Grab me down my walking cane....
7/14/2009
2 times...
Well, the improbable has happened. Again. The girls s'ball team went way down into the lion's den last night in Albia and came away with a huge win, 4-2. We beat Albia last year to make it to state at a neutral field and had to play them again last night on their home field. We were underdogs then, and were even bigger underdogs last night against the 6th ranked team in the state.
To say Albia was stunned would be an understatement. You coulda heard a pin drop on their side of the field. Actually, no you couldn't, the MP girls were making WAY too much noise.
Albia had a great crowd on hand to support their girls, but our 8th grade pitcher didn't break, and the defense played nearly perfect to cover her. Of course, MP had a good crowd showing as well. A bus was chartered so people wouldn't have to drive and could consume adult beverages on the way down. And consume they did. And consume and consume. I abstained since it was Monday. Not that I'm opposed to a good adult beverage (and there were some good ones going down). And no one got out of hand or anything, so it was a good time. We were a loud crowd, though.
So, tomorrow night, we get to face Wilton for the 3rd time this year--winner on to state. We've met them twice this year. We got pounded in the first meeting, and went to an extra-innings loss in the 2nd, so it's on them to beat us for a 3rd time. We know how that can go, losing at state to Solon last year after beating them twice during the regular season.
Emmie is getting excited to potentially go back to the state tourney. She's at 95% strength since she's been back from having mono. Her hitting is a bit rusty from lack of opportunity, but she has her legs back. She got to get into the game and had a great steal home on a passed ball to score a run in the 2nd inning on a really close play with a picture perfect slide that had her trailing foot high, knocking the ball out of the catchers glove. (Attagirl!)
Hmm
What do you do when you have 4,000,000 match sticks and a bit of time on your hands? Well, you could make a really hot fire, or you could do this:
Here.
7/13/2009
Proposed Net Nanny Law
Here is the language in the bill [HR 1966]:
a) Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication, with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person, using electronic means to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.
(b) As used in this section-
(1) the term ‘communication’ means the electronic transmission, between or among points specified by the user, of information of the user’s choosing, without change in the form or content of the information as sent and received;
(2) the term ‘electronic means’ means any equipment dependent on electrical power to access an information service, including email, instant messaging, blogs, websites, telephones, and text messages.’.
So, if someone doesn't like your 'opinion' of something, they can press charges against you? This seems way too open to intrepretation for good law.
Well, it was a nice weekend. We didn't have anything on the agenda now that s'ball is in regional and district play (for those interested, MP won their 2nd regional game on Friday night over Pekin and we're headed to Albia tonight). So Theresa, Emmie, and I, along with Gracie the dog, threw a few fishing poles in the 'burb and headed down to Belva Deer on Saturday afternoon.
It was a beauty of a day. Lots of people down there. Not the best fishing conditions--very sunny and warm, so we didn't have much luck (I did manage to land a nice catfish which we threw back in). But we did have fun hanging out in the sun and listening to the huge bullfrogs splash into the lake.
We had so much fun that we decided to go back Sunday morning and try the fishing thing again. Emmie's friend, Zach, came along with us. Well, I still didn't catch a darn thing--although it wasn't for lack of bites. I just couldn't land a darn thing. Had several largemouth and a nice bluegill or 2 jump off the hook just as I was landing them. And I spent a good half hour fighting a turtle. Finally I got impatient and the damn line snapped.
Emmie, on the other hand, had a good day, landing several largemouth that were keeper size (15 inches +). We did the catch and release thing since I really don't care to clean fish unless there are a bunch and it's been years since I've done it. I think she caught 5 in all. She was happy as heck.
Gracie loves the water. I've wanted to get her down to the lake for a while now. She was kind of tentative on Saturday, so I basically threw her in off the shore. Once she was in, she looked at me like "hey, this feels kinda good". By yesteday, she was going in herself, having a ball.
Tonight, we're headed down to Albia for a 3rd round s'ball game against Albia. Should be a tough match-up. Need 2 more wins to head back to state. Not going to be easy...
Czar Crazy
As pointed out earlier, Obama has appointed 32 'czars' covering everything from health to cars to the environment. Here's what his 'science czar' thinks when he believes no one is paying attention:
On forced abortions:
Indeed, it has been concluded that compulsory population-control laws, even including laws requiring compulsory abortion, could be sustained under the existing Constitution if the population crisis became sufficiently severe to endanger the society.
On government confiscation of babies:
One way to carry out this disapproval might be to insist that all illegitimate babies be put up for adoption — especially those born to minors, who generally are not capable of caring properly for a child alone. … It would even be possible to require pregnant single women to marry or have abortions, perhaps as an alternative to placement for adoption, depending on the society.
On targeted involuntary sterilization:
The development of a long-term sterilizing capsule that could be implanted under the skin and removed when pregnancy is desired opens additional possibilities for coercive fertility control. The capsule could be implanted at puberty and might be removable, with official permission, for a limited number of births.
