Miasmatic Review

A Day Most Foul

Okay, this isn't something that I normally post about, but this story was just too damn funny not to share.

For those of you with delicate sensibilities, I put the story in the extended entry. If you came to this post directly, I'm sorry.

I really haven't posted much about work due to some advice given to me. Lets just say things have gotten really interesting. That also means my stress levels are up some. Throw in everything going on with KTreva, the holidays and some other family issues going on, my health has taken a slight dip. Now before anyone starts to give me grief or worry. What I mean is that I haven't been to the doctors like I should have and I'm not eating properly and I'm eating and drinking stuff I really shouldn't.

Because of all of that I've had some interesting bowel issues.

This morning while at work I felt a grumble low in my bowel. I knew that something wicked this way comes and made for the restroom post haste. I walk into the largest men's room in the building, it has five stalls. Two of those stalls are already occupied. Normally I'm a bit shy when it comes to doing my business and I would have come back later, but I didn't think it could wait this time. I head into a stall, dropped trow and prepared to have an un-constitutional. Trust, me what was coming was in no way good for the body or soul.

The first thing that came out was a foul, toxic, noxious gas. A gas most foul. This had to be the most disgusting scent my body has ever produced. It smelled like mix of death, rotten eggs, decaying meat and burning motor oil. Yes, burning motor oil... I'm not sure what I ate to make that burning motor oil stench, but it was there. Then my colon released something that resembled air puffed cotton fecal cable.

The next thing I know, one of the guys in the stall next to me starts coughing. I hear him mutter, "Oh my god." Then a couple of seconds later the other guy in the stall lets out a series of gags and yelps, "That's foul".

I can hear them trying to finish up their business so they can get out. While they are doing that my colon is pushing out what can only be described as, and felt like, 25 cubic feat of concentrated vile darkness into the world. A darkness that can only be described as part solid, part gas and part sludge beast, Hexxus, from Fern Gully.

My two unintentional victim's eyes must have started watering, because I could hear them start to sniffle between coughs and gags. Then one of them must have had a problem operating the door because I could hear him say, "C'mon, open up!" and rattle the door.

At this point I'm trying to hold back laughter between gags and grunts.

Finally my two companions run out of the bathroom, after emptying a can of air freshener into the air while washing their hands. Of course I still had another 10 minutes. In that time at least three other people walked into the room and then almost immediately walked out again. Including one person that made the commentary, "That's just wrong."

After I finished, I scrubbed my my hands and made my way out of the restroom. I was kind of in fear that the vile stench would follow me out and terrorize the innocents that are unfortunate enough to have desks right outside the men's room. As far as I could tell, it either didn't follow me out or they did an excellent job of hiding it.

IGOLD 2009

IGOLD Illinois Gun Owner Lobby Day!
Wednesday March 11, 2009
Springfield, IL

11:00 a.m. Doors open, come early, get a good seat!!

12:00 p.m. Registration/legislative briefing Prairie Capitol Convention Ctr.
1 Convention Center Plaza, Springfield, IL

1:15 p.m. March to State Capitol - Illinois Gun Owners lobby legislators

4:00 p.m. Reception with legislators - Prairie Capitol Convention Center

Do not miss the largest gun rights rally and Second Amendment lobbying event in Illinois history! We need thousands of Illinois gun owners, hunters, sport shooters, plinkers, target shooters, and those who simply wish to defend their right to keep and bear arms in order to protect their families and themselves to gather at the Prairie Capitol Convention Center, march down Capitol Avenue, rally on the Capitol steps, then proceed inside to lobby legislators to make our presence known. There will be no mistaking that Illinois gun owners intend to stand up and speak out for our right to keep and bear arms in the state of Illinois!!

Do whatever you have to do to be there! Schedule a vacation day, take a personal day , whatever it takes - for one of the most important days of the year for Illinois gun owners.

Charter buses which will be traveling from every corner of the state! Departure points will include Moline, Galesburg, Peoria, Rockford, Mendota, Bloomington, Dundee, Aurora, Rosement, Evergreen Park, Joliet, Chenoa, Urbana, Decatur, Effingham, Vandalia, Litchfield, Fairview Hts, Mt. Vernon and Marion. Skip the parking hassles, and enjoy the trip with like-minded friends!

