Category: Uncategorized

Ok I am back requesting advice, I have recently been asked to make a web site for someone. I used to be quite savy at this, but I think I have forgotten more then I ever knew. Is there a good app I can use to help me make a good web site? Curt

Being smart marketers, Hardees knows not everyone in America is on a diet. Indeed, Hardees is betting on some good old fashioned gluttony to take hold as it unveiled its new heart attack on a bun: “the Monster Thickburger.”

The Thickburger consists of two one-third-pound beef patties, four strips of bacon, three slices of cheese, topped with mayonnaise on a buttered sesame seed bun.
Mmmm, Mmmmm. Dig in and be sure to bring your own defribulator!

If you arrived here by searching for “Tony Dungee”, you probably are more interested in Tony Dungy‘s bio on Wikipedia than this several-year-old article. Due to the overwhelming number of foul comments posted here due to Dungy’s team winning the superbowl in 2007, this entry is closed for comments. —Matthew, proprietor.

Recap: Before Monday Night Football, ABC usually has a 90-second vignette starring football players and ABC stars, to entertain you and promote ABC’s shows. This week, Terrell Owens, wide receiver and notorious attention-monger, did a little clip with Nicholette Sheridan, star of the epic drama “Desperate Housewives”. Nicholette, wearing only a towel, throws herself at Terrell, who rebukes her because he has a game to play.

Until she drops the towel, then he tell shis teammates he’s sorry, but he’s gonna have to miss the game tonight.

Pan to two more stars of “Desperate Housewives” watching and lamenting about how bad soap operas have become.

That’s it. No nudity, I think h*ll was said once. Nothing you can’t see on any other TV show. And the nation IS IN AN UPROAR!!! How absolutely stupid!

Tony Dungee, black coach of the Indianapolis Colts, even went so far as you bring out a charge of racism, saying that Terrell, a black man, was bing manipulated and stereotyped for being an over-sexed athlete.

What????!!!

How in the world is having a beautiful blonde woman get naked and jump into your arms a slap in the face of being black? Tony Dungee has done more harm to the black cause by making such a stupid statement. Now you got Bubba and Joe Bob saying “See, they bring the race card into EVERYTHING!”

I heard a great point on the radio last night. Here Congress is easing ethics rules on their own (see DeLay, Tom) whilst raining down on ABC for something totally harmless.

Please please please please please let common sense and intelligence return to DC someday…

My $.02
Weed

Regarding Weed’s comment in the earlier post, I figured the convergence of “liberal” and “media” deserved its own blog entry.

Here’s a capture from today’s Star Tribune, the lead story on the front page…

*********************************** State ban on smoking heating up Conrad Defiebre, Star Tribune November 18, 2004

Proposals to extend indoor smoking bans to restaurants, bars and workplaces statewide are gathering interest from legislators, and some form could gain passage next year if backers can sway enough undecideds, a Star Tribune survey of the Legislature shows.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty has promised to sign such a bill should it pass, and the survey of more than three-quarters of the 2005 Legislature found significant numbers in each house at least open to the idea. The Star Tribune reached 52 of 67 senators and 103 of 134 House members.

Many legislators remain undecided, but those firmly opposed — largely Republican or outstate — do not appear to have the numbers to block a ban on their own.

In another sign of momentum for the initiative, a Republican House member, with the blessing of the GOP majority leadership, plans to introduce a smoking ban bill early in the session that opens Jan. 4.

***************************

You guys know I want the smoking ban more than anything, but talk about liberal bias in the media. I think what the paper did is terrible. Their front page lead story from this morning reports how the “state ban on smoking heating up” when it was their own survey they put in the field. That’s creating the news, not reporting it.

What makes it even more damaging to the paper’s reputation is that they released an editorial two days ago that called for a statewide ban. They went right from advocating for a statewide ban on smoking to putting 5 repoters in the state capital to conduct their own survey, and then lead the news with how a smoking ban is gaining traction. What traction? Your survey?

It’s this kind of crap that gives the media a bad name. How about just reporting the news and letting me make my own decisions. Report on the GOP majority interested in putting the bill in play and if you’re going to support it with a survey, do it with a survey from a public health care entity.

A couple days ago, Elton John was doing a television interview when he was asked about recent surgery to his vocal chords. Elton was asked whether his voice was stronger after the surgery.

Elton’s response was that his voice is stronger now than it has ever been in his life.

Dear Elton:

No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no .

I’m sorry, Elton, but I grew up on your albums, committed them to my personal spirit even, from your first album in the late 60’s through Goodbye Yellow Brick Road in the mid-70s. And I’m here to tell you that you are selling out when you make those kind of statements about your voice.

Because anyone who has the capacity to hear sound can listen to Honky Chateau, the album you recorded in one night, probably doped up and hammered, in which your powerful, clear contralto voice rocks like nothing ever before, and then can listen to the Lion King soundtrack, and wonder if it’s even the same person.

Elton, I saw you perform a corporate show for Best Buy last year. I stood 100 feet from the stage when you played for the small room. You sounded good, but it’s not anything like you were 25 years ago.

