Then To Now: 17 Years In Photos

I'm not big on having pictures of me taken. I don't know why. It may be from being in a photo lab during one of my first jobs and the camera people needing fresh subject matter. Anyhow, I recently mentioned finding some old photos of myself and decided to put them in a sort of timeline.



Mom found this one and gave it to me as part of my birthday gifts. Here I am 1990 prior to senior prom. Yes, that is a mullet. I spent the next few years growing the front out even longer before getting a job requiring that change. The photo was taken at our house by Mom. For some reason, I think that I look tired and too thin... that's probably just me.


My date that night was my friend Pam. I think this was taken while we were at dinner at the Geisha Steakhouse but then again both of us have copies of this polaroid (I warned her that the photo was going up and she remembered having it also.) I had a good time but still feel guilty that we didn't leave my prom sooner so she could see some people at hers (I went to Bonanza while she was at Clark.) We saw her classmates leaving as soon as we got there.


This is my first and only self-photo. had to be taken about 8 years ago. I was still wearing a lot of black. Still my favorite color but I dress for comfort at home more often now. For some reason, I believe I was on my way out to karaoke at a place called Bob's Paradise (which was just a few blocks away) to meet some friends from AOL.


Mafioso? Well, that's kind of how I felt wearing this suit (left the jacket off for the photo.) Dad took this one. We were at our room in New York prior to attending Tony Bennett's 80th birthday party. Possibly one of my favorite trips. Maybe I still enjoy wearing a lot of black.

Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed this then-to-now view of my photo history. Someday, I'll probably retrieve my favorite photo back (shows my hair at its longest and my gray-green duster.) So, for those who have wondered what I look like, the veil is lifted.

No Logic In Technologic

As many of you know, I'm a huge fan of Tivo. Sure, I have a DVR also but that would be a Tivo if the new HD channels coming to DirecTV would work with the new HD Tivo. I digress. I also mentioned my issues with my Tivo recently. So, a little IR education and then something to make you scratch your head.


What you see here is a wire that runs from the back of the Tivo to your satellite or cable box. When you press a button to change channels on your Tivo remote, it sends a signal to the infrared lights at the end of the line telling the box to change channels (as if you changed them with the remote for the box.) This is very important to have working well. If it doesn't, Hell's Kitchen will not record because the box doesn't get the message from the Tivo that it needs to change channels. Instead you get an infomercial or something that ticks you off. The covering on the bottom picture is called an IR tent. If you have fluorescent lights in the room, having one of these will block the light from interfering with the signal.



What you see here is the setup in my bedroom. Satellite box on top of the Tivo on the first shelf and DVD player/burner on top of the VCR one shelf down. As you can see, the IR cables and tent aren't hooked to the front of the satellite box currently. I gave up trying to fix it as it wouldn't change to the right channel or sometimes not even change channels. Tivo decided to send me a new set of IR cables because they can't be purchased at retail stores. In the meantime, to record a show, I'd have to set the receiver to one channel before going to work so it would record a specific show that evening. (Sure, I could set it up in the living room but I watch a lot of TV in my bedroom while on the computer.) Well, I found that the IR cables were still sending a signal changing the channel away from what I had on there when attached. Hence, I missed Hell's Kitchen and will watch it on Kerry's Tivo.

Now, go back to that picture. See the little cables dangling off the shelf to the right. Those are the IR cables. I decided to just pull them off the receiver until the new ones came so it wouldn't affect my recording (manually changing using the receiver remote) and draped them over the right side so it wouldn't have a chance of changing channels on me. (Zoom in on the photo and take a look and you should see two wires dangling from the Tivo over the side.) Here's what I find myself unable to fathom: it now works this way...without the light from the IR facing the IR sensor on the satellite receiver. All this trouble trying to line up the light coming to the sensor from the two bulbs at the end of the wires were useless. Essentially, it is like having problems with your home phone, you unplug it from the wall and it works fine this way. There is no sensible reason for it to work as the light needs to hit the sensor and it isn't RF (radio frequency.) I received my new cables from Tivo in yesterday's mail. I don't want to mess with something that is working even though, logically, it shouldn't. Those cables are going to sit for awhile. Freaky, I tell ya.