On mass involuntary sterilization:
Adding a sterilant to drinking water or staple foods is a suggestion that seems to horrify people more than most proposals for involuntary fertility control. Indeed, this would pose some very difficult political, legal, and social questions, to say nothing of the technical problems. No such sterilant exists today, nor does one appear to be under development. To be acceptable, such a substance would have to meet some rather stiff requirements: it must be uniformly effective, despite widely varying doses received by individuals, and despite varying degrees of fertility and sensitivity among individuals; it must be free of dangerous or unpleasant side effects; and it must have no effect on members of the opposite sex, children, old people, pets, or livestock.
Pay no attention folks....it's just the socialist utopia being planned for you...
7/10/2009
Well, tourney play is underway and MP took an easy 10 run win from Sigourney last evening. Kinda bittersweet-I know several kids on the Sigourney team and it would have been nice for them to put up a better showing. Chloe Meyers was behind the plate for the Savages (I guess they threw off the 'Savage Cobra' moniker because they just have 'Savages' on the uniforms now--prolly be some pissed off non-Native Americans that'll make a stink about it at some point). Chloe did a great job--she's a sweetie that we've known since she was just a little tyke.
Tonight, weather permitting, it's Pekin in Kalona. In doubt, though--it's rained 3 times already today. More on the way, it looks like. Things gotta be getting a bit soggy.
No big plans this weekend. As I said earlier, I'd like to hit some water somewhere and throw a line in and let Gracie run around all afternoon. I do believe the lawn needs mowed again, too. Imagine that. Everything is still really green around here--no mid summer drought happening. Suppose that's good, but we're getting just a bit too much rain.
I see Kenny Wayne Shepard is at the casino in a few weeks. Got invited to sit at the sound board for the show last night. May do that, not sure. Merle Haggard is over there tonight. Supposed to be outside, but that looks a bit soggy.
Opening up for him is the Trailer Choir. Here's a bit of what they do:
And just to prove that they can get all sweet if they want to:
Have a great weekend!!!!
7/09/2009
Well, another Thursday here. Glad the week is almost over. No plans for the weekend, which suits me just fine. I think if it's nice that I'm going to see who in the family wants to head out for some water action. I'm thinking fishing or boating/swimming. Emmie usually loves to drown worms so I bet she'll be up for that. Maybe Theresa will come along to catch some rays. It was September last year before Emmie and I found time for our annual fishing expedition. Try to get it in earlier this year.
Think I'll take Gracie along. She loves the great outdoors and would have a blast down at Belva Deer.
Here, this'll help get that hip-hop taste outta your mouth:
Checking it with the boys
Well, it's been a while since I've posted the boys stuff on here, but they put together a buzz-generating single with MILLZ that's getting airplay on XM and 10 other broadcast stations from Florida to Oregon. So, here's 'Gentleman'. Produced by Vice Squad (Jake and Ben) in the basement.
7/08/2009
7/07/2009
Well, another 4th of July has come and gone. And a nice one, if not a bit wet, it was.
The band was in Belle Plaine on Friday night. It was threatening to be a washout--the radar was solid green all they way to Colorado. But, it only sprinkled all night until we were on the way home. Good night...nice people, fun town. Before we set up, they were having a car show and burnout competition on main street. Yep, on main street. Had some good ones, too!
Jennifer and Al and family were there, back from down south for a bit. It was great to see them, especially Al, who has been fighting a bout of cancer since he returned from fighting the Taliban. Thanks to Barb, for having us up there. We had fun. Stevie was along to run sound and do a mini-set of songs with us, which is cool, as always.
Across the street from where we were set up in Belle Plaine was, of all things, a custom guitar shop. DoubleXX Guitars. This guy, Walter, has a shop there where he makes guitar bodies. He handed me one to play and it was really well put together. If you go to their site, it was the red one hanging on the bottom row of guitars on the left. It was really light-weight and had a great tremelo system without a locking nut that came back into tune really well. The neck was nice and slim, which is how I prefer them. Price? $200. I'll be back up there when I have more time to spend.
The night of the 4th, we were over at What Cheer for their town celebration. It was a bit wet in the park where were were set up, but a nice tent with a plywood over pallets stage was great to play at. Nice bunch of folks over there. It'd been a while since we played 2 nights back to back. I remember why. But it's nice to know we can still do it, it was quite a workout.
I did manage to get some stuff done around the house, too, including cleaning up the Suburban. It needed a good washing and vacuuming. Mission accomplished.
Now--back to work. *sigh*
7/01/2009
"Oh, you mean he's not wearing any clothes?"
Yep, the old bloom is falling off the Gorebal Warming scare. Wonder why you haven't seen AlGore anywhere lately? It's because he realizes that the backlash is beginning. People are seeing thru the politicized junk science that is man-made global warming. Here. Read about it. Hope Al is ready to go thru the rest of his life labeled as the moron he is.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
