Paul Christopher's Daily Humor

Maybe this is the problem with the world?

2010-06-17T06:31:00.002-04:00

Quote from former head honco for BP
"We had too many people who were working to save the world," Browne said at the time. "We sort of lost track of the fact that our primary purpose in life was to create value for our shareholders."

Maybe its time we save the world and drop the make more money mindset?

Just my opinion....

No explination needed

2010-05-17T16:50:00.002-04:00

Well, if your a guy I dont need to explain.... And I bet there are a few gals out there that get it too!

Lessons from the Rabbit family?

2010-05-15T15:23:00.002-04:00

This couple's been taking lessons from the rabbit family!
14 or 15 goslings?

Oh so true...

2010-05-13T18:38:00.003-04:00

First, apologies for the blur, I was rolling at a stop light, shooting through the windshield at the bumper in front of me with a short lens.

Oh this is so true, if only the thumpers understood it.

Just wasnt quick enough.

2010-05-08T06:57:00.002-04:00

Only in Leicester.... If your local you'll understand.

I just wasnt quick enough, but maybe I should have turned the car around and attempted to get a shot of this.

Driving down Leicester Hwy Thursday I am passed by a Goldwing style motorcycle towing a flat bed trailer with (2) pigs in cages on the trailer.

Only in Leicester.

Ground Hog Day

2010-05-02T07:06:00.003-04:00

No its not the official ground hog day just a shot I got of one of the ground hogs that have taken residence at the house.
Poor thing was scared and didnt know what to do as I sat in my car and took a couple of shots of him. He got caught scurrying across the road as Joseph and I drove home Friday evening. He stayed there long enough to get a couple of shots then booked it across the yard to his hole.
We also have a hawk that patrols the neighborhood, guess thats his concern.

Hair in a can?

2010-04-16T06:36:00.002-04:00

SO if any of you happen to catch the infomercial for the hair in a can, how about jotting the number down for me.
Taken by my buddy Kristi Hedberg, photographer extraordinaire, the other night at the track racing.

It may be a weed but its so cool

2010-04-14T07:14:00.002-04:00

Okay, maybe their weeds but they are quite beautiful and intriguing. I really love this time of year, the flowers and blooms after this years winter. I could have a yard full of these and be happy. If I could I'd let the grass grow and never mow.

No pictures today but a blog

2010-04-13T06:34:00.002-04:00

Just want to share something I really have been enjoying lately. And its free!
http://www.pandora.com/

It really does a great job with picking music that suits me. This was shared to me by my partner in pixels Kristi and I'm glad she did. I listen about every day and simply add artists I like and rate songs I like. Initially I put in Tom Petty, U2, Bruce Springsteen and from there I added Dave Matthews to my station.

Listening to it right now.

Check it out!

The bike stud!

2010-04-07T20:46:00.002-04:00

Well, its not good news for Art Shuster. Looks like many weeks off the bike for our leader. Puts things into perspective for local cyclist that know Art. Small bit of background, but Art is a ex-pro Mtn biker from way back. Art is also one of the best bike handlers I know, and I KNOW lots of cyclist. When someone like Art goes down its not from lack of skill, as in lots of wrecks I hear about, its just a freak accident.

Art broke all the ribs on 1 side, clavical, punctured a lung and lots of rash. No, not on the road but in the woods.

The Wed suspects ride made to trip to visit.

Been a while

2010-04-05T08:47:00.003-04:00

Yea, slacker I know, been a while since I updated the blog.

No humor on this post....

Ran across this deer yesterday after it had struck a car. Not far from Liberty around the Parkway, which there seems to be a fair amount of deer to car incidents.

Pretty animal.

Rare shot of myself, but the bus was worth it!

2010-03-24T12:28:00.003-04:00

Spent the day assisting a great friend, Kristi Hedberg, in a commercial photo shoot. We shot all over town and finished up the Asheville V-Dub. V-Dub restores VW vans and the such, and you've talked to me much about cars I have this fascination with being able to sleep in the car, ie camp. So V-Dub had this HUGE ass bus, old, just downright odd, which suits me so well. Kristi squeezed off a few as I was "checking" things out.
For some odd reason Annette didnt seem as excited as I when I described the "bus"

This will make you take back things you never said.

2010-03-22T10:39:00.002-04:00

Tupelo Honey.... A eating establishment here in Asheville. They just opened the 2nd location close to us on the South end of town. But we hit the downtown location, the original, with Skip. Skip's like a brother, we've known each other for just about our whole life.

Well, this is the shot of 2 of the many things that are great at Tupelo Honey. 1) the biscuit and 2) the blackberry jam. Both made from scratch, as is everything.

http://www.tupelohoneycafe.com/

Now this makes me relaxed!

2010-03-17T16:39:00.002-04:00

Sure, a $4.00 bottle of water would make me relaxed. I was afraid to move it for fear of being charged!

Wonder if people regret things?

2010-03-17T16:37:00.002-04:00

Do you ever wonder if one day people look back at was funny or cool at one point and then say "Boy that was stupid". I have.....

Parking lot of a Cracker Barrel.

This is one hot truck!

2010-03-15T21:24:00.003-04:00

Passed on the way home from Hotlanta yesterday. Pretty sure no one was injured, the truck was off the road

The transformation is almost complete

2010-03-13T08:05:00.003-05:00

My son that is.... On his own, without Mom and Dad pushing him got his hair cut and styled and is actually talking about keeping it up. Some people would tell us, why do you let him grow his hair that long, you should...... I wont go into my opinion of that but Annette and I knew he was fine.