Life Update: 073107

Ok, I've been really disorganized and busy. Meaning that I get a few things done but nothing that I should in no particular order. So, here are a few things that are going on and have gone on recently:

Celebrated my birthday with Kerry prior to her heading off to Washington with her sister and all the kids to see her dad. We went to Lindo Michaocan (I think I told you about the place before) and then to see Love. Both of us thought it was an OK show. Kind of a let down as I believed there was something amazing dragging people there but it seemed more like a mish-mash of circus meets hippie visuals. Just really felt bad for the guy walking around with flowers looking for love. Great music, Beatles talking snippets and shadows of the band trying to cross Abbey Road.

Had lunch with Lloyd and Teri. I have already forgotten the name of the restaurant (Border something) but it really draws families. Jacob was very active and with all the other children there, he always had something to watch. Food was pretty good when they got the order right (the chicken from Lloyd's burrito must have been hiding but 4 lettuce leaves do not make a 'side salad.') They gave me the next E. E. Knight book (Valentine's Resolve) and bookplates... I'm still stunned. Have I said that I am lucky to have them in my life? Well, they don't read the blogs as much as they used to, so they may not see this.

I had a 4-day weekend that included the birthday. Didn't start work on my bathroom (that'll be another post as Blogger ate the first one.) I did clean up the pine needles and trash from the front yard, finished my Harry Potter book and started Booker T. Washington's Up From Slavery.

Spent Sunday with the family. Usually we do birthday parties on Sundays as they seem to be the best day for us to all get together. I got to spend time with all the kids... should have brought the camera. Received some nice gifts. Luggage from my brother and sister, monetary donations from the parents, cookies from Grandma and Grandpa, a Raiders mug from Shawna and Dave and photo additions to my collection from Mom. It seems that she had another picture of me before I left for the prom. So, that'll be scanned with the other one I mentioned earlier. (Think mullet.) I had a great time there and keep thinking that I'd love to have the family like that together more often.

Things should calm down shortly as I've been preparing for a few other upcoming projects. I need to review Prince's Planet Earth album. On Thursday, my friend Daniel will be taping an episode of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and we will be holding a gathering of minds for his "phone-a-friend" lifeline. I'm expecting he will call us on the final question just to let us know he won the big bucks. I also have to fix the IR blaster on my Tivo. They are sending a replacement but it explains why I missed Hell's Kitchen last night (thankfully it's on Kerry's and we'll see it when she gets back.) I've also been utilizing my MySpace page. It's a good way to communicate with the people you don't see as often as you'd like. The only negative is when my brother Mike decides to put a topless photo up... I feel less masculine with that up in the Top Friends area.

Otherwise, life is good. Trying not to eat after I get home. It's amazing how hard that is. Anyhow, I hope you are all doing well.

Classically Martin: Ministry - Stigmata

Blogger ate my post from a few days ago. Don't have much time to retype it, so I have decided to put another favorite video up. It's not for the weak of heart. I remember seeing "Stigmata" on MTV's 120 Minutes and my stepfather walked in the room. Even though he liked heavy metal, the song was a big too much for him. I believe this song started my interest in Industrial music. Something about the groove and post-apocalyptic visuals. May grate on the nerves of soft rock fans.

Classically Martin: The Connells - '74-'75

I've never been able to flesh out a full top 10 list of my favorite artists. This probably comes from a reluctance to not have someone in the list that deserves a spot. I have mentioned two previously: the Jean-Paul Sartre Experience and Skinny Puppy. They hold down the top spots, respectively.

