Why I was gone...

I'd do the normal Friday Photo thing here, but I won't be posting the picture here.

Yesterday I went to Oklahoma with my mom to pick up something. On the way back, I took a picture. You can see the pic here.

She doesn't have a name yet, but she's a 7 week old bi-black (black and white) sheltie. My mom had wanted to get one for a long time and finally found one.

She's a real cutie and really sweet except for the time I pulled her out of the carrier just before we were going to stop to let her out to potty.

She ended up doing it on my leg.

Thank goodness I'd brought a change of clothes, huh?

An open letter to the far right of the Republican party

Dear far-right Republicans,

John McCain is the front-runner. He will very likely win the nomination.

Unless you really want Hillary or Obama to win the White House this November, I suggest you get over your hatred of McCain.

Signed,
Justin Yarbrough
South Park Republican

Not just congress...

But everything politics:

moar funny pictures

Updated: Fourth annual Super Bowl predictions

First, let's recap my record:

Last year: Three for three

Two years ago: Only got the winning team right.

Three years ago: Three for three.

But enough about the past.

The Game:

As much as I'd love to see the Giants win, I don't think they will. So I'm going to have to go with the Patriots to win.

The Spread:

New England is favored by 12 points. As many of you may remember, the Pats only beat the Giants by three during Week 17 in New York. I'm going with the Giants because I don't think that the game being at a neutral site will make a 9 point difference (if that makes any sense).

Over/Under:

The number's set at 55. The teams combined for 73 their last meeting so I can't see them having any trouble breaking 55. Over.

Update:

I'll be live-Twittering the game. Follow along here.

Update 2.0 (postgame):

WOW! JUST WOW!

I may have only gone one for three in my picks (only getting the spread) but I'll take it after watching that game!

A series of concentric circles

Gotta love The Onion:

Breaking News: Series Of Concentric Circles Emanating From Glowing Red Dot

Pop quiz

Q: How much change can you put in a wine glass?

A: About $37.00

Today I took my change collection to the grocery store and ran it all through the Coinstar machine there, asking for the money in an Amazon.com gift certificate (which is free). I was expecting there to be maybe $20 worth of change.

It came out to $36.99.

Then the machine phoned in to home and gave me a receipt with a code to type in on Amazon. Worked like a charm.

Hell, the machine even gave me a breakdown of the coins that I poured in on the receipt.

The continuing political drama that is my mind

As readers of mine know, I did a post on the presidential candidates.

Then I felt dirty about it.

Unfortunately, doing a post about politics is sort of like Pringles in that once you pop you just can't stop.

I keep desiring to do posts about politics because they're extremely easy this time of year as they will be until November.

But I hold back.

I hold back because I wanted it to be a fun place for my random and (all to rarely) funny musings.

Not about politics.

Hell, the only reason I did the fast food candidates post was because I thought it'd be a fun little funny post that made a point. And it accomplished that.

It's not easy to spit out posts like that. It was the kind of concept that doesn't hit me all too often.

It's just something I don't like blogging about.

Maybe I need more kittens to get this out of my system.

Nap time

Welcome to Friday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've taken with the world.

The weather's just miserable today. It's rainy and 39 outside right now and it's been like that all day.

Even the dogs are being lazy today:

Now go bundle up!

I didn't know Hitler was a Cowboys fan

(Spotted on The Bayou)

Of course, that makes the Cowboys losing to the Giants just that much better.

I feel so dirty...

...after doing a political post on Sunday.

I haven't blogged too much lately because I've been in the shower trying to scrub off that nasty stench that blogging about politics has left.

Anybody know of something that'll get off that stench?

Seriously.

Maybe this video of kittens playing will help:

Ah, yes, that does feel much better.

Regular blogging will resume tomorrow.

Ranking the fast food candidates

The Whopper I had for dinner tonight.

After last night, I must agree with my buddy K T Cat what Fred's candidacy is now more or less dead in the water. Just not his year I guess.

Picking from what's left and actually in it is going to be like picking between fast food joints when what you really want is a nice, big steak.

Now it's just a matter of figuring out which one of these candidates is more like Burger King (which is my preferred place) and least like McDonalds.

So let's take a look at the candidates and see what place they're most like:

• Mitt Romney: Is he even a real person? I mean seriously. He's the least genuine person I think I've ever seen. Just atrocious. Got to be McDonalds.
• Mike Huckabee: Fred established that Huckabee isn't a real Republican during the last debate. Basically he says he's good, but most of his stuff is crap. Sounds a lot like Jack in the Box to me.
• Rudy Giuliani: Good, but not the best. A bit messy since all you ever seem to hear about his credentials is 9/11. I'm sure the man did a lot more, but it doesn't seem like you ever hear about it. Sort of like Wendy's burgers, pretty good but too greasy.
• John McCain: Like all the others, he's not perfect. Yea, he doesn't believe in everything the Republicans stand for, but who does these days? Of the guys that are in it, he's the best fit for my beliefs and my own personal Burger King.

