One hates to mention

(TN was Boring)

One hates to mention when the maps we are fed are wrong but can anyone see whats wrong here?
Could it be that the entire western coast of Canada is said to be ice free? Now one would hate to tell these nice people at the NOAA that take all our money and feed us back supposedly good information, that their program to read sea ice is wrong but perhaps this small picture can help them correct their error.

Webcam Location

Webcam picture
Maybe I'm insane but that does not look like open water to me. (yes it's suppose to be breaking up but it is there

DC to TN

I flew out to DC Friday the 13th, (woot!) and got to DC without incident and early by like 4 hours. Met up with E and had dinner than hit the hay. The next day was the big collection of Memorials and monuments, The Washington monument was bigger than I remembered and the walk was further than I remembered. Lincoln's temple (it's hard to call it anything other than that) is so moving, it's beautiful and elegant, everything you would want in a memorial to a man who endured what he did. I have to admit that I find it harder to ignore the death count this time, the true number of people who perished for ideology. I guess that's the Humanist growing in me.

Than we walked over the the Smithsonian Air and Space and ogled the rockets and planes. E's big dream was getting pictures of the moon lander, which we did, and I loved the pictures of the planets from the various satellites that we sent out. After that a trip back to the hotel, (we stayed at the GWU Double Tree which was really nice and inexpensive) took a nap than headed out for sushi, a dessert and a cool book store than gay'd out at the DC Eagle. I had a bit to drink and E claims I was too handsy :-) but my defense is that we were at the DC Eagle!! We also went to JR's which I really liked but E hated, and than walked up and down their gay street but ended up back at the Eagle, which all said, was a pretty nice place.
Sunday we split up for the morning and got back at lunch, after pictures at the white house, figured out there was no way we could see Avenue Q and the theatre, and
did the Arlington tour which was always impressive, somber and beautiful. Had dinner at Bistro Francias, which was delicious and spent the rest of the evening doing ...stuff : )

Okay than the next morning I went to Tennessee, which shall be the next post.

This is Me!

From the nice Tim at Ctr-alt
I'll post more on my trips here in a bit. Didn't felt very bloggy last week.

On traveling

Am traveling this week, after a long weekend with E in DC, it was a really nice Valentines weekend, in fact one of the best i've had. I'll post pixs when I get back home. TN is nice though chilly. And so far have had a good biz trip.

Okie Winds or Why I love this state some days

Had our first serious storm of the year, huge lightening a couple of tornadoes, lots of rain and some serious wind. A Chuckie cheese location had a wall collapse, so you'd think it was serious however the plant nursery that was next door had limited hail damage and lost a few plants. Lesson? Chuckie Cheese paid off their building constructor to use cheap stuff, so don't take your kids there!!

The stimulus pork pie is winding it's way through congress, even though I hear news report after news report lauding my customer base as the only safe industry, i still worry that the blow back is going to have serious repercussions on my life. first deflation, than massive inflation. sigh it's enough to make me want to move to an island and ride the whole thing out. To bad Boo wants to live some where cold.*grumble* First TurboTax Timmy wants us to believe that he had nothing to do with the first TARP, which he did, Second that his plan has nothing to do with the old plan, which it does, not only does the only parts of the "plan" that is real include sinking money into banks as their balance sheets get precariously short, but the parts that are 'new' are the same ideas that Paulson floated and just didn't have enough time to create.

For the record I think besides preventing runs on banks they should have let most of the big banks fail. Propping them up is no different than the slow and expensive disintegration of the auto industry that 'surprise' we are also supporting with no end in sight. When there is no consequence to failure, there is no need to succeed.

Ugh I know in the end we will survive it and float back to the top, I am just not looking forward to our lost decade as politicos steal while calling it necessary, all the time lining their pockets as their citizens go bankrupt. I have travel plans...

good news...hmm need to finish this off on a up note.
I have a sweet tax return, two months of commission checks and a ticket to DC with E for Valentines day. Than three days of travel in TN visiting customers and kissing babies. Things could be worse.

Guess who's still a douche

Sally Kern
Also I would like to make another plea to her son that moved to Iowa and swears that he is abstinent now, please smack your mother.

you know you want to touch the button

Antibiotics and two trips to the doctors

I'm still not sure i want to write about this it's kinda gross. But i suppose in some way this is all catharsis or what not.
So I worked out M,T,W, and F of last week, Saturday comes around and I'm a little sore but in a good way, or so I thought, I was definitely feeling it around the naval (I'm not going to type belly button I'm just not going to do it)which is pretty normal for me. I spend the whole day cooking and and on my feet and I'm pretty exhausted at the end of the day. I'm still a bit sore but think little of it. Sunday rolls around and I'm still sore, I start to think it's odd but wonder if my belt jammed up in my naval or something, I'm starting to keep an eye on it. I spend the night at E's and drive back in the morning. My naval region is still sore, big warning sign for me and it hurts every time I sit or stand. I'm starting to get concerned when i pull up my shirt and see that it's all red and hot to the touch. That's not normal. So after work I head to the doctors, the urgent care centers in OK, rock and despite the fact it's standing room only because of a huge amount of flu cases I'm in and out in an hour and a half and total cost with medicine was $28.50. The PA in residence has decided that it's cellulitis and entered thru my naval. gosh that's just great, it really hurts AND it's totally disgusting. The next day was the worst though, though there were no obvious wound or entry point the internal pus leaked out (this is actually a really good thing) and I had to clean it out and saline the area. for the record I totally used the little switch in your head that you have to use when it's just to much to think about. The thing has been better since than, the swellings gone down, the redness is fading, and it's only a tad painful. I'm just thankful to be on the tail end of the experience and that everything is healing properly.
My nurse friend surmises that I probably picked up the nasty at the gym and that it's just been hanging around waiting for an opportunity. I buy that and realize the many vectors that could contribute. I don't think I'll change anything in my routine just yet, though I might wash out my naval with saline from time to time out of simple fear and loathing. Washing your sheets more, trying not to reuse gym cloths. I might look into and anti bacterial laundry soap as well.


Okay there is my tale.

Taxes

Does anyone in government pay taxes anymore?

Food, Food, ever where but not a bit to eat

so in an effort to feed the man friend during his final week of studying I worked Saturday and sunday to cook a week of meals and such for him. Than went up and stayed at his place Sunday. We cooked the final proteins (chicken) up there and munched on rice and freshly made hummus. his bedroom is frigid, I don't think there is any insulation in the walls so we ran a space heater and an electric blanket. Not that one would need it after he gets in bed, he's pretty warm blooded and sweats in even cold temps. So lets see this weekend I made

Seafood Salad
A huge batch of Tabouli
Baked Fish Putanesca
Red Dal with Chilies
sauted peppers with onions (side dish for the Chicken)
Hummus and rice
Peeled and cleaned two grapefruits
Cleaned grapes
portioned out Crackers

Hopefully this will keep E feed and healthy and cut back on his midnight fast food runs which I think is contributing to some fatigue and general malaise.

Also watched most of the original "Kindred" series on the Chiller network sunday while cooking. You know for all it's weakness it wasn't totally a waste. I think properly handled it could have had a better life span but I don't think network TV was the best way forward. Trying to explain about Vampire clans and why they only burst into flame when their blood points went low was just too much for the Fox writers.