Well he got it cut and it looks good. Shot of him I took after.

Could be his best side

2010-03-08T19:07:00.002-05:00

May very well be his best side.

Oldie but Goodie

2010-03-04T20:41:00.001-05:00

Joseph reminded me of this one today.

So if you cant speak English, how can you read this sign?

A dog toy?

2010-03-03T21:39:00.001-05:00

According to my wife its a dog toy.

Been busy ....

2010-03-03T07:27:00.002-05:00

Been busy the past few days. Shot plenty of images but none captured any humor, so no photo shots.

Worked with my friend Kristi yesterday in a photo shoot. Learned alot and had a good time which I always do. There was a few places inside I really wanted to take some humorous shots but I didnt carry my camera and just didnt have time. Guess that means a trip back!

Pretty lucky guy

2010-02-28T07:55:00.003-05:00

I'm lucky... blessed.... fortunate to have a wife like I have. 21 years married come August, and now 25 years together.

In addition to having a wonderful wife I got some unbelievably great friends. One is a dear dear friend of mine Kristi Hedberg, photographer extraordinary!

Yesterday at lunch Annette and I ran into Kristi and her girls at Tupelo Honey. Annette just got her hair done, which looks great! Kristi loved it also and latter in the day called and said come on over lets play around with some lighting and photograph her and that new hair do. We had a great time and I learned a lot from what I refer to her as the master. ;)

So here is one of the shots. Unprocessed much, quick tone controls in ACR.

I'm bored

2010-02-25T19:20:00.002-05:00

Sophia! One of my favorite models and next door neighbors kid. I had the opportunity to keep her and her brother Bradley today. Was suppose to keep only Sophia, but schools were out so I got him too. Hard to entertain 2 kids, Sophia at 4 and Bradley at 7, Joseph my son at 14 and me at 45. What ever should we do.... Movies, McDonalds play land, and hide and seek from my camera seemed to be the course of the day.

Had to run a few errands with them, not real excited about driving around with me. Sophia kept telling me she was bored. I'm bored!... Paul, I'm bored.... I'm bored. Of course me and my smart ass ways play along to say the least. So, I decided that I would give Sophia "I'm Bored" a friend!

Sophia and her friend the board.

She didnt find the humor as Joseph and I did. ;)

My little princess!

2010-02-24T18:37:00.003-05:00

Abused my son as a test dummy for some photo shots I am wanting to do with the neighbors kid. I will post them when I get them shot.

Weather, as usual, sucked. Gray skies, blowing snow and windy. And who wears shorts? Thats right, my little princess.

He actually has a princess shirt he wears as a joke in school. I wonder where he gets that humor from?

What are they keeping in or out

2010-02-22T21:00:00.003-05:00

Makes you wonder what they are keeping in or out?

Thought it was a cool composition from a photo standpoint.

Humor today is the weather 2/20/10

2010-02-21T06:51:00.003-05:00

Not really humor, just a put a smile on my face :)

When you go for 2 months of lousy winter weather and you have not only 1 nice weekend day but 2 in a row it makes me smile.

Out on the bike both days. Roads are a mess and bike was filthy along with me but well worth it.

I guess the humor of the day came from my trip to Chucky Cheese with the neighbors daughter Sophia. I am pretty sure they were at capacity with people INSIDE the building, and then of course there was smokers alley coming to the front door.

I made it about 45 minutes.

Sophia at her birthday last month

Whats so funny about this?

2010-02-19T20:19:00.003-05:00

Something as a kid that was everywhere, on every corner, in every store, restaurant, gas station, you name it there was a phone or both.

Now, its a rarity. Was waiting on a friend to go teach the cyclist portion of drivers education today and low and behold there was a phone. What was even funnier was someone, came to the phone and used it while I was sitting there. Opted not to take her picture.

Now we all have cell phones. The days of the phone booth are long gone.

Updated humor for 2/18/2010

2010-02-18T13:05:00.002-05:00

I guess some lessons are never learned. Havent been able to snap a shot of this one yet....

So I am sitting in Starbucks, around lunchtime. Came by for a quick place to do some work, and its turned out to be a longer stay than originally thought. That unto itself is rather funny...

But:

I am sitting here and I look outside at this guy smoking. Grossly overweight, I'd guess 400lbs and about 5-5 in height. As I pay a bit more attentions I notice a portable oxygen pack with him. Now, portable oxygen isnt flammable, but its an accelerate, but thats okay he's outside.

What strikes me as odd, or the lessons never learned is 1) he's overweight, BAD 2) he is smoking, which as most of us know isnt a good thing 3) he is on portable oxygen.

See the pattern here?

This sums up my feelings!

2010-02-18T12:37:00.002-05:00

Sent to me by a freind, and it sums my feelings up pretty well.

Hate it when that happens

2010-02-17T20:15:00.002-05:00

No humor today, 2/16/2010

2010-02-17T07:01:00.004-05:00

Well, bad news ended the day. A good freind of Annette and I's has been diagnoised, and operated upon the previous day with a pretty bad brain tumor. The tumor is a gliblastomas and from what we understand a stage IV, which is pretty bad. I think the life expectancy is less than 2 years.