Starting Jan. 2 Online bus reservations will be accepted at IGOLD.isra.org. Phone reservations will be accepted beginning Jan.5, call the Illinois State Rifle Association at 815-635-3198.

For downloadable fliers go to IllinoisCarry.com

Thank you to IllinoisCarry.com for spreading the word and providing the above wording.

2008 Football season in review.

Okay, so the 2008 NFL regular season is over. This year my Packers did not make it to the play offs, in fact the only two highlights of the season where a 37-3 spanking of the bears and the fact that we didn't end up being the team that Detroit finally won a game against. Honestly, did anyone at the beginning of the season really think Detroit would go 0-16?

That also means that my annual Pick 'ems and Sal Cap leagues are done. So lets see who the winners are

For the Pick ems, our very own Quality Weenie took first place. She took first two years ago. Yea, that's me in Third. After commanding the front position for 10 of the 17 weeks I fell too hard a couple of weeks ago to make a comeback.

For Sal Cap we have Carolina Sand Gnats, AKA Spurs of what was once Pull my Finger won. Repeating his win from the 2005 season. I took second place in this one. Spurs got a commanding lead and just held onto it.

Well congratulations to the both of you, I will be in contact with you shortly to get your information!

Merry Christmas 2008

I know this is a little late in the day, but I've been busy with those words that every parent hates the hear; Some Assembly Required. Well that and Clone got Mario cart for the Wii and we've had a morning of racing going on. Top that off with having to cook dinner tonight, I've just been remiss. So to make sure you all know how much I appreciate you all stopping by I have some gifts for all of you in the extended entry.

For the guys, a hot little number to keep you warm

For the laddies, I don't know what you might like, so I got you a whole troop

You know what guys, that's just not fair, so here are some runner up gifts. Including the sexy Sarah Michelle Geller.

No need to say thank you!

A little pre-Christmas laughter.

Okay, I know this is not your typical holiday clip, but it's rather funny. It's also questionably NSFW.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Oh yea... that antler surprise...

Hecticosity

Monday I took KTreva up to the UW Madison for her consult. That's what everything went from normal speed to whirlwind. We get stuck in traffic on the way up, some really bad accident due to the weather conditions closed down a lane on the highway and slowed traffic to a crawl. I kind of figured something may happen because of road conditions, so we had left early enough as to not be hindered by any traffic problems.

At the clinic (in the hospital) the doctor that came in wasn't the one that the Doctor that removed the tumors made the appointment. That doctor was gone and this doctor was covering. He came in, took one look at KTreva's wound and excused himself stating , "I need to get my camera and talk to the other doctor on duty." He was a resident and wanted the attending to take a look at it. 30 minutes later they come in and start saying that they had scheduled her for a surgery on the 22nd. It was going to be inpatient and she would be in the hospital for four days.

Things just kind of devolved from there. First when I tried to ask questions they would get upset and just talk over me or cut me off. At one point when I questioned why it had to be a 3-4 day inpatient stay, the attending because very agitated and made the statement, "I don't know what the other doctors said, but this is what we do and we know what we are doing."

They left to give us some time to talk it over. Ktreva called the first plastic surgeon she saw in Rockford and asked her opinion. While she was on the phone the resident came in and when I told him that she's trying to get ahold of her other doctor he seemed really put out over that, but agreed to give us some more time. We decided that if they are going to have to do an inpatient stay, we wanted it to be someplace closer to home. We also decided that if it wasn't that urgent (Since originally they weren't going to see her until after the new year), we were going to wait until after Christmas so that she could spend it with the family.

The doctors confirmed that it wasn't urgent and that they thought we wanted it done right away. They didn't even consult with us, they just scheduled it. When we told them of our decision, they were not pleased at all.

Then to make matters worse the resident told me that I was doing too much for the wound care and tried to show me how it "should be done". To save you the gory details, basically what the resident did and showed me cause Ktreva a lot of pain and discomfort. Needless to say we went back to doing what we were originally told.

The only good that came out of the day is that they did confirm that KTreva is cancer free. The biopsies are not showing any cancerous cells. She'll still need some followup and to have the wound closed, but they feel that she should be fine.

Another day, another doctor's visit

Well, off to take Ktreva to see the Doctor's again. Here's hoping for good news.

A death plot against me!

Based on this list, I do believe my cat is trying to kill me!

Now that I know... I'll be more careful!