One band that I can tell you belongs there, would be The Connells. If you are again scratching your head wondering if you have heard of them, it is possible. The North Carolina band have a alt-country pop flair that can be likened to Toad The Wet Sprocket and seen as a R.E.M. step-child. I found out about them when their single "Stone Cold Yesterday" from their 1990 album One Simple Word was getting airplay on our college station KUNV. I kept adding their music to my collection but have yet to get to their earlier albums (they're on my Amazon wishlist, though.) Anyhow, they scored their biggest hit in 1993 off their Ring album. The song "'74-'75" was a smash hit in Europe (topping the charts in several countries.) Actually, if you are look at the top of the video it says that it was #5 in VH1's list of One Hit Wonders... I'm guessing VH1 U.K. Another big song off that album, "Slackjawed," received heavy U.S. airplay on alternative radio. The band is still around and are re-doing their Web site... which may mean a new album. Good stuff. Enjoy.

Public Service Announcement

Was re-watching an episode of the Venture Brothers and was reminded how important the scrotum can be. Feel free to read this report from the Scrotal Safety Commission to ensure their proper care and handling.

All Geeked-Up

86% GeekMingle² - Free Online Dating



It's all Lora's fault. I saw that she took this quiz and I had to give it a go. I don't know if having that much of a geeky side is that good but it is what it is. At least 14% of me has a life. hahaha

Magic Numbers

I've always heard about there being powerful numbers. Maybe it was Stephen King's It where the group of 7 thwarted an evil creature only to be picked off to 3 about 28 years later by the... well, I don't want to ruin that book for you. Needless to say, 5 is also looked at as a power number. (Could be something to do with prime numbers.) And on 7/5/07, my niece Jillian Cecilia Hennessy was born. I got the call about the birth of my 4th niece (2 via Matt and 2 via Michelle) from my brother Matthew at 9pm (about an hour after she was born) while on my lunch break. Pictured above is Jilly (which her mom likes as a nickname or J.C. as I've already enjoyed calling her) with her mother Elizabeth. My brother Matt was off getting a refrigerator fixed (warranties are good but don't pay for spoiled food) and missed the photos. They should be heading home on 7/7/07.



If you remember any of the previous photos I posted when Jilly's older sister (just shy of 2 years apart) Mia, you may notice the red around her left eye looks vaguely similar. Both also had that olive complexion (with pink areas) and lots of dark hair. It seems that Mia is pretty excited about the companion as she came by and couldn't keep her hands off her sister. I stopped in the next day to see them, drop off a little stuffed pink kitty and take these photos. Life is pretty darn good as I can knock on wood that we have some healthy kids so far making up the next Hennessy generation. Heck, the 4 in mine have no major health problems and so far the 5 (possibly 6) of this next one are doing outstanding.

I talked to Beth while there and told her something that I've thought about for a long time. I want to be the uncle that I never really had around. Sure, I was able to see Billy a few times while growing up but not enough. I think that it may have given me another way to view and appreciate my father. So, Uncle Martin plans to be very active with his 4 nieces and 1 nephew (oh, poor Connor.)

...Meanwhile, you've heard about all those weddings taking place on 7/7/07. There will be so many in Vegas that I'll be rushing off after my podcast at noon to help a resort handle a record number of them. No, I won't be performing services but... well that's a story for another day.

When The Walls...Come Tumbling Down

The garage sale went better the second day. You see, I had a lot of furniture items and those don't always appeal to garage sale shoppers. But, I also put newer signs up that made the traffic easier. My sign from Rainbow (a major street) was intercepted by another garage sale sign which sent traffic away from my destination. More traffic came by after the new signs went up and I sold the big items that I needed to get rid of. Better yet, while cleaning, I found a few old photos of myself (as I've said, I don't take many) and will post them in the future.

I also got a little bit of yard work done in the back of the house. Which leads me to another issue: The Wall. Far from a Pink Floyd-ism, my neighbor has a pine tree planted in the corner of their yard. The roots have pushed the back wall behind our houses back where at some point it may fall on the neighbors behind and below our properties. The bricks you see on the ground, there on my side of the wall, were pushed over by a few big dogs next door as they want to play with the cats that find their way to my yard.



I know that the proper thing to do is go over to the neighbor's house and ask them about what is going on with their side of the wall. Of course, I'm not one for confrontation over something that I know little about and am unsure of when it comes to property rights. I was advised to talk to Las Vegas code enforcement. They take the call as anonymous but I figure that they will know it is my house as the bricks are here already. Yet, the wall is starting to give behind their house which may confuse. The neighbors with the pine tree are the same ones that have those dinosaurs I showed you.


