Rantings Diversified

New years resolutions are meant to be broken so I don’t make them anymore.  I came across these goals while reading about George Washington.  These are some of the rules he lived by.  I have decided to make them my goals for this year.  It seems like a good way to live.

* EVERY ACTION MUST BE DONE WITH RESPECT TOWARD OTHERS AROUND YOU.
* SHOW NO DELIGHT IN THE MISFORTUNE OF  OTHERS, EVEN THOUGH HE BE YOUR
ENEMY.
* IF ANYONE COMES TO SPEAK TO YOU WHILE YOU ARE SITTING, STAND, EVEN
THOUGH HE WILL BE YOUR INFERIOR.
* BE NOT HASTY TO BELIEVE FLYING REPORTS TO THE DISPARAGEMENT OF ANY.
* ASSOCIATE YOURSELF WITH MEN OF GOOD QUALITY.
* IF YOU ESTEEM YOUR OWN REPUTATION, TIS BETTER TO BE ALONE THEN IN
BAD COMPANY.
* LET YOUR CONVERSATION BE WITHOUT MALICE OR ENVY.
* SPEAK NOT INFURIOUS WORDS NEITHER IN JEST OR IN EARNEST.
* ALWAYS STAND WHEN A LADY ENTERS YOUR CIRCLE OR STANDS BEFORE THE TABLE.
* READ YOUR SCRIPTURES DAILY.
* HAVE A PITURE OF SOMEONE YOU ADMIRE. WHEN HAVING A TOUGH DAY MOVE IT
NEAR YOU.
* MAKE A GOAL EVERYDAY.  WRITE AND PONDER IN THE MORNING, REVIEW YOUR
SUCCESSES AND FAILURES AT END OF EACH DAY.
* GATHER OTHERS TO SUPPORT HONESTY.
* ALWAYS LOOK A MAN IN THE EYE.
* ALWAYS HAVE A FIRM HANDSHAKE.
* PRAY FOR OTHERS.
* LOOK FOR WAYS TO SERVE OTHERS AT ALL TIMES.
* ALWAYS SAY WHAT YOU MEAN AND MEAN WHAT YOU SAY.
* BUILD TRUST THROUGH YOUR ACTIONS.
* DO NOT PARTAKE IN BASHING THE BIBLE.
* DO NOT FIGHT WITH THOSE WHO ARE NOT WILLING TO SEE ANOTHER
PERSPECTIVE. WHEN IN BATTLE (ARGUMENT) REPEAT THE OTHER SIDE  UNTIL
THEY SAY YOU HAVE THEIR ARGUMENT.
* BUILD, NEVER DESTROY.
* ASPIRE TO INSPIRE.

I am in the process of quitting smoking.  Well sort of.  I smoke too much and have to quit because I am always huffing and puffing at the smallest exertion.  So I have come up with a schedule of how I am going to quit.  First I’m going to cut down allot then after I’m use to that I’ll go cold turkey.  Right now my smoking schedule is; when I wake up I can smoke all I want until 1100 then from 1100 to 1700 there’s no smoking, then I can smoke from 1700 until 1900.  No smoking until 2100 then I can smoke until I go to bed at 2200.  There is no ashtray in my bedroom so I can’t lay in bed and have a smoke.  Smoking has been regulated to just in my living room.  Now once I get use to this new schedule I’ll increase the time I don’t smoke.  Instead of not smoking from 1100 ’til 1700 I’ll make it 1100 to 1800.  Once I’m use to that it’ll start at 1000 instead of 1100.

Please don’t think that because I’m quitting smoking that I’m going to become some rabid anti-smoker.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  I consider myself a militant smoker and my attitude will not change.  I don’t believe smoking causes cancer or emphysema or any of the nasty things it is suppose to do.  I do believe that smoking can aggravate these things but do not cause them.  If you disagree with me then I suggest you check out this website.

This is something that has been rattling around my head for some time so now is the time to do it.  I have smoked cigarettes since 1974.  It is well past time for me to cut it out.  I’m taking my time in quitting but it’s going to work for me.  Baby steps for now.  Great leaps will come later.  Wish me luck.