He is a great guy! Clay Tucker. Has had a pretty hard end of life but came through it as tough as could be. His previous wife, whom I used to have no respect for (more on this later) separated from him and then divorced. Clay, waited on her hand and foot as long as we knew them, which has been 10+ years. They other end of Mt Royal Drive, where we used to live a few years ago. Got where we did a lot with them, dinner a couple times a week and in general good friends. That was until they separated... His previous wife decided she wanted more, the way Annette and I saw it she had plenty, too much. Long Clay loved her tremendously, and it showed daily in all he did for her, and that was the thanks he got. Needless to say I HAD a poor opinion of her, honestly it was never great because I used to listen to her bash him all the time, and not in the joking way.

Well, Clay was left with the kids, both adopted from Russia. The dogs and the house and I am sure much more of a burden than she experienced.

The kids are who I feel for the most. They've been through some tough times. Adoption, at a early age, separation and divorce and now soon to lose their Dad. Kids stay with Clay 90% of the time, and he has always been the one caring for them. Its going to be a tough life for them the next few years. Not sure what I can do for them in life, but I will at least offer to be there.

Back to his previous wife, whom I had a very low opinion of... She has redemed herself somewhat with me now. Last night, Annette told me she is caring for him in the hospital, and wants to move him into her house to care for him. She told Annette she still loves him but just couldnt be satisfied with what she had during marriage.

I am impressed with the compassion she is showing now, in the time of need for him. I just hope he finds peace and happiness in his remaining time on earth.

Static Model

2010-02-15T19:35:00.004-05:00

Well, he was static..... I guess after I hit him a couple dozen times with a camera flash, even off camera it was bound to awake the sleeping beast.

Poor kids out of school again due to weather. We had sunshine today, but thanks to our technological advancements in weather predictions they just called off school in case. Now its down to losing days spring break week, Saturday classes, and I am sure extended final day of school.

He's a good kid! :)

Daily Humor 2/14/10

2010-02-14T18:28:00.004-05:00

Looks like Va. is blessed with them also! Actually 2 days in a row I've ran across a vehicle parked as such at the same Wal-Mart.

Daily Humor from 2/13/10

2010-02-14T18:26:00.004-05:00

I think this is self explanatory!
Local tags, and where else but Wal-Mart!
To me explains the driving habits of the area in snow.

It will take more than a plant.

2010-02-11T07:05:00.003-05:00

Ahhh, another very cold and very windy day here in the Mtns, and another day the kids are out of school. Poor kids, no spring break and they will be going to school on Saturdays and later in the year based on the weather pattern forcing days out.

On to the big news of the day, the plant! As always I am up early and at Starbucks working and surfing. As I walk into the establishment this chilly morning I see they have placed a plant on my table. I say my table, because this is where I sit every morning. Why? Well, bigger table, I can see the door (old western thing) and its got a power outlet on the wall next to me.

Back to the plant. Guess Starbucks is making what I would say is a feeble attempt at improving their look by improving mine. Nice plant, its several cactus's or would that be catui). Are they trying to say I am dry?

Oh well it will take more than a nice cactus to knock the edge off of me.

Cold, but no snow!

2010-02-10T07:19:00.002-05:00

I think even the kids in school are glad to not have snow.

Missed getting hit by this last snow storm!! As it often happens, the storm moves in from the west and when it hits the mountains it gets pushed north and south of Asheville. We seem to always get our best snow when things come up from the south. More snow in the forecast later in the week, guess time will tell.

Speaking of weather, snow, rain, etc. As someone who enjoys the outside its been tough this year with all the precipitation. Roads have lingering snow mounds and the temps have been less than conducive to road riding. The Mtn bikers are suffering too, the woods are still snow covered and the few days that warm up it becomes a muddy mess for riding. Most of the guys I know try and keep off the trails to keep from damaging them for future use. Running is the same way, too sloppy to trail run. I am SURE the Mtns to Sea is snow covered still. So, with me getting back into running, specifically trail running, well...... Its been the damn treadmill, no fun. Throw on top of that the fact I have ridden inside on the trainer for the past what seems like 2 months and well it gets old.

Been a while

2010-02-09T08:13:00.002-05:00

Been a while since I updated the blog..... Going to try and make this more routine, even just for the fact of getting stuff out of my head and onto here.

As always sitting in Starbucks as my morning routine. I am now a gold card holder, guess that means either Starbucks likes me, or I drink to much coffee, LOL. Well, its about 2 cups a day, in the mornings, is that too much?

Lots going on.... no real complaints

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T07:20:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year!

Hard to believe its been a year already. Last year this time I was in NY city for the ball drop, something everyone should experience just once. I'd go back and do it again!

Something I have been hearing degrade for some time. I originally decided that I'd only go to digital music from that day forward. Buying music online and ditching the CD, or as I did years ago the record. But, in recent years I have noticed what I considered a degradation of sound quality from the digital format. I always assumed that it was the compression used to store the real sound in a smaller format such as a Ipod. Well, to combat that I have went back to purchasing CD's then trasnfering them into Itunes. I felt I was getting better sound quality from the CD and forcing Itunes to transfer it in as high a quality as I could. Yes it eats up more space, but thats fine in my world. In my dayly surfing I come across this article. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122114058&ps=cprs
Sure enough there are others out there noticing it too!

On another note, early in life I always said I wanted to work in the recording industry as a sound engineer or something to do with sound. I wish I had followed that dream before I killed my hearing from years of headphones, LOL.

On to 2010!

Still good in the world.

