Keep up the pressure on Washington for real health care reform. (also with video below)

The deal is that we have to join the rest of the civilized world.
I'm tired of all the fighting and the calls for letting the "free market" take care of things. I'm tired of the tea party protesters and all the conservatives that are all of sudden worried about the money aspect.

First of all, there is no free market. There never has been one, there never will be one and there isn't one now. A true free market cannot exist purely due to human nature, end of story.
Second, I find if fascinating that within DC and the tea parties, all the conservatives are agreeing that we need health care reform and that it's terrible what's happening to working people, but.. what did they do for 10 years? Nothing. They allowed it to get worse.
Third, no one is going to have to deal with so-called government run health care. What there will be will be an option to have a government payer. What we REALLY need is universal care something along the lines of medicare for all, but that's a different issue.

It's not about the money. Never has been about it. Otherwise, the same people taking to the streets for "tea parties" would have been protesting our involvement in Iraq. Wouldn't they? Wouldn't anyone be against that clearly illegal invasion and occupation where the US handed over pallets of money to contractors to do nothing? One of which that had a conflict of interest with some guy named Cheney. Wouldn't they be against invading a nation to secure the control of oil fields for Exxon and Shell?
I bet if we'd not invaded Iraq, that could have paid for some care.
But I already know it's not about the money.
Where were all these people worried about the devaluing of the USD when Greenspan turned on the spigot and lowered interest rates BELOW the rate of inflation to create a false bubble when Bush took office?

Talk to health care PROVIDERS as in doctors and nurses.
They will tell you that what we have now is NOT WORKING and we need reform. Larger numbers of them believe we should have a single payer system as well. Not "government run health care" but a single payer rather than hundreds of them in the form of for profit insurance companies they have to deal with now.

We need reform top to bottom, private and public.
The profiteering on the backs of the sick, the dying and the working class needs to stop.

San Diego living = Indian Summer

In other words, the grill gets no rest around here.
None at all.

I made some spareribs recently, and this is what they looked like when I was done.
I did a really basic dry rub with chili powder, salt, pepper, brown sugar, garlic, etc.. and cooked indirect on my Weber.
For some liquid, I just add some apple cider vinegar to the dry rub and brush on.
At the very end, BBQ sauce. If you check the back of the Grandma's molasass jar, you CANNOT go wrong following that one to the letter. If anything, it just needs some more heat if that's your thing (it's mine).
Here's to sunshine!

gimme dat nicotine!

Jeebus, just gimme something.

It's not like I don't like smoking. Why would you smoke if you don't like it??
Coffee and cigarettes. Sitting at a bar (in the past or outside, of course) drinking and smoking. Relaxing after a meal with the last of your wine; these are the things that make life as an adult more enjoyable.

Yea, but I hadda quit. I'll be 45 in a couple years and I don't want to be one of those old farts that never quit and you look all scary and can't walk or whatever. Or you're like that guy in that movie they showed us in the 6th grade with the man that can't blow out the match. The irony of that was probably lost on 12 year olds..
That probably wouldn't happen to me, though. I exercise and eat well and didn't really smoke that much. Not even half a pack a day. Half a pack of delicious American Spirit tobacco. Of course I have tried and failed in the past. Maybe I'll be making this post again. Who knows.

Why does everything fun have to come at a cost? I don't mean fun like what Donnie and Marie think of as fun, but what Hunter S. Thompson found enjoyable. I guess you have to make those vice choices and try to keep them under control.
Fucking bloody hell if anyone thinks I'm giving up my ice cream, though.
Or Kentucky Bourbon.

The end of an era

About 12 years ago I adopted yellow lab litter mates that were 2 years old.
Nala and Sierra. And man were they a handful. Anyone that's been around labrador retrievers knows what they can be like. But, of course with all that high energy and massive naughtiness is a smart, loyal and sweet dog.
Sierra was a little high strung at times, but Nala was the sweetest thing in the world from day one and for her whole life. Have a look at that face. That's just what she was like 24 hours a day.