I was born when folks liked IKE
I watched the Presidents funeral on TV
I didn’t know what the Great Society was
but every night Chet and Dave gave me the body count
Goodnight Chet, Goodnight Dave
Cynicism was born
I cheered when Erlichmann, Haldeman, and Liddy went down
I laughed at the buffoon I watched SNL
I did NOT vote for RAYGUN
maybe if…
Bush kept what’shisname out
Clinton scared the living hell out me
more and more
The commies lost
How did we get him
I cheered and danced as Florida complained
I played the National Anthem at 0:01 01/01/00

Elvis sang about his wingtips
People really liked Patsy Cline…then
Strawberry Alarm Clock
We dug
The Grateful Dead. Bowie, Hot Tuna, Black Oak, Foghat, Procul Harum, ELP, Sweet and of course
The Beatles
despite that Disco thing
ClashFearSexPistolsDeadKennedysXTCMissionofBurmaRamonesTalkingheadsBlondieX
then came that whole newwavething
Modern English,Squeeze,Flock of Seagulls,StrayCats,Animotion,Human League,Specials,FunBoyThree,Bananarama,Berlin,Madness and Elvis Costello
Tom Waits
Laurie Andersen
Eventually along came Nirvana, REM, De La Soul, nine Inch nails, Run DMC, KoRn, Godsmack, Alanis Morrisette, Tool and Jewel
In this dawn of the 21st time I’m glad to see
Uncle Ted is still touring
there is a band called, “And you will know us by the trail of dead”
We are still strong
just like we were told we were
when we lived on kidville time
Welcome to my 7^th decade

HEY YOU!!!
I was promised food from a tube
A high-rise apartment in the stratosphere
Dick Tracy watches
And anti-gravity pods
To get around in
Phazers, lasers and ray guns
On my hip
You know

Mr. Piper said we would all
Fly to work in the morning

Neil Armstrong bounced around like the super ball from hell
He raised the flag

They told me I wouldn’t have to clean my oven
My waste would just go away

Use the new plastic bag
Save a tree

It’ll break down in a landfill
Poly-vinyl chloride is new and exciting
They want us to think Georgia-Pacific is bad
ADM is the real enemy
Monsanto
Better living through chemistry
We bring good things to life

I think Mr. Archer and Mr. Daniels no longer hunt pheasant in their fields
Anymore
They’re not there

Anthracite?
They told me to use oil
It’s more efficient
My uncle once told me that natural gas is dirt-cheap

Hey Dad, what’s an ash can?
The Lehigh & Nanticoke don’t stop here anymore, boy

G.M.O. was not in the lexicon then
But ya’ know….neither was
Email
Sarah Brady
Fiber optics
Ramsey Yousef
Kevlar
Waco
Elian Gonzales and Hyundai

There is a boy who just wants a glass of red wine
some good conversation
a nice smile to gaze upon
a friendly face
maybe some Zydeco music

would be nice

he’s been there
He’s standing on a corner
talking to her
Bachet, Trane, hell, even Bird is gone
Paint the statue in KISS face
Uriah Heep, Black Oak Arkansas no body drives a Studabaker anymore

Open the trunk Have a beer let the party carry on
we sang about what’s so funny….
we didn’t really mean it
Johnny R was right
despite the hype

She was tall
actually shorter than she looked
she loved his
scared of moving too fast
scared of……SHIT!!!
they loved good together
They did the best they could while they were stuck in this place

would be nice

I finally found a politician I can believe in.  Sam Rohrer is a Pennsylvania State Congressman who is running for the U.S. Senate.  He has a record of standing for small, non-intrusive government and the truth.  I first heard of him years ago when he first ran for the PA House of Representatives.  Below you can see his announcement that he is running for the U.S. Senate.