2009-12-26T07:15:00.002-05:00

If you really know me, you know that most of my time is spent observing others. I enjoy watching and listening to others, very quietly from afar. And if you really know me, and actually get the stuff from inside my head to the outside world you know I how displeased I am with the meanness and hatred in the world. I observe it all too often, more and more each day :(

Well, Christmas eve I was reassured there is still goodness present in the world. :) and I want to thank that individual for being good.

The story goes like this..... A week ago Friday we were hit with a fun at the time but annoying nasty little snow storm. Within a few hours of it starting we had a very heavy blanket of snow. Assuming (yes its bad to assume) my car aka "clown car" would go good in the snow I had driven it over the van aka "Thing" that morning. Also, since 99.9% of the time the weather men miss the forecast I was a villager when they cried wolf yet again. Well my assumption was dead wrong, the clown car is awful in the snow, actually one of the worst cars I have owned for snow travel. Well, by 2pm when I decided to venture home from work I couldnt make it far. I did get too, with considerable effort, to my driveway. Or better said the entrance of my driveway. Since I live on a hill, and its uphill to the driveway I decided that leaving my car at the entrance was a good place to have it slammed into by cars coming down the other side. So, I opted to move the car to the vacant lot next door (down hill) of which I did. Little did I realize of ever observe was that spot never sees the light of day.
Well, after many attempts all week I decided I was going to get the clown car out of the field and back home in the warmth of the garage. I like my clown car.....
Joseph and I venture down to dig it out yet again. No luck.... the car just spins. I really think the issue was it sits so low to the ground snow builds up under it and the wheels never touch the ground with 4" or more of snow. After a good half hour of digging and pushing I decided to go get the come along and winch it out.
Strapped off to a tree with 2 tow straps and the come along in between we start trying to pull it out. Now, let me say, that the main road (Concord rd) is maybe 20 ft from the car, and in full view of everyone traveling up and down Concord. I cant tell you how many 4 wheel drive trucks, redneck mobiles (4wd trucks jacked up) pass by. Many slowing up enough to watch me, in Santa hat, and Joseph attempting to winch out the car. I commented more than once "you'd think someone would stop and offer to help pull us out" of course with %#@^&%$ words intertwined.
Finally this truck pulls up and a guy jumps out and says need a hand? Sure do I reply! He backs up to my car, gets his front tires on dry pavement and we hook the tow strap to the front of the car. I jump in, start the car and he begins to pull me out. He blocked traffic coming down Concord Rd pulling me out, but within a minute had me pulled out of the field and onto the road!
I tell the guy, who I regret not getting a name, if you will come up to the house I will give you a few bucks! He said, No Thanks!, Merry Christmas.

There is still good left in the world! Thanks for that reassurance.

Festivus for the rest of us!

2009-12-24T07:02:00.002-05:00

Forgot to wish everyone a Merry Festivus yesterday! So made up for it with a holiday card sent to all my email friends. Grievances are aired here and you will have to see me in person for feats of strength!

Those ribs be hurting

2009-12-23T07:07:00.002-05:00

Several days ago, in my anxious-ness to get out early in the moring I took a nice fall. Walking thought the snow down to "thing" (van) I reach the area I had shoveled the day before. I remember thinking I wonder if this is slick..... well before I got "slic...." out of my head I was on the ground. As usual I had a camera sling over my shoulder, and I landed on my side on the camera. Yes, the first thing out my mind after the fall was what did I break on the camera, which happend to be the UV filter (again). But the fall took my breath as I hit hard. Well, I have cracked, broke, damaged or all of the above the upper section of ribs on my left side. DAMN they hurt! I forgot how much ribs hurt.... done this a few times before, that is crack some ribs. Once on a bike in the woods and several times through my life playing football.
Hard to sleep, as this is the preferred side I sleep on. You how it is when you get in a habit.... If I sleep on my back, Annette tells me I snore. Well I stayed up one night and I did snore ;), LOL. Been some restless nights of sleep since then, and I am sure more to come. Ribs are a good 6 weeks healing, Great! Hard to ride the bike too, tried the trainer and it hurt when I started heavier breathing.
On to other things.....

Been working on a cool wood design over at the house I have worked so much at in Bilomore Forrest. An angular design on the walls using 4" wide flooring red oak. Its coming out pretty darn nice! Pictures soon, I have been shooting progress shots so far.

Soon to start a large design project for Day International, which should provide me several months of steady work, lets hope it leads into more! I think the timing will work out nicely with the work I have going in Biltmore Forrest, should be close to finishing it as I start the other.

Computers.... Well Joseph's laptop is down, under warranty with Best Buy. Yet another Best Buy saga, with them sending it off to repair. What is it the Geek squad does? Its the hard drive, 90% postivie which is a quick easy fix for me. My laptop started acting up, thought it was the hard drive, which I am replacing anyway. I need reliable stuff when I start drawing and a hard drive deciding to crash isnt what I need with months of data (I do back-up to an external) Plus the larger hard drive I am sticking on will allow me to dual boot Ubuntu linux, which I will use to surf abroad.

Speaking of Ubuntu, when the drive crashed on this laptop I was unable to boot into windows. I had a few things I needed, my business books, a few drawing files and thats about it. Figured I would lose that data, but I was able to load a live cd of Ubuntu (runs the os off of a cd) and access my files in the windows system. Pretty cool trick! I need to verify those files but it seemed to work just fine.

Enough typing, my hand are frost bit from sitting in Starbucks and typing and not staching them in my pocket

Snow!