Maybe sometime I'll do the Democratic candidates, but I really don't feel up to pulling my hair out right now.

Taffy and the (formerly) squeaky toy

Welcome to Friday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've taken with the world.

Leave me alone, I'm playing with my hot dog.

First off, that's not really a hot dog. It's a Philly cheesesteak or something. And it's supposed to squeak.

I'd bought one of those the day before we got Bruiser so he'd have some toys and it (along with this rubber bone that came with it) are the longest-lasting toys we've ever bought the dogs.

Well, the day Taffy got here she got ahold of it, chewing it and breaking the little squeaker inside.

Later on, we'd bought another set of those and she broke the squeaker in that one the same day.

She's rough on those!

How you do a hockey fight in Texas

BAM!

That's just how we roll.

Word of the day

Today's word of the day is brought to you by The Bayou.

While I'll also admit that none of the candidates out there are perfect I think I've found my man.

Oh, you were expecting me to make a joke about his wife being the cure for another form of E.D. here, weren't you? Sorry, didn't want to go there.

The Bucket List

I really don't go see movies much, but today I went to see The Bucket List, the new flick with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, two of my favorite actors.

It's basically about two terminal cancer patients who leave the hospital to do things on their "Bucket List," their list of things they want to do before they die.

There's skydiving, racing classic cars, jet-setting, all that fun stuff. Then, towards the end, you see how that experience changes them and makes them better people for the time that they have left.

The movie wasn't terribly popular with critics. Nor should it have been. It's not the most realistic, most well-written movie ever. But it is cute. It'll make you laugh until you cry. It'll make you smile.

And it'll move you.

A definite must-see. I'd give it eight out of ten.

Also, see the movie poster made for I Can Has Cheezburger.

Playing the puck

Welcome to Friday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've taken with the world.

Wildcatters team captain Josh McNabb plays the puck along the boards while being defended by the Charlotte Checkers' Dusty Jamieson during the third period of their game Saturday, January 5th 2008. The 'Catters went on to win the game 4-1, extending their undefeated-in-regulation streak to 21 games, tying the league record.

We're going streaking!

For those of you that don't know (read: most of you), my Texas Wildcatters have gone 21 straight without a regulation loss, putting them in a tie for the league-best streak previously set by the now-defunct Richmond (VA) Renegades in 1995.

The local paper did a breakdown of how that streak compares to other notable local streaks. It's worth a read.

But we're the po-lice, we don't have to tell you who we beat the crap out of!

Beaumont city council makes us think there's something to hide:

In a 6-0 vote the City Council agreed that City Attorney Tyrone Cooper should pursue a lawsuit against Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott regarding an Enterprise request for Beaumont Police Department use-of-force reports.

[...]

Last month, Abbott issued a letter ruling that said the Police Department must release portions of its use-of-force reports.

In response, the city on Dec. 31 filed a lawsuit in an Austin district court to not release the information the city says is confidential.

Basically the Beaumont PD says that use-of-force reports are part of personnel files so they're not open to Freedom of Information Act requests.

For those that don't live here, Beaumont PD has a bit of a reputation as being... um... rough on people. And it looks like they don't want us to know about it.

If they don't want us to know, then they must have something to hide, right? Who knows, maybe they don't, but this move certainly makes it look that way.

I just hope that the case gets tossed out and the records open up.

<sarcasm> And that I don't get the crap kicked out of me for writing this if I get pulled over. </sarcasm>

Thank you, Microsoft! (Boy, I never thought I'd utter those words and mean it)

And more specifically to the Windows Live Writer team!

As y'all may or may not know, ever since I moved over to the custom domain that I'm on I was having problems with images I'd uploaded to Blogger through WLW.

Well, yesterday I finally thought to pop on the WLW help forum and ask around.

Through some working and experimentation, the solution was found.

Thanks to Joe and the rest of the team for all their help in getting this worked out.

Just having a word

Welcome to Friday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've taken with the world.

Wildcatters Tim Cook and team captain John Mcnabb share a word with each other during the third period of the 'Catters game against the Pensicola Ice Pilots on December 9, 2007. The Wildcatters went on to win the game 5-2

I had slim pickings from that game's set of pictures and I thought this one was halfway decent at least.