I call you a “sell out” because you make those types of statements and it’s like you’re still trying to make sure people buy albums and come to Vegas to see your show.

So if you read this blog, don’t go around making foolish statements about your voice like that.

And if you’re smart, you’d start working towards the 25th anniversary of the aforementioned GYBR and get a band together to tour with just songs from that album.

Call me if you need a bass player.

I ran across this interesting opinion piece the other day, and thought it worthwhile to post here. I was once a Rush-Limbaugh-Listening blue-collar worker who thought the only people that disagreed with right-wing political opinions were commie liberals. Considering my position change over the last decade, it’s an interesting read for me; hope it is for you, too.

(For those interested: Yes, I’m a Republican, and plan to continue to be so, working to reform injustices from the inside rather than hop to a party that’s only marginally different.)

My opinion? I’m glad we have strong differences of opinion in this country, because with such vehement disagreement, we can come to compromises that best benefit the population as a whole. It’s one reason I’m concerned about the Republican shift in the Senate, because now we have one party dominating two out of the three branches of government. And with conservative appointees certain to be rubber-stamped to the judiciary over the next four years, pretty soon one party will cover the third branch, too.

---

*A DAY IN THE LIFE OF JOE REPUBLICAN*
(Author unknown)

Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards. With his first swallow of coffee, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to insure their safety and that they work as advertised.

All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer’s medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance – now Joe gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs.

Joe’s bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry. In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained.

Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air. He walks to the subway station for his government- subsidized ride to work.

It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

Joe begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards.

Joe’s employer pays these standards because Joe’s employer doesn’t want his employees to call the union. If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, he’ll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some stupid liberal didn’t think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.

Its noontime and Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe’s deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Joe’s money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.

Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and his below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime.

Joe is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive.

His car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards. He arrives at his boyhood home.

His was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers’ Home Administration because bankers didn’t want to make rural loans. The house didn’t have electricity until some big-government liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural electrification.

He is happy to see his father, who is now retired. His father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn’t have to.

Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn’t mention that the beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day.

Joe agrees: “We don’t need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I’m a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have.”

So yesterday morning around 10 AM, I walked into my new offices with the large company I work for (who shall, as always, remain nameless in public). Interesting experience!

Part of the security procedure is a check-in, assigning a badge to an individual, and taking that person’s fingerprints. It’s part of the routine; in order to get into the server room floor, or certain parts of the building, you must not only have your badge, but also put your hand on a fingerprint scanner. It works fairly reliably, and is a sensible part of general security policy, which is “what you are, what you have, and what you know: choose to verify at least two of the three for reasonable security.”

So I’m chatting with the security guard, and he blurts out, “You sure seem a lot more like a salesman than a computer guy.”

<blink> <blink>

“No, really,” he goes on, “you seem to have the personality. You enjoy people; you should really consider a career in sales. It could be good for you.”

<blink> <blink>

“It’s financially rewarding, and really, it’s all about building good relationships. You seem to have that down pat.”

Fact: I hate sales. With a passion. It’s a necessary evil, I suppose, but it’s something I watched my Mom stress out over for twenty years. It’s not a place I’m interested in going. I’m a tech, and was pretty much really anti-social until 10th grade when I decided it was time to get some hygiene and get some friends.

“Well,” I responded, “I’ve been some sort of computer admin for about ten years now. I’m pretty good at what I do, and I enjoy it a lot.”

“Fair enough,” the portly security guard responded as he turned away to finish setting up my badge and handprint security settings, “but I think you’re missing out.”

The thing is, this wouldn’t have been so weird if I hadn’t felt like I’ve had this exact same conversation every place I’ve worked for the last ten years.

“Why are you a meter reader? You’d make a great salesperson.”

“Wow, Matt, you’re far too sociable and friendly for me to imagine you stuck behind a computer screen being a geek all day.”

“I think you got into the wrong career, son; you should have been a salesman.”

What is it? Is it my short hair? My slightly-plump friendliness? Reasonably good hygiene?

(Which reminds me, after putting my hand on the same hand scanner as everybody else in the building, I better go wash my hands. Ugh.)

It’s hard to develop a serious reputation as a UNIX geek extraordinaire when most people seem to think I’ve missed my calling!

OK, I mean it this time. The contract has been ratified, so if anything happens, we’ve got legal recourse.

We looked at 7 properties over the weekend and put in an offer for the last one. It’s a beautiful 3-bedroom house in Eldersburg, much bigger and nicer than the house we just lost. Yay!

We close December 13th! *whew*

Yes, you know you want to pop the bubble wrap now.

Today, for the first time, much like when I discovered how to tie my shoes, I had an epiphany:

I finally learned how to fold my shirts. You, too, can have l33t f0ld1ng sk1llz. Rock on!

Note to spouse: This doesn’t mean that I’ll be folding all my own shirts now. It just means I can no longer claim “it takes too long” or “I don’t know how” as a defense 🙂