A week ago, after some old age ailments were really starting to get the best of her, we had to have her put to sleep.
When you've had a dog for so long, it's sad, but also a little weird when they are not around anymore. No more strawberries in the morning anymore, no more stepping over her bed at night if I have to get up in the dark. But mostly, there's that empty place in the house where your friend used to be.

I miss our girl very much. She was everything you'd ever want in a big doggie and more.
If there's another side, I hope she's got nothing but the most tasty dog food, squirrels to chase and warm water for swimming all day long.

Poppy and Otis are the new era.
They loved their sister who welcomed them in the last couple years into the house and I'm sure they miss her, too.

Dogs are the best people ever.

Birthers, Deathers, Socialism.. OH NO!

*UPDATED* with great video below the photo. Thank you, Rep. Frank!

I'll make this short and sweet.
You know all these weirdos with their "theories" and signs? And by theories I mean the rantings of rabid squirrels, with their not so subtle racism, the crying "I want my country back" and tribunals for grandma.
They need to be marginalized. The end.

It's like people that think the earth is flat. Screw them, they're nuts.

Let the adults do what needs to be done and just plain leave the fruitcakes out of the "discussion". They can stand on the street and hold their grammatically challenged signs. Fuck off.

You want to hold a sign, here I have a fucking sign for you. This is one I can support.
Oh, yea. Have a good weekend. :)

Blondes are more fun

Nala is our yellow lab and she's pretty old now.
Most of her life, she's definitely been what you call your quintessential Labrador retriever.
Meaning that she would lick all faces, stick her nose in all crotches and chase any and all balls thrown (preferably in the water).
Not a mean bone in her body, she always welcomed everyone along with her sister Sierra who passed away two years ago.
Poor old Nala is winding down now, though. She's got some physical problems that are just compounded by her age, though she still loves to eat (particularly in the morning when I share my strawberries with her) and get pats.
I know that a lot of the time, she's not too keen on her day as our slippery wood floors and linoleum in the kitchen are too much for her back legs, and her fatty tumor (benign) on her side makes it tough for her to get around.

"Quality of life" is what the vet says when they tell you that's when you know you have to let your pet go, or at least be considering it seriously. Of course a dog or a cat can't say, "hey, man, I've just about had enough" or whatever. Hell, people don't necessarily do that, either.
We had to do just that twice in the same year in 2007 and it's not easy. And I know that it won't be too long that we'll have to do the same again. I'll tell you, she's a tough one for such a sweet dog, though.
She barks to make sure I know to get over there and help her get up so she can power over into the kitchen in case something falls from the heavens especially made for dogs. Meaning anything. And she's right there waiting at dinnertime as well. Some things have not changed, as I noted..

My [f]unemployment has been a mixed blessing in one respect. I have been able to be with her far more than I would have normally, of course, but also in that I have NEEDED to be here at times when she just plain can't get up when stranded in the middle of oak floorboards or needs a hand back inside the house after a quick trip for a drink or one more landmine.

That's one thing about life, I've noticed. Just when you think you're cruising along, reality can and will punch you right in the balls.
But I'm glad that I have been able to spend more time with my dog; she's certainly brought a lot of light and love into our lives and those memories will always be there.

I had a look in the fridge a bit ago. There are just enough strawberries left for the two of us tomorrow morning.
Lucky me.

Master Thespian, Bill Shatner!

[F]unemployment Photos

So I took the day off during the week before the 4th and headed down to Mission Beach to check out the rides and take photos. You may click on any of them to see a larger version in a new window.
The weather was warm, changing back and forth from gray to clear the whole time as is usually the case along the coast.
I also made time to get a burger and a glass of beer which really only makes the most sense. I also learned a hell of a good recipe from the bartender for a bloody mary that I'll have to try.
Here we see the Chaos ride at Belmont. No, I did NOT get on that thing.
I'm fine with roller coasters and what have you, but these contraptions that spin like that.. no thanks. Breakfast on me! And you sitting next to me.