2009-12-19T16:30:00.003-05:00

Almost a foot of snow fell yesterday here in cool green Asheville! Pretty cool! We havent had this much snow is quite a long time.

Hey thats a bleeder....

2009-12-13T06:59:00.002-05:00

Guess the big news of yesterday other than my venture to the mall (more on that later)was m mishap yesterday afternoon. After a day of trying to clean the carpet downstairs, which I am yet still unsuccessful I finished the afternoon with 5 stitches in my forehead.
The story goes like this: After renting a steam cleaner from Ace hardware I finally get my family out of the house and Josephs room picked up, which is a task itself. I mix the solution and dump it in the cleaner. Fire it up and squeeze the trigger and nothing..... Check my connections, still nothing. Vacuum works, no pump spraying solution. Great! Load the unit up and begin to take it back to Ace.
The I get a phone call from Sammie, the lady I work for in Biltmore Forrest. Her garage door wont open, and she's heading back to Atlanta. So I head over to her house and begin to work on getting the door up and her on her way. Now this is a commercail door, all metal and what ever width a 2 car single door would be, and HEAVY. Get it fixed after some work. Well in the mean time I am telling Sammie about the steam cleaner and she says borrow mine. Didnt know she had one to borrow but why not. So load it up and head to Ace to return the defective one, which I did.
Since I am in no rush I head to the mall, 2 Saturdays before Christmas, well you get the picture. It was bad, but I dealt with it just fine. Took all my usual shortcuts and was in and out without any major issues
Get back home and proceed to unload the carpet cleaner I am borrowing from Sammie. Carry the main unit inside and set it in Joseph's room next to the new (used) Soloflex I got for him and I. Go and get the 2 water containers that I had removed from the unit and carry them inside. I go over to where I parked the main unit, which is right under the Soloflex. I bend over to set the container down and WHACK!!! I slam my forehead into the end of the weight bar. Have you ever seen lights and stars when you hit your head? Well I saw them yesterday.... Holding my head I feel that warm sensation of blood running down my face. Great split the forehead open. Grab my shirt and put pressure on the cut, sit down on the steps and regain what little composure I normally have, then head up stairs to take a look. Lets just say that head cuts bleed, a lot. Shirt covered in blood and it wont stop. Change from my shirt as a pressure device to a clean washcloth. After 45 minutes of pressure its still bleeding. Oh joy a trip to the ER, Urgent care or something at 5pm on a Saturday afternoon.
Annette and Joseph arrive from the mall and as expected Annette goes nuts, and Joseph in the eyes of his Dad, starts wise cracking the situation. After a quick phone call to the Urgent Care, which has already closed its time to go to the ER. Fast Track ER, which means it kills 4 hours of your time instead of the customary 6 hours. A misnomer in words..... So I suggest calling a friend of ours, lets call him Dr. X just in case someone actually reads this and is mean enough to get him in trouble over whats soon to take place. Dr X is answers the phone, in the middle of putting a chest tub in someone, No lie here. He says sure send me over in just a little while and he will take of me. Dr X is a great guy, done a lot for us over the years and not one to follow rules, which is good. The world needs more people that do stuff because they should, can or want and not doing something because some bureaucrat says not to.
So off to Dr X's house. I have a bandage on my head as I am still bleeding if I release pressure, and of course my Christmas hat. Dr X and I shake hands and head to the kitchen table. Sure enough I cut a nice gash in my head, not that big but crescent shaped. He determines I have knicked a feeder vain which is why it wont stop bleeding. To bad, as that rules out glue according to Dr X. SO here comes the stitches. Michael, Dr X's son is recruited to be his assitant and Joseph is recruited to hold the flash light. The only that really hurt was the lidocane that I got to numb my forehead. I look over and Joseph is white as a ghost, LOL. Dr X sees this and suggest he sit down, no complaints from Joseph. Guess that rules him out becoming a Doctor, which is good to know. After some cleaning, scrubing, numbing the stitching begins. Joseph's color comes back somewhat and he is able to hold the light and begin to watch Dr X sew me up. I will admit, seeing that sometimes freaks me out, luckily I wasnt watching Dr X sew me up. 5 stitches in all and what soon will be a nice headache.
Whats cool about this is it was all preformed at the kitchen table. It was sterile, no worries there, I trust Dr X with my life, and have told Annette if they ever drag me in let him do the work if its in his arena. He preformed something that has long past, true medicine because he loves to help. Not forcing me to go to the ER, office or where ever, but at his kitchen table.
My Thanks for Dr X !

Brrrrr, its cold

2009-12-11T07:26:00.002-05:00

Its cold out, 22 degrees as of when I drove in, and as usual Starbucks isnt a whole lot warmer inside. Suppose to get up to 42 degrees today, not real warm to me.

I guess if I didnt have a family (glad I do) I'd migrate with the birds south. Just dont deal with the cold temps as well as I did when I was younger. I now understand why the "old" folks go to Florida for the winter, its not a bad idea.

So a good friend of mine, someone I consider more of a brother than a friend sent me a joke i thought was pretty funny yesterday. EVEN though I really could care less what Tiger did.

"Q: What is the difference between Santa and Tiger Woods?

A: Santa’s not greedy, he stops with three ho’s!"

Solar Flares

2009-12-10T06:59:00.003-05:00

Thats my excuse and I am sticking to it, Solar Flares that is.