My beloved Phillies lost in game 5 of the NLDS.  The series was tied at 2 apiece.  The whole season was hanging on this one game and they lost one to nothing.  Neo-diety Roy Halliday sucked in the first inning and allowed what became the winning run.  The Phillies bats were silent all game long.  Where as the Cards were hitting.  The Phils defense was good enough to keep the Cards in check but again their bats were silent.  DAMN it’s hard being a Phillies fan!  The best record of any team in baseball this year.  102 wins during the regular season and they blow it in the first round of postseason play.  I was convinced that they would be playing the Brewers for the NL pennant.  Well now it’s the Cardinals who will play the Brewers for the pennant.  I’m tired of getting my heart broken in the post season every year.  Unfortunately I’m a Phillies fan and next year will be excited about their chances in March and I’ll follow them all summer long and be excited for the postseason all over again.  What can I say?  It’s a hard thing to be.  I’m a Phillies fan.

Well it all started with an earthquake on my birthday.  It was only a 5.8 magnatude and centered in southern Virginia but the building I live in was swaying.  I had just layed down on my couch to take a nap and all of a sudden my building started swaying like it was a tree in the wind.  Then the couch I was on started shaking and the pictures I have hanging on the walls started rattling.  I smiled and said to myself, “Damn this is an earthquake”.  It lasted quite a long time.  30 seconds or more.  I had the TV turned on and was watching a 24 hour news channel and about 5 minutes after it stopped they broke into their programming and announced that Washington DC just expierenced an earthquake.  Ha!  I was right!
Then we had hurricane Irene blow through about two weeks ago.  The winds and rain were epic but it only lasted a day.  After the rains stopped the winds hung around and knocked trees down all over the area.  Something like 50,000 people had their electricity knocked out.  The electric companies have just finished restoring power.
Then last Sunday the remnants of Hurricane Lee made its way north from the Gulf of Mexico.  It gave us heavy rain from Sunday until yesterday.  The rain came out of the south and drove straight north inundating all of central PA.  All the rivers and creeks and streams swelled way beyond their borders.  The Swatara creek reached historically high levels.  The Yellow Breeches creek has over run its banks higher than ever before.  The interesting thing is that the Susquehanna river did not reach historically high levels.  Oh it flooded alright and it flooded alot of folks out of their houses but it crested 7 feet below the record high of 32.5 feet.  It reached 25.2 feet with the flood stage being 17 feet.  As bad as the flooding is we have seen much worse around here.
Welcome to Pennsylvania!

I think I may have just invented the greatest cat toy ever invented.  Necessity being the mother of invention, I was sick and tired of Captain Willie attacking my feet and thinking it was funny to do so.  I need something to distract him from scratching my feet.  I took a piece of paper and balled it up really tightly and threw it on the floor.  Well needless to say he freaked out and has been playing with it almost non-stop.  When he’s not playing with it he carries it around and sits on it.  The greatest cat toy ever invented! Below you’ll find a picture of this great invention.  Remember you can click on the pics to embiggialize them.

I gave Captain Willie this paper ball this morning at about 7am and he played with it non-stop for about an hour.  Here is a pic of him after he was done playing.

Well I did it. I went to the HumaneSociety today and got a roommate.  You see they were adopting cats for $10 today only.  So Maggie and I met at Starbucks at 9am and ventured over to the shelter only to wait in line until they opened at 11am.  There were about 10 people in front of us and by the time it opened there were 75 people behind us.
Last Thursday Mags and I went and found a few kittens we liked so we already knew who we were looking to adopt.  Well both of our choices were right up front by the main desk in the lobby.  I asked to see a black and white kitten I had fallen for last Thursday and as soon as I was holding him I knew he was bound to be my roommate.  His name is Captain Willie or Willie for short.  His name comes from a Little Feat song named “Crazy Captain Gunboat Willie”.  Capt. Willie is a special needs kitten.  You see he only has one eye.  When he was young he got into a fight with one of his siblings and lost an eye.  He is so friendly and full of energy and I was afraid that nobody would adopt him so I did.  We got home today and there was very little transition time.  He ran around the apartment checking things out for about an hour and is now happily sleeping on my lap as I write this on my laptop.
Maggie got a beautiful all black kitten.  I’ll have to check with her and find out what she named her.  (Update: Maggie named her kitten Klipper so now she has Kashi and Klipper)
Below is a picture of Capt. Willie and remember you can click on it to embiggialize it.