Respectful Hunter

Okay, this is for the hunters out there. This hunter was respectful of his prey enough to let him finish before taking him out.

I wonder if the rush of adrenaline after the act makes the meat taste better?

Paintings in under a minute

I'm actually pretty impressed with the overall look of the finalized product. I didn't think you could do something that fast with spray paint and have it actually not look like a complete piece of crap.

Carol of the Bottles

Just to spread a little holiday cheer... here is an alcohol fueled version of the timeless classic Carol of the Bells.

'Tis the season for Bacon!

Anyone that knows me, knows I love bacon. It may not be a completely healthy obsession (both physically and psychologically), but it is one. So this week when searching the internet I found the best bacon combination for the holidays

First, for those of us that want to just decorate the house with Bacon. You have Bacon Christmas tree ornaments!

Then on Christmas day you can have a a Turbaconducken. I've never had a Turducken before, but when I finally have one, it's going to be wrapped in bacon. MMMMmmmmmm Bacon.

Doesn't that look delicious!

Then finally, as a side dish you can have, what appears to be, the best bacon food stuff I've ever seen. It combines bacon with another guilty pleasure of mine... Cheese! We have the Bacon and Cheese Roll.

Oh c'mon you know that looks sinfully delicious.

If I have a heart attack before the New Year... you'll know why.

Dive bombing cows.

I found this clip over at I Hate My Cubicle. It's a clip of what appears to be a bi-plane vs a cow.... that's right a cow.

It's at the end, but watch as the cow goes tumbling!

I laughed so hard I got a cramp.

Oh snow!

Yea... well... okay so we got about 9 inches. That didn't stop me from going to work and having fun driving in it.

I love driving in snow!

Holy Snow!

All day they have been talking about this huge snow storm that is going to hit tonight. It's been the typical "stir up the panic" campaign from all of the news and weather sources. Even the official weather alert reads horrible.

" ONCE PRECIPITATION BEGINS... IT WILL FALL IN EARNEST AS ABUNDANT MOISTURE IS DRAWN INTO THIS STORM SYSTEM. SNOW RATES OF AN INCH PER HOUR WILL BE COMMON FOR MUCH OF THE OVERNIGHT HOURS BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND 6 AM ACROSS NORTH OF I-88 AND I-290. SNOW RATES IN THUNDER SNOW COULD BE 2 INCHES PER HOUR OR HIGHER.

TOTAL SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF AROUND ONE FOOT ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS FAR NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST ILLINOIS BY FRIDAY MORNING... TAPERING TO 3 TO 5 INCHES CLOSER TO INTERSTATE 80. AREAS FARTHER SOUTH WILL EXPERIENCE SIGNIFICANT ICE ACCUMULATION. TOTAL ICE ACCUMULATION IN EXCESS OF A HALF INCH IS POSSIBLE BETWEEN INTERSTATE 80 AND US-24 BY FRIDAY MORNING. PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED TO DIMINISH FROM WEST TO EAST BETWEEN 9 AM AND NOON FRIDAY. "

That just sounds horrible!

I wonder if when I wake up in the morning I'll have this in which to contend.

Personally I think we'll get about 4 inches. Probably not much more. The local weather people always seem to over predict.

Give Shiner Holiday Cheer!

Due to all the fun activity around the house this last week, I’m a day behind in my beer review. To make up for it I promise that I’ll do another next week… Okay, so I do one most weeks, but that’s the best you are going to get out of me. Tonight I’m reviewing Shiner Holiday Cheer by Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner, TX. I found a six pack of this hidden in a Christmas display at the local grocery store stuffed between a cases of domestic mass brewed beer.

We have our standard 12 oz bottle. The label is a festive red, white and green. The label has a white oval that has “Give Shiner Holiday Cheer”; of course Shiner is the largest name in red. On the back label states the following, “’Tis the season for cheer. Happy holidays from the “Little Brewery” in Shiner, TX. We hope you enjoy your shiner cheer, an old world dunkelweizen brewed with Texas peaches and roasted pecans. The malty flavor of this dark wheat ale are enhance through the use of malted barley and wheat. And Krausening ensures a smoothness that makes the subtle peach and pecan flavors all the more satisfying. May your days be merry and bright and your Shiner be cold* Prosit!”