Started off as one of those days yesterday and never got much better. First, unable to connect to the net at Starbucks in the morning. Thats my peaceful time every day, I check and answer most of my emails, surf, learn or what ever over my daily coffee. When I cant get hooked up I get cranky.... Thought it was a ATT connection problem with there hot spot, but turns out it was a puter issue. Not sure actually what was going on, I had logged onto this computer mid day the day before to register my design software so I could pull up some design work. No problems at the fab shop, worked just fine. Next morning, nada.... All I can think is either 1) Solar flares 2) some sort of virus, glitch or something when I logged into the hot spot.

So I spent most of the evening screwing with this computer. Now, the FIRST thing I tell people when they are having troubles is STAY OFF THE PORN SITES and you wont have issues. Well, I can honestly say THIS computer doesnt see those sites, this is the business computer.

So, what to do..... Did a system restore and that fixed the problem, updated Vista (crap compared to 7) Slapped the Ubuntu disk in and almost stuck in on the puter as a dual OS, and may still. Have a Win 7 disk and prod key free, really really should put 7 on it, but that leads to software issues. I typically run 1 version back of my design software, just becasue Autodesk products NEVER work right on the latest releases. Running 2009, but 2010 is out. Always, always bugs with the latest and greatest. SO, not sure if 2009 runs on 7, Autodesks site is a bit unclear on if it does or doesnt. SO..... I cant install a os that blows my money maker up, which is also why I dont go surfing on this puter much, no bugs, virus's or goofy programs that mess with the video drivers. Still not sure what I am going to do on this system...

Then Joseph and I get the new released Harry Potter in Blue Ray. FINALLY sit down to watch it at 8pm last night in the theater room on the PS3. PS3 tells us we gotta update the software to watch the movie, WTF! SO that turns into a issue.... PS3 doesnt want to connect to the server either wireless or wired, ended up d/l'd it on a flash drive and installing the update that route. All to watch 45 minutes of the movie before Joseph decides he was bored (almost 10pm) which was fine I was tired.

On top of all that I have a banking screw up on MY part..... Damn.

Must have been the solar flares. Lets hope there better today, so far so good.

Happy happy Joy joy rain on its way.

2009-12-08T07:14:00.002-05:00

Happy happy joy joy, more rain on the way.

Anyone remember the "happy happy joy joy"? Came from Ren and Stempy cartoon (I guess it came from there). I used to love Ren and Stempy!, guess I still do.

Glad Monday is behind me, it was one of those Monday's. Today is shaping up better I hope, long but better.

Weathermen missed, back to the cold

2009-12-06T06:49:00.002-05:00

Weathermen missed the storm, after all the storm warnings, accumulation forecasts and all the other stuff they posted we got the Nada..... It was cold, they did get that right.

Starbucks is back to its frigid temps inside, Brrrrr.

Will the weather guys get one right?

2009-12-05T07:11:00.002-05:00

Snow in the forecast, raining now.

The question is will the weather guys actually get one right? The weather channel is already preparing a future show on the yet to happen snow storm forecast for today. Not sure there title but my suggestions are as follows: "The great storm of December 5th, 2009, that never happened....." or my favorite, " How weather changed history; Grandma got below a 1/2 gallon of milk and 8 pc's of bread but still survives."

On another note, Fox News is also hard at work on the pending storm and how the current administration is to blame. Current program direction is for a round table discussion including chicken little's caulk board diagrams.

Apologies to anyone that reads this and enjoys Fox News and their preconceived notion programing. I had to suffer through a hour of it last night while working at a home. The homeowner had it on the whole time I was there and honestly hadnt ever really listened to station that long, I unfortunately left my Ipod and headphones at the house.

New tripod? Sofia!

2009-12-04T07:15:00.005-05:00

Shot some moon setting shots on the way to Lowes yesterday and used the tripod since I was shooting the long lens with tele-converter. STRONG wind.... tripod wouldnt be still, all shots were blurry. SO, my stash cash may have to go initially towards a new tripod :( Wish the shots would have come out better, but I was on a ridge top with no shelter with 20mph winds, but to shoot good landscape I need a decent tripod....

Well still saving towards the new camera body.

Did shoot some nice images at the Grove Park last night. Rather proud of myself overall. I am shooting fully manual, and have been for some time now, but was shooting with the dreaded pop up flash plus manual and still got some good shots.

So far my favorite.... still needs some post processing.

Warm and Cozy

2009-12-03T06:26:00.002-05:00

Starbucks is warm and cozy and has been since I arrived at 6am!

Early start this morning, guess going to be at 9:30 made me wake up even earlier. Already spent 40 on the trainer, probably do so again this afternoon. When the weather sucks its nice to have that set up. But, seems like I have been riding it more and more and less and less outside.

Speaking of outside riding, NPR did a pc on the cyclist in Cal that had the altercation with the car. The outcome of that altercation was better than the one locally where a local fireman shot a guy in the helmet. Luckily for that guy, his child who was in a child carrier on the bike and his wife the fireman missed the guys head and it only went through his helmet. The fireman got 120 days.....

The whole situation is getting out of hand IMO. I really think the news media and their constant hate campaigns against whatever then can stir up is carrying over to the real world. To easy behind the wheel of a car to act tough and take cheap shots at not only cyclist but other cars.

I will admit there are as many poor examples set by cyclist as there are drivers, but thats no excuse for EITHER side to carry on like they are, maybe its time for some education on the behalf of both sides.