Mission Beach is an interesting part of the city.
It's very popular with the tourists because it's a huge beach, there's Belmont Park and the long, long promenade(?) that runs the entire length of the beach for walking, bike riding, skateboarding, etc..
For some reason, it also seems to draw a fair amount of losers and tough guys with other assorted weirdos and nutcases. No idea why.. Meth-heads and Raider fans. That's one way to look at it.
Ocean Beach is meth-heads and smelly hippies. I'll take that over the other if I have to choose.
But check out the hibiscus painting on the electric thingie. That's pretty cool.


I hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend.
We bbq'd, went to a party, had some family over and just relaxed for the most part.
I also spent a couple of days trying to wrap my brain around the idea that poor Sarah Palin won't be around to kick around anymore. Oh, the horror.
Did anyone read the transcript from her rambling resignation? I'm still trying to figure out what the hell she was going on about. That was very bizarre.





One more photo to close it out. You can see them all here should you like to have a look.
Note, these are not real California license plates. Real ones are made in prison and are boring.
They should come up with a new design. We've had those old white plates for a really long time now, time for something new.

Enjoy the week, get some summer sun.

Hanging with the dogs

Well, this continues to be an interesting time for me. This whole out of work thing. This look on Poppy's face is pretty rad. That's what you feel like right after getting shitcanned. Ha!
Maybe I'm going about it the wrong way. The LA Times had a story about people enjoying their "funemployment". I wish I could take it that way the whole time. But as my wife will attest, I'm not really stressed or anything, it's just sort of a bummer sometimes. Hell, even when I went to the beach to read and take some pictures on the 3rd, it fucking rained! :) We don't get rain in San Diego between April and Nov for Crissakes. Thunder and lightening, too. Crazy.

The 4 of us chill around the house a lot. When you talk to the dogs, they don't talk back. If they do, I'm fucking out of here.
They like having people around, though sometimes I wonder why because we're always telling them what to do, or what not to do. At the moment, it's please don't chase the disease-infested possums that have been skulking around the yard the last week or so. Or eat the babies.
Note, if there is an animal that is NOT a cute baby, it's a fucking possum. Also, they do in fact play dead. Otis pulled one out of the bushes the other day and dropped it in the grass. Looked dead as a doornail. Ten minutes later the little shit was gone. Non-city people can laugh, but how the hell am I supposed to know!

If all the resumes that I have sent out were paper instead of electronic, I'd have to buy carbon footprint something or others. Whatever that's called.

My mom and stepdad came down last month and we painted the exterior of the house. In four days! Not bad from start to finish with all that prepping and stuff. All of us were really sore by the end, I'm sure. But the house looks a lot better now, and that was really awesome they helped us get done what we have wanted to do since like the day we moved in here Aug of '02.
Procrastination is pretty nice. Should you like to see a start to finish photo montage taken right after we began prep following the powerwash, check this out. All those are thumbsnail jpegs that get bigger if you click on them.

My goal between now and when I find a job shall be more funemployment, less time being bummed out. But I have promised my wife that I shall keep the house spotless during the week, so I have to time my fun properly. I'll shoot for spotless. We have 3 dogs that shed all day every day, what the hell can I do??
Peace.

Hey, who knew SNL was still funny?

Goes down as a classic for sure:

Just trying to lay low, man

So when I got up this morning, it marked the third Weds in a row that I awoke without a job.

I was laid off on Tues March 31st (with a shitload of other people) in what was a very surreal morning in which I was at my desk around 6am and home about 9am or so wondering "WTF?" while I stared at a box of crap that I packed up from my desk. Not much. A piggy bank, picture of my wife and me having pizza in Brooklyn, a CD or two and my headphones. Oh, this is the funny part, my framed milestone certificate that I got last year for my 5 years of service.

So I joined the masses (literally) around the country now looking for work. In one respect, I should be grateful: My wife is still gainfully employed and I have a severance. There are a lot of people worse off than me.
But it's an odd thing being a grown man with a mortgage and all that to be sent home packing after getting up before the sun pretty much every day - other than vacation time - to all of a sudden be here at home.