When poured into a glass, an inch thick tan head forms over the dark brown with ruby accented body. The head fades slowly to a ring around the edge of the beer. A nice lacing forms in the glass and lasts all the way until the beer is finished.

The smell is an interesting combination of peaches, pears and nuts. There is a nice hop background to it, which really brings out the sweetness to the scent. It’s not so sweet that it deters an avid beer drinker from wanting to drink it. The smell sets up the taste. A smooth combination of Malts, peaches and apricots crosses the tongue. A nice nutty finish of pecans rounds off the flavor. The flavor lingers after you’ve finished drinking.

This is a medium bodied beer that is light on the carbonation. It’s smooth and very easy to drink.

Normally I’m not a fan of fruit beers, but this one was really enjoyable, surprisingly so actually. When I first smelled the beer and the sweetness to it, I figured it would be like drinking fruit juice mixed with beer. It was nothing like that. I found this rather enjoyable to drink. Overall I give this 6.5 out of 10.

Late update

I'm sorry about the tardiness on this update, but it's been a hectic day.

Ktreva came out of her surgery with no complications. They took more surface tissue off and again, the wound is open until the get the rest of the biopsies back. She's in a lot of pain right now. The area was already sensitive from the previous surgery and now the added procedure just compounded that pain. She's being a trooper about the pain.

However, she is still NOT following doctor's orders. She was told not to stretch, lift anything over a gallon of milk at the most, and to just rest and take it as easy as possible. Yea, well she's not doing any of the above. She stretched to hang up Christmas cards, has lifted suitcases and laundry baskets, attempted to put groceries away before I could get to them, etc. Yea, she's on the naughty list... and not the good naughty list.

Her stocking would be filled with coal, except I can't afford coal, and actually with the asking price, it's a pretty expensive gift!

Other than that, she's doing good. We are expecting to hear what else needs to be done with in a week. We know she'll have to have at least one more surgery, to close the wound. Hopefully that will be it.

On a bright side I did get some good news on my work situation. I'm pretty much out of danger from going to jail. Sarbanes Oxley (SOx) doesn't apply to my company. Even though we are voluntarily complying for with it's regulations. My company is a not for profit company and not publicly traded. SOx is designed to protect investors after the Enron and MCI Worldcom scandals. Thus, thanks to that loophole I'm clear of any unintentional or accidental wrong doing! Either way, I've amended how I sign off on the reports.

Now if you'll excuse me I need to go make sure Ktreva is sitting down and taking it easy.

More surgical fun.

Right now as I'm writing this, I am sitting in the waiting room of UW Madison with Ktreva. They called us Friday to tell us that they had received some of the biopsy results back already and they didn't get everything. Instead of waiting for all of the results, they decided that, due to the nature of the cancer, they wanted to get what they knew needed removed right away.

This morning we got up early, and made the hour trek north to Madison, WI so she can have more surgery. We are pretty sure this won't even be the last. Maybe not even the last this week.

She was just called in to get prepped for the surgery. We'll see what happens.

Surprise surgery

I was at work today when I received a call from Ktreva, she was being taken in for surgery.

SURGERY?!?!?!?!?

Then my world just kind of became a hectic swirl of activity...

This morning Ktreva left the house to go to Madison, to the UW Clinic for a consultation regarding her condition. The apparently the doctor decided after looking at her that he couldn't put of the surgery and had to do it today. Since this was supposed to be just a consultation, we decided I didn't need to go. Especially since someone had to take Clone to school and pick him up after.

So when I was at work gathering all the documentation and evidence to help cover myself for my little problem, I thought KTreva was just calling to tell me she was on her way home. When she told me she was having surgery I went into protective husband mode.

First I had to get to Madison, but I couldn't drive up there because I would have to drive her van back. That meant I needed to find someone to give me a ride. The problem is that Ktreva had my cell phone. She needed it for the nav system to find her way to the clinic. My cell phone is my address book. All of my numbers are in it. Using the internet to the best of my restricted ability at work I found what numbers I could to call for help. Which was only one active number for Wes. HE offered to help, but he had obligations he had to do that were a direct impact on his family so I decided to see if I couldn't find another option.

Thankfully my Dad was able to give me a ride and my mother was able to pick up Clone from School.

Then I had to finish getting some stuff at work to cover my arse. I'm afraid that the cleanup is going to start and I needed back ups of as many documents, e-mails and memos as I could. Fortunately I was able to get 80% of what I needed.