Who cares what Tiger was doing.

2009-12-02T06:57:00.002-05:00

Honestly news media, do we really care what Tiger was doing? Lets see, a low speed crash in front of his house with no causalities. But, the smear stations need more ammo for their daily programing.

Starbucks must have found the heat button today, or so it seems in the past 10 minutes. Cold to start but warm air blowing from the duct work!

On a political note, Not real happy with our current administration, of whom many including myself voted for some change. Same old war crap from the govt....

I am against war, against killing of human life. Killing another human being solves no problems, it only creates more problems. And for all you bible thumpers out there who support the current wars (or any) and the death penalty. One of the commandments says thou shalt not kill. I dont seem to remember any foot notes.

Mr Moon is oh so quick!

2009-12-01T07:07:00.003-05:00

6:20am, crest the hill on Mills Gap on my way to Chill-Bucks (Starbucks) and there is old Mr Moon on it decent below the horizon. Very large and bright orange, something I seem to chase as a photgrapher. But, about as quickly as I descend Mills Gap Rd on a quick venture to some location close, other than framing the shot over Ingels, Mr Moon disappears.
Not sure how many realize that the Moon moves quick, and the close it gets to the horizon the quicker it seems to go. From 6am to 7am today, the move drops close to 20 degrees above to below the horizon.

If your interested in the moons movement here is a good link http://www.dailymoonposition.com/Default.aspx

Well it was warm for a day.

2009-11-30T07:07:00.002-05:00

55 degrees outside, drizzle and I think its 50 inside the Starbucks again. You know I hate using this site as a "bitch" site but seems to be what I am doing with it.

I think its about time I nicely suggest a good HVAC company to come fix their system.

Where is the dollar?

2009-11-29T19:42:00.001-05:00

Three guys were visiting the city, and it began to snow hard. The 3 guys decided that they couldn't drive home and would get a motel room for the night. They find a motel with vacancy and are told by the hotel desk manager that the room will be $30.00. The guys all agreed to pay their share of $10.00 each and take the room.

Later that evening, the hotel desk manager realizes he made an error and charged too much for the room. The cost of the room should have been $25.00 instead of $30.00. The desk manager calls the bell boy over and hands him 5 $1.00 bills to return to the 3 guys.

The bell boy goes to the elevator and heads to the 3 guys room. He decides that since the guys were okay with paying $30.00 for the room he would keep $2.00 for himself and give the 3 guys $1.00 each back, which drops the cost of the room to $9.00 each guy.

So where is the dollar?

Sometimes you just got to ask...

2009-11-29T07:31:00.002-05:00

The refugee's, or that is the displaced Greenberry's coffee drinkers seem to also have found Starbucks down the road. In the daily meeting of the refugee's yesterday we all commented on how cold it was inside. So, I unannounced to the others went and asked the barista why the place was so cold, several minutes after that, Dan another refugee asked the same question and then some other nor refugee customers also inquired. Well, it became noticeable warmer, and today its not as cold. We were all told they had no control over the temps in the store, has always been an issue and it was either the extremes in temperature.

Well its good to be warm ;)

Best Buy no more!!!

2009-11-28T07:13:00.005-05:00

Made my last purchase at any Best Buy. There are so many other places that you can get better deals and way better customer service. The 2 I highly recommend are www.newegg.com and www.amazon.com I've been blown away by both places, Newegg for electronics and Amamzon for just about everything else.

Let me say the "smurf's" at Best Buy are not the problem. The Smurf's as I call them are the guys and gals that work the floor, most all of these people are great, offering good advice from a non commission employee.

The problems I have fall further up the food chain of Best Buy. First are the customer service individuals behind the counter, the nice knowledgeable attitude is gone, or so it seems to be with the stores close to me. Yes, I understand that working a desk where some not so nice people come complain can test your nice-ness. I ALWAYS treat people the way I expect to be treated, and the same goes for her too. Last night in my latest adventure this was pushed to the max, well, the breaking point with Best Buy.

Here's the start of this adventure. My son Joseph, is 14, enough said, and owns or has owned 2 Ipod touches. The first touch was lost, stolen or vanished somehow within months of him getting it from us as a gift. Sorry, but our money doesnt grow on trees and the 2nd one he had to purchase on his own. Both Ipods have or had warranties, as do all my electronics. I own an Ipod, actually 3 Ipods and all but the shuffle have warranties. Well, by pure accident Joseph drops his Ipod touch and cracks the screen, a common problem (another issue I have with Apple). I haul it up to Best Buy for him, warranty in hand to have it replaces or fixed. Oh, that warranty doenst cover that, used to when we bought it, or so we were told, now there is another warranty that would have covered that. (Warranty trick IMO) But, I was told I could have upgraded my warranty and it would have been covered. So, as an owner of a Ipod touch myself I decided I needed to upgrade mine. Joseph's, which has been fixed no has a null and void warranty of which I canceled last night after 3 phone calls and 2 run around conversations with Best Buy CS.

I proceed into BB, my Ipod in hand as I assume they will need to inspect the unit before allowing me to purchase the upgraded warranty I was told I could do at another store. Well, first they couldnt find any record of my purchase of the unit, knowing damn well it came from BB with a warranty. BB CS cant seem to find it anywhere and I was told I must not have gotten it at BB more that once. I may be old but I am pretty bright and have a really good memory on some stuff, I know I got it at BB. I was told I can call 888-bestbuy and maybe they can back up my store of purchase it from BB. So I did, within 30 seconds of talking to 888-BB they had found it, found the warranty, told me when and where I had gotten it. Actually I had to purchase this online because there was a gift card that was associated with it and in-store wouldnt honor it. I actually purchased this Ipod in the store online, with the assistance of a BB smurf. I was told the order and warranty numbers and I could go back into the store at my leisure and upgrade the warranty.