The first week I was a fucking machine. I cleaned, painted and worked in the yard and cooked like a mad man. Walls, door trim, replaced knobs, new vegetables in the ground, roses clipped, grass mowed, dog shit picked up in a super-timely fashion. Like a fucking whirlwind, man.
Week two, eh. Some things here and there, picking up, touching up some paint again.
Last week I was a little more bummed out, though I had a good meeting with a recruiter that cold-called me.

I'm trying to do the usual thing "make it a job to look for a job" like everyone says. So I don't sleep too late. But I don't get up before dawn like I did before. And I surf the job boards and updated my resume post haste.
My wife has been very supportive and we could live a much lower standard of living off what she makes, but still.. I'm very thankful for her.

I've never NOT worked for 25 fucking years, now.
I got my first job right after high school was over for me in 1984 and have always worked. It has a bizarre feeling. I'm not like Kramer on Seinfeld. I doubt good fortune would just drop in my lap without ever having to work for a living.. :)
And I'm also not like a couple losers I have known over the years that somehow just sort of squeak by without ever having to really do anything. Of course, one of them was in his 40's and lived rent free with mommy and was a little nuts, so there is that..

Here's to all the job-hunters. May your paychecks start again soon and Dilbert cartoons come to life right there in your office.
Peace.

Best persons in the world. Roger Ebert edition. Special Bill O the Clown content

Make sure you read Roger's great article from the 7th here.

And now, the best people in the world:

2009: Scary, but good year so far

Been a while since I have taken the time to sit down and write anything of substance on my blog. Although I'm sure there are detractors that would say nothing has been of substance. Though any detractor of mine probably has more free time on their hands than I may have..
It's scary living in a recession. This is the first time in my life that I am living within a full-blown long recession as an adult 100 percent on my own (married, though). The first started in '73 when Nixon was Prez, but I was just 7 that year. The next in the 80's I was a teenager, the next was small in the early 90's and the next in 2001 was small after the "dot com" bust.
I'm still working as is my wife. I hope that doesn't change, and I hope that does not change for you.
Having new leadership in Washington at this moment does make a difference to me now. Long readers of my blog and those that know me understand my feelings for the previous administration and their reckless behavior on both the domestic and the international fronts. Hell, I STILL cringe when I turn on the tube and hear a reporter say, "the president noted today that... " my first instinct, is still to say, "that fucking asshole Bush, I don't care what he says!" Oh, right. He's gone, now.
Obama was not my first choice for President out of the pack that ran, I was a Kucinich man, but you can't have everything.
There are things I wish he was doing different, but I feel that his overall ideas and the change of investing more in the rebuilding of the nation and the middle class can and will work if done right.
I don't have a problem with a class war. I think it's healthy, as a matter of fact. The very wealthy have pretty strong voices working on their behalf. No reason for everyone else to not work to change the direction. In the last decade, productivity was up, CEO salaries are up and so were profits. But jobs were shipped overseas and salaries for working people were flat or down. fighting for change against that tide is a good thing.

As we move on past the horrible last 8 years, it would be easy to forget and move on, and I agree in a sense. But certain actions of the BushCheny regime MUST be investigated and punished if necessary. If you haven't already read the NY Times article about the new info on the "torture memos", I encourage you to do so. I'm sickened that John Yoo is a tenured law professor in the University of California system at Berkeley. Let's hope those that went too far get theirs some day. I won't hold my breath, but I'll wish for it anyhow..

Some people think I voted for a "socialist" last November. Most of them couldn't define the word on their best day, of course.
I don't believe that, but I do believe in government working towards making this nation a better one for all of us, in regulation of the private sector, national parks, good roads, lot of well-paid public safefy officers and healthcare for all. That's not socialism. That's a place I want to live.

I haven't posted much in the last little while maybe because I got what I wanted and took a break. But I have not taken a break from staying informed and making sure those that I elected into office are doing what I want. I suggest you do the same.
There's a better day ahead. Even the chairman of the Fed says so. :)
Peace, more in the coming weeks.
And now, a shameless happy dog photo.

Vote for Poppy!

Condolences, your revolution is over!