When I get up there Ktreva is waiting in the lobby. She had one surgery, but they where going to do another, deeper, surgery. Before anyone flies off the handle (much like I did), what she is having done is outpatient and didn't require any special outpatient followup other than take it easy. When they finished with the second surgery they called me in to explain what was going to be required of me.

A nurse explained to me that because they need to follow up in a week or two they can't close the wound, so they packed it and put a bandage on it. The nurse had to change the bandage and wanted me to see what I was going to need to do to help her, since Ktreva has limited use of her left arm right now. Before she uncovered the wound she starts describing what I'm going to see, so as not to surprise me.

The whole time she was talking, I kept thinking that I've assisted on autopsies, pulled bodies out of rivers and been to fatal automobile accidents... nothing is going to get to me. The she removed the bandage, and there on my wife was a HUGE gaping wound. I'm talking it is about 3 inches long, 2 inches wide and about an inch deep. Seriously, it looked like something took a huge bite out of her. I could see muscle and sinews. Folks, I about screamed like a little girl when I saw it. I've seen worse... just not on my wife. I didn't react at all mainly because I didn't want to concern Ktreva.

They gave me all the directions and care tips, and I watched as they rebandaged the wound. It was packed with a substance that, honestly, looked like the fake snow they spray on windows. To be honest, it was kind of festive for the time of year... if you where decorating a wound.

Right now Ktreva is home and fighting with me. She is supposed to take it easy and try not to move her arm too much, including no stretching, reaching or lifting anything. Anyone that knows my wife knows that she is anything but complacent with doctor's orders. She's doing fine, a little loopy on the pain meds, but doing fine.

Afraid.

Some things have come to head today at work, and I'm really, really worried that I may end up going to jail.

Before I went to Oklahoma, my office started some practices that were a little questionable. Now before I go any further, it's not my company, just the local office where I work. When I returned from Oklahoma I started questioning their new practices and work flows. In October I pointed out how because of these flows could be causing us to violate state law and federal law. Things got worse and when I had proof that we were indeed violating law, I pointed it out to management, which they ignored.

In November when I had to approve the pay out of fines and penalties, I gave them reports and documentation of the various violations that were perpetuated due to their decisions and policies. My information was ignored and the decision was made to continue on with their existing, and non-working, policies and procedures.

I kept warning, advising and documenting everything for management, going up to the director level... and it was all ignored. Last Wednesday, in a review, one of the managers made a comment that we were doing something that we absolutely were NOT. At that point I kind of came unglued and in a rampage worthy of my being sent to sensitivity class again, I spilled the beans. Including making the statement that, "I've been warning you since September about this, and you all ignored me." Later that day, in another meeting about something completely unrelated, we were interrupted by another member of management questioning a couple of inquiries. A blatant lie was told and I came unglued again. This time I went off with enough force that I really think I scared the management in the office that I might do something drastic.

One of the managers made the comment, "If you knew this was happening and these policies wasn't working, don't you think as a supervisor you should have brought it to managements attention?" I don't think a nuclear explosion had the volatility as my response. I pointed out that I had spoken up since September, that I pointed it out in various meetings, e-mails and memos. It was all ignored or swept under the rug. Then I broke the bombshell that I had proof and documentation of it.

Since then it has been an never ending cycle of management higher and higher up getting involved and it's the same thing every time.

Today we had a huge meeting regarding this issue and the director involved made a comment regarding a new plan... which is just like the old one... to resolve the problem. This time I couldn't hold myself back at all and made the comment that if they enact that plan they may want to talk with the State's Attorney because we are going to have their office investigating us by the end of the year.

I even made a comment that, those that have spoken with me may find this shocking, "(this) is completely unethical. I can no longer stand by and watch as policies and procedures are enacted that violate every moral and ethic of my being. You all acknowledge that what is going on is wrong, yet you continue to do it in hopes of covering up what was already done. My morals and ethics demand that I do not participate in these policies and procedures that I know are resulting in blatant violations of the law." For those of you that don't know me personally, I tend to joke around that I have no morals or ethics.

I had a one on one meeting with the director and explained that I can no longer instruct my staff to continue following these policies and procedures and I will not. I left her office to go back to my desk to issue new instructions to my staff and gather documentation to cover my arse.