So, I haul it right back into BB, as I was in the parking lot when I call 888-BB. Once again CS hell desk, I mean help desk, and gave them the order numbers. Still a major issue with finding it, this time I am told its online and thats just problems. Funny, online was WAY LESS of a problem than the BB cs reps run around I was getting. I was told on the first trip into the store, after their in ability to find my Ipod, that I must call online to cancel Joseph's warranty on his repaired unit. 888-BB said, no thats all done in store, and tried to cancel it for me over the phone, but it was 8pm at night and didnt have the right people to do so. Well, finally the cs reps pulled up the order and then started the next run around with upgrading the warranty. I was plainly told if I had purchased this in store there would be no problem with upgrading my warranty but since it was done online then it had to be done online or over the phone, BULL SHIT! I was beginning to lose my nice demeanor at this point and said no, you will take care of this for me, I am tired of getting run around, still no luck. So, I suggest we speak to the manager now, which he happened to be right there, what luck. Well, he tells me its against the law to upgrade my warranty, you know its like insurance and its against the law to change insurance policies. Funny, call any insurance company and offer them more money to upgrade your policy and they turn back flips to get your money. But, if it was purchased in store he could "make" an exception. I bluntly told this manager that www.newegg.com and www.amazon.com was looking much more appealing.

The issue isnt the fact I cant upgrade the warranty. Had I been told this up front I would have just dealt with it. The fact is I was told it was possible, had I bought it in the store and not online from the same company.

So, long story, but no more BB.

Times are tough......

2009-11-27T06:59:00.003-05:00

Times must be tough for Starbucks, or at least the Starbucks close to the house. They must be making extra money by renting out the shop as cold storage for meat. I've came here 2 days in a row, now that my old haunt has closed, and the place is frigid (warmest comment I can make).
Not sure how much I can handle a place this cold first thing in the morning. I'm cold natured anyway, and I dont need any help getting colder.

On to other stuff....

Annette got up at 4:30, without the aide of an alarm clock, which is an amazing feat! I decided I might as well get up to being an early morning person. Off to Walmart for Annette in search of the trampoline in the sale flyer. Joseph, had one, that got ko'd by the latest tree falling about a year ago. As much as I fought the idea and danger of a trampoline he had a good time on it, and wants another. Well, why not.... She got one, with minimal effort considering what she said Wally world was like at 5am.

I went to Kohl's to get a few things for Annette, but after I saw the checkout line that stretched around 3 sides of the inside I decided that hour plus wait wasnt worth the trival stuff she wanted. I will say, if it would have been something she really wanted I'd have stuck it out.

Okay, I really need to warm up since I am at Starbucks typing this blog. I think the bathroom's are warm, maybe its time to head there.

Turkey Day

2009-11-26T20:06:00.002-05:00

Nice Day.... Had an enjoyable evening at the neighbors over dinner and wine, and more wine. Really is great to have good neighbors considering what we used to have for neighbors.

Had a nice walk on the Biltmore Estate, even with two dogs pulling us like dry land skiers.

Web site up and running, even though its only partial finished, at least its up on the web. More to come on the site as I get it all together.

Another one bites the dust.......

2009-11-25T07:11:00.002-05:00

Last day of Greenberry's coffee shop, the spot I find tranquility every morning. The spot I read, surf or just meditate. So far this is the 2nd coffee shop I have hung out at in the morning that has closed, the first being PJ's, and New Orleans based shop.

So now where? The evil empire of Starbucks. Not that I am against the evil empire or any evil empire (I like Wal-Mart) Coffee is fair, but palatable, but the internet costs $$.

Once again time will tell where the winds blow me.

You Got Money!

2009-11-24T06:36:00.000-05:00

A first...... I have now been paid for a picture I took :) From the pictures I took of the Shut In Event this year I posted and offered files to any one of the participants through word of mouth. Sent several off so far with a note at the bottom of the email saying :
"Like the Images? If you would like to contribute to my hobby for use of my images please consider using paypal, Biciclettapc@gmail.com"

Well received my first payment for the picture.

11/23, Greenberry's.

2009-11-23T07:08:00.000-05:00

Sitting yet again in Greenberry's coffee shop, my normal "haunt" of the morning. Last few days of this coffee shop, as they are closing Wed. Sort of bummed about that fact yet another coffee shop is closing up, I seem to close them down. First PJ's that was located in the old Gerber Village and now Greenberry's. I guess its on to Starbucks after Wed...

Actually Starbucks coffee has gotten better, when I am away I drink the stuff and its not bad overall, compares to the median coffee tastes of Greenberry's. My complaint with SB's is the stores are overall cold on the inside. Not sure if they really want you sitting inside fro long. Wireless costs, temps are cooler and just seems to be a cold atmosphere.

So on to something I found hillarious! Hopefully the picture I am attaching works. Now I find this so funny....

Working on Web site

2009-11-21T09:52:00.000-05:00

Working on my website...... Serif Webplus X4 is what I am using, not sure if its a good or bad pc of software yet, still in the learning curve.

Time will tell