you who don’t know, he is one of the three hosts of the good Top Gear. Not the Australian one, the original British one, the best one. Well, at the moment he is one of the hosts, he may not be much longer. Apparently he and a producer had a fight (an actual punches thrown fight) and the BBC suspended him.

Usually, I could not possibly care less about what happens to some host of a TV show, but as much as Clarkson does come across as a bastard, he does entertain me. So, yes, I do want him reinstated for purely selfish reasons. But really, when it comes to stars and our shows, isn’t it usually selfish? We want shows to stay on the air because we like them. We want characters killed off because we don’t like them. We like reality TV because we do like to see people we don’t like suffer. It never has anything to do with what is right or wrong.

Also, no one has actually told the full story. The other hosts are sticking up for Clarkson, BBC and the producers haven’t said a word other than that he has been suspended.

Oh, Bullocks.

2. Aches and Pains – So, apparently as I get older, I hurt more. I can’t even explain the pain away through working out. And yes, I am aware that it could take a day or two for the pains to hit, but this isn’t the same. The pain isn’t right.

Back pain.
Muscle pain.
Hip pain.
Damn I am old.

3. Politics – One of my issues at work, well, one of my many issues at work is that I do not play politics very well. If I do not like you, I will not go out of my way to be nice, even if you are my boss. If I don’t like you, I’ll just avoid you and only discuss work if I have to. Sadly, a lot of the time I do have to.

I also tend to not usually hold my tongue. I may not actually call you an ass, but I will be thinking it loudly. And I may actually use slightly nicer terms when referring to you. I will also no suck up. No job is worth kissing one’s ass.

No, nothing went down this workweek. However, when one complains that certain people who sign documents don’t have a clue as to what is going on, maybe you should make sure that I don’t have your boss’s signature and your wife’s signature on those same documents.

By Its Title

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A few months ago I decided to add to my collection of presidential biographies by picking up a book titled “George H. W. Bush Character at the Core” by Curt Smith. And while the extreme right wing wackos will probably defend this book to their death, and the left wing wackos will probably ask why I would waste my time with a book about a right wing nut, I decided that I wanted to read a biography on Daddy Bush. Well, apparently not all biographies are about the person listed in the title. I am going to go through my list of complaints about this book, but please realize I am only on page 42.

  1. The first chapter covered Bush’s beginnings, through WWII and into the 1950’s. What? You mean that other than getting shot down this man did nothing exciting in WWII? It barely covered his youth! Ok, fine… maybe the book will get into more depth as the chapters go on.
  2. Chapter two starts with the word “I”. What the fuck? I don’t want to read a book about the author; I want to read a book about the president. What do I care that the writer grew up in NY? The second chapter covered the author, in way too much depth.
  3. Thus far, this book has covered Nixon, Ford, Pat Nixon, Bush, and Curt Smith (the terrible writer of this book). I understand covering some of the history, but this book reads more like a defense of every republican president since Dwight Eisenhower (oh yea, he was in it to), even those who don’t need it, like Nixon and Eisenhower.
  4. I’m not even sure this qualifies as a presidential biography, so I may have to buy another book after this.

I even checked the book sleeve to see if maybe the description would explain the difference in what I expected and what I got. It didn’t. This book lied. I have heard of “Don’t judge a book by its cover” but even the title of this book lied. If I am lucky, a third of this book may be on the former president. I have this fear that the rest of it will be a defense of presidents who do not need defending. I couldn’t even wait to finish the book to write a review it disgusted me that much, and yet, I will finish it.

If any one wants to read a book on a president, do NOT read this book. It may still be a good book, but it is not a good biography on Bush.

Do not judge a book by its title.

Three Thing Friday

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1. Bond, James Bond – After finishing X-files I was facing an issue of deciding what to watch next. I settled on watching all of the Bond movies in order, excluding the original Casino Royale. I am already up to the Roger Moore era, which means I already made it past the worst Bond movie ever made. Too bad I still have to get through the Dalton years.

When I started watching this, for some reason I got to thinking about Doctor Who, another British series that didn’t let an aging actor prevent the series from stopping. I have to get the British credit, they do keep me entertained.

And while I am thinking about it, you would that with all the hits to the head, Bond would have a concussion by now. Obviously I should not watch TV while trying to blog, my ADD seems to take over.

2. Random Memory – For some reason I have been thinking about a time from a few years ago. A friend of mine had to put her house on the market because she got a new job that “forced” her to move to the Bahamas. Well, the house didn’t sell quickly, so she asked some of her friends to keep an eye on the place.

One time, during the winter, I went to check on the house and I found that her pipes had frozen and broke. I spent a good portion of the night waiting on a plumber to come and fix them for her. At one point, while on the phone with her, she said “I cannot believe I am in the Bahamas worried about frozen pipes.” Well, of course I had to respond that I was freezing outside worried about frozen pipes that were not even mine. And I did get a place to stay for a trip to the Bahamas, so I should not complain.

All this snow much have reminded me about this…

3. Bond Villain – Having watched a good chunk of the early Bond films, I suddenly realized that I want to be a Bond villain. In almost every movie, the villain has an awesome pet. I’ve seen Alligators, Snakes, and Sharks. Lots of sharks actually, and none of them have freaking lasers attached to their heads.

Yes, I realize the down side would be that I would have to try and take over the world… plus I would probably die as well.

But come one! My own pet shark! That would be awesome.

Best Laid Plans

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Earlier in the week I made an appointment to take Loki to the vet. I put a leave slip in for the full day. I had plans to get some important banking done. There was even the possibility of adopting a new cat (no idea how Loki is going to handle that).

But know, already the vet appointment has been cancelled. I am waiting for work to announce a delayed opening, which would end up costing me the full days leave even though everyone else gets some free time off.

So while I had a lot of plans for tomorrow. I planned on having a productive day. But now I will probably just end up shoveling snow and ice, waiting for the day to end.

Or maybe we will just get nothing but rain.

And to think, I actually like winter.