As I was doing so I discovered that a little report that they had me checking and told me to "Sign off on" every week wasn't for exactly what they told me. It was part of the record retention for Sarbaines-Oxley (SOx)

Now I had been signing off on these thinking they were one thing, but in reality they where something else. It's my name on these reports and for what they were intended, they were not exactly accurate. Now I'm worried that when the investigation begins, I may end up being prosecuted since it's my name on these reports and I can NOT produce on ounce of evidence that I was instructed incorrectly.

Whoever knowingly alters, destroys, mutilates, conceals, covers up, falsifies, or makes a false entry in any record, document, or tangible object with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the investigation or proper administration of any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States or any case filed under title 11, or in relation to or contemplation of any such matter or case, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.

Right now as I sit here drinking a bottle of whiskey trying to calm down, I'm worried that I may end up going to jail.

Red Bock Winter Ale

I picked this beer up a couple of days ago at the local grocery store. It was another winter seasonal beer. This time it’s a local brew, Red Bock Winter Ale by Berghoff (The Joseph Huber Brewing Co. Aka Minhas Brewing Company) in Monroe, WI.

It came in the normal 12 Fl oz. bottle. The label is the normal Berghoff shape, what appears to be a barrel with an oval through it. The coloring is crimson and in the middle is a white snowflake. Berghoff in a red script is across the middle with the name of the beer in a smile like arch at the bottom.

The coloring is a beautiful dark amber color with crimson shading. There is no sign of cloudiness to it, light passes through with some difficulty. When you look through you can make out objects on the other side. A thin tan head forms when poured into a glass. The head fades quickly to nothing and there is no lacing on the glass.

The smell is an exquisite caramel and chocolate malt combination with a fruit undertone. The fruit smelled like strawberry or raspberry, but that might the combination of the malts mixing with the fruit to alter the scent. There is a mild sweetness to the smell that is pleasing. The taste is much like the scent, a sweet, but not overly sweet, combination of caramel malts and berries. The flavor is a little weak.

It’s a smooth, light bodied beer that is very easy to drink.

This is not like most of the winter ales I’ve drank. The flavor isn’t in your face. It’s mild and soothing. Something that you can drink just about any time you want. This is one of those beers that I could see myself picking up a six pack of on a whim. I give it 7 out of 10.

Christmas Miracles do happen!

Upon my arrival at work today I was greated with the news Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has been arrested. To be honest, this couldn't have happened to a better man. The guy was runing ruining the state. Between his wasteful spending plans, inability to balance the budget, selling off state assets and just being incompetent overall. The man was killing the state by driving off businesses and trying to keep new industries away.

There were corruption accusations being thrown around for over a year involving him, so I wasn't too surprised when he was arrested. I was surprised that the man was stupid enough to try to sell a senate seat!

""The Senate seat, as recently as days ago, seemed to be on the verge of being auctioned off," U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said. "The conduct would make Lincoln roll over in his grave."

Federal investigators bugged the governor's campaign offices and tapped his home phone, capturing conversations laced with profanity and tough-guy talk from the governor. Chicago FBI chief Robert Grant said even seasoned investigators were stunned by what they heard, particularly since the governor had known for at least three years he was under investigation for alleged hiring fraud and clearly realized agents might be listening in.

The FBI said in court papers that the governor was overheard conspiring to sell the Senate seat for campaign cash or lucrative jobs for himself or his wife, Patti, a real estate agent. He spoke of using the Senate appointment to land a job with a nonprofit foundation or a union-affiliated group, and even held out hope of getting appointed as Obama's secretary of health and human services or an ambassador.

According to court papers, the governor tried to make it known through emissaries, including union officials and fundraisers, that the seat could be had for the right price. Blagojevich allegedly had a salary in mind — $250,000 to $300,00 a year — and also spoke of collecting half-million and million-dollar political contributions."

emphasis mine

Hell, why not just put the seat up on Ebay (funny link). Well if there is any doubt that Illinois has not improved it's politics, this is it. Hell he even went stereotypical and involved unions. I couldn't believe it when I read that.

Now every politician in the state has issued a statement calling for Blagojevich's resignation or impeachment. Well all except for one, Chuck Jefferson. I heard a radio interview with him on WNTA where he made statements that almost sounded like he was defending Blago. That doesn't mean he is, yet I haven't found a statement from him calling for his resignation. Then again, it looks like Blago isn't about to resign: Attorney: Blagojevich has no plans of resigning. That doesn't surprise me either. I mean c'mon look at what he did, and what he's done. He's a narcissistic egotist that is out for himself. He wouldn't get ANYTHING if he resigned.

However, I think that's a moot point. Most likely this will be the catalyst that is needed for their to be an impeachment. I'm just wondering what outlandish thing he might do until then... like appoint himself to the Senate.

Car Czar... Really?

It looks like the politicians are rushing through a 15 billion dollar loan to the big three. (Ford, GM and Chrysler) This plan includes the position of... I kid you not... what they are calling a Car Czar.

I've heard both sides of the argument about whether or not the government should do this. Personally, I'm against it. I think the government has no business loaning money, bailing out or getting involved in this manner with private businesses. I also feel that this is continuing down the same slippery slope that the Economic Stimulus package and the Bailout of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

What's next? Are they going to start buying stock and shares in companies? Are we even going to be allowed to have privately owned companies, or is everything going to be owned and ran by the State?

The worse part of this whole thing is that I really don't think that this is going to help in the long run. We are throwing 15 billion dollars into three companies that aren't long for this world anyway. Through mismanagement, the greed of unions and the inability to create a product that can compete with foreign competitors. Sorry folks, but if they could I wouldn't have to pay for extended warranties on both of my vehicles that don't even cover the length of the standard warranties on their foreign competitors.

The only thing I can see that would save the American motor companies would be to completely reinvent how they work from the ground up. Starting with the termination of most of their higher end executives and then getting rid of the unions. Anything short is just prolonging the death of an American industry.

A reminder

Sunday morning 67 years ago today the Japanesse launched their attack on Pearl Harbor. At 7:48 AM Pearl Harbor time, or 11:48 CST, the time of this post, the the first wave of aircraft made their attack. Overall the attack sank four battleships. three cruisers, 3 destroyers and one minelayer where either sank or destroyed as well. There were 188 aircraft destroyed as well. During the attack, 2,402 servicemen were killed and an additional 1,282 servicemen wounded.

The USS Arizona

These attacks are what ultimately "awoke the sleeping giant" and brought the United States into World War 2.

The explosion of the US Shaw

Over the years there has been a lot of speculation as to whether or not the government knew of the Japanese plan to attack Pearl. Where some people think that is important and others not. Either way it is not important to me. For me it's more important to remember the brave souls that died and survived .

Never forget.

Lutefisk dinner

This evening I took the family to the annual Lutefisk Dinner at my parent's church. Just as a reminder as to what lutefisk is, read these posts. The lutefisk this year was particularly good. Heck, even Ktreva ate it and liked it. I'm thinking those DNA injections might be taking hold. (ducks frying pan)

This year I decided to get a before picture so that you can see what the cooked product looks like.

Now the lutefisk in the picture has the white sauce on it. They put the sauce on mine before I had a chance to tell them I wanted it plain.

Of course the other Scandinavian delicacies were available, real swedish meatballs, Korv (Swedish christmas sausage) pickled beets, rice pudding, real rye bread, etc. They didn't have any Lefse this year, but thanks to my friend Wench (She labeled herself!) and my mother I've had lefse multiple times this year already.

I love Lefse!

Winterhook

Tonight I’m reviewing a beer I found at the store and wanted to try. It’s a seasonal beer by the Redhook Ale Brewery in Portsmouth, NH called Winterhook Winter Ale. I figured since we are in the Christmas season, I might as well try to do some winter season beers.

Mine came from a 12 oz brown bottle, the label is kind of plain. The top half is blue and the bottom half silver. Then name of the beer is in white letters in the blue and silver letters in the blue portion and the logo of the company in blue and white in the silver portion. Next to the name of the beer is a picture of Old man winter, Jack Frost or some winter spirit blowing a cold breeze onto the name of the beer.

When poured into the glass, it has a nice chestnut brown with garnet highlights. There is no cloudiness to it that can be detected. Light passes through the beer, but it is dark enough that you can’t make out what is seen on the other side. When poured a thin tan head formed that turned into a film that lasted until I was finished with the beer. There was some lacing on the side of the glass.

The scent is mainly of dried dark fruits like prunes and raisins. A touch of citrus and the spicy bitterness of hops rounds off the smell. The first sip mainly consists of the taste combination of caramel malts and hops. There is a citrus hint and a touch of cloves to the finish. The flavor is kind of thin and watery.

This is a medium bodied beer that has a nice carbonation level to it.

It’s pretty easy to drink. I wouldn’t recommend it as a compliment to a meal. This is definitely a beer that one drinks by itself, preferably while sitting next to a warm fire in the accompaniment of friends. It’s definitely one I would drink again, most likely on a special occasion. I give it a 5.5 out of 10.

Wasting other peoples time.

A peer of mine came to me today to warn me about a nefarious plot. Allegedly some of my peers have spent weeks gathering information to prove that I have not been doing a certain task on a daily basis that I'm supposed to do. Of course this is going to be brought up in a meeting tomorrow morning.

As my peer was telling me about it, I picked up a stack of papers and said, "Yep, I haven't been doing these on a daily basis. Heck, if they asked I would have told them." My peer just stood at my blankly for a second and just burst out laughing. Her response was, "Good lord Contagion, I didn't think you'd actually admit to it!" My response was, "Why would I deny it? I haven't been doing it daily for 6 months. It's a waste of time. It only needs to be done twice a week." We both laughed at the whole thing, because the project I didn't do, was one she gives me daily.

I mean seriously, I never claimed to be doing it. I never said I was going to do it daily, and I never, ever, agreed that it should be done daily. Thus why would I deny not doing it daily?

The best part is that they spent all this time trying to nail me with something by trying to catch me in a lie. Yet, if they had just said something in a meeting I would have admitted it right off the bat. So now I'm going to ask tomorrow in the meeting why my peers felt the need to spend all this time trying to monitor me. Isn't that my supervisor's job?

Plays and Haircuts

Saturday afternoon, after the in-laws left, the family and I headed to Fort Atkinson, WI to see A Fireside Christmas at the Fireside Dinner Theater. I had heard advertisements for the Fireside Dinner Theater, but I had never been there. We were going with my parents and sister to celebrate my mother's birthday.

When I think of Dinner Theater, I think of a show that is going on incidental to the meal. IE, you are eating and the show is going on. This was not the case with Fireside. You eat in one section and then go into the theater for the show. I felt a little disappointed when I discovered that. It has been many years, 20 years to be exact, since I had been to a dinner theater and was kind of looking forward to it.

The food was pretty good, and the show was entertaining. Clone liked it, at least for the first act. The second one he was a little bit restless through out the entirety.

After we returned home, 7 hours later (travel time, shopping, eating and a show), I left to head down to Fritz's to hook up with T1G one more time. He had called earlier in the day and asked if I wanted to get together, but it was right after we left the house for the show. I told him that if I got home at a decent time I'd head down.

We spent a lot of time talking, joking about Thanksgiving morning, and making fun of the fact that I can't keep getting the two oldest Fritz girls confused in my head. I keep calling them the wrong names and forgetting which one I'm talking to at which day. I used to never have this problem, not until the last month.

Now if anyone has seen T1G over the last year, you know he has long hair, that he keeps in a ponytail. Well Saturday night I scalped him. He turned his back to me, I pulled out my pocket knife and cut the damn hippie lock off. As much as the story would go better if I could say I was drunk and I did it with out his permission.

The truth be told, he was leaving to have his haircut (by one of the Fritz girls, don't ask me which one because I'll get it wrong) and told me I could cut it off. The best part was the reaction of people in the bar as I took my knife (it's a Boy Scout knife and had mini-scissors on it) and cut it off. People gawked and stared and whispered to each other in shock.

After taking it off, I took a picture of it with my camera phone and sent the picture of my trophy to every blogger for which I had a cell number. Shortly after sending that message I started getting responses from people. Some in disbelief, some in shock.... and one from Graumagus calling me a liar and saying that I pulled it off of T1G while riding like a horse. (Yea, there's a mental image for you!) Next thing I know there are text messages flying back and forth and everywhere.

It was hilarious. It was almost like a blogmeet... only even more geeky!

T1G ended up coming back to the bar after finishing his haircut. We ended up closing the place down. It had been a while since I've done that. I usually end up leaving earlier.

For those that are wondering about the Ponytail, yea, I still have it. I'm thinking of turning it into a scalp lock. Either that or mounting it on my wall as a trophy!

I'm not sure yet.