There are several reasons for my concern when it comes to the wall at this time:

1) I don't want it to fall and not have the source noted
2) I don't want to have to pay to fix something that I didn't break
3) I have decided to sell my house soon and I know that this issue may keep that from happening.

It's going to be hard enough to sell my house with the neighbor's house having a trailer parked in front and a dinosaur in their front yard (they moved the triceratops.) Having a possible lawsuit (if the wall falls), possible need to pay a contractor to fix (if no party is found liable) and possible shouting match with a neighbor are not on my "Looking Forward To" list. I'm just curious how code enforcement looks into this and how the neighbors will react.

Selling The Drama

Craigslist.org is a very interesting place. I like to think of it as 'local eBay without paying fees and the ability to see the product before paying.' I've picked up a lot of different things there and sold several. Heck, I got rid of all my sod after converting the lawn with a post minutes after the work was done. Anyhow, I'll be using it for something new this week... a garage sale.

I've never been big on placing ads in the newspaper. I think it comes down to paying someone to list something that may or may not be seen by anyone that day. This will be my first garage sale and of course I'll be placing signs from the major streets heading to my house (don't need too many thankfully) as well as a notice on Craigslist. Nice to be able to put photos up there so someone can see if it is worthwhile to even drive by. Should be holding it on Saturday morning until I start the podcast. If I have a lot left over, Sunday also. This is going to help thin out things here at the house for my next major project which I'll bring up when things fall into place. I took Friday off to go through the house looking for useless stuff to get rid of (including: dining room table, entertainment center, Marantz stereo equipment, bunk bed, computer parts/software and many other things that I haven't even considered yet.)

Anyhow, this should explain a bit of the rushed feeling that I've been experiencing lately. The move to the new computer has gone great. That has been a chore (it took 8 dual layer DVDs to back up my iTunes files and move them to the new computer) and most of it is set up the way that I want to. Small problem with copying photo files from one window to the other but it could be a corrupt file or something. Skype worked well although there was some static at first but that could be because (although they work) there aren't any drivers for my headset (or printer) as of yet. Now I just need to pare down my iTunes tracks so I can update the iPod.

Digital Transfer

It's very easy to say that I've been busy. I've got a lot of projects going on and some just about to start. Today, I decided to talk about one of them -- the computer. I had a lot of issues recently when recording my podcasts. I can't say that technical support has been effective at all. So, I had to step back and think around the issue. This culminated in the purchase of a new computer from Apex Computers.

Before you say "Who?", it might bear explaining that I think that most computers you purchase at the store have too much junk on them. One that has you register separate parts with the company, a program or two that boot up that you know you don't want, e-mails from the company telling you that your trial-software should be upgraded for $29.95... Anyhow, have avoided that for over a decade now by going to the same little store (in Las Vegas) where my friend Tracy used to work. Good people that haven't done me wrong.

So, yesterday before work, I picked up my new monster. Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 processor, 2GB memory, two 320GB Western Digital hard drives, a DVD drive, a DVD burner, an Nvidia 8500 video card, card reader, sleek black case and... Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64-Bit. That latter part is rather interesting as you will want the more processor-heavy programs to take full advantage of the faster bus speed but some of those programs are only 32-Bit. I'm sure they'll get with the program sooner or later though. I was up until 10am installing software. I'm impressed so far but then again, new computers always run really fast for a month or two.

Should be interesting to see how recording the show works this week. But for now, I'll be going between my computers with a 4GB USB card moving files over. I have a ton of media files on the other hard drives (150GB and 250GB.) My external 250GB hard drive has issues also as it hasn't been working for the last few weeks. It'd be a lot easier just using that as a medium. (Which reminds me that the previous computer is having issues with burning DVDs as I need 14 to back up my iTunes.) This will be a headache but I can see a lot of good in the future. I've already had my first errors as I move files from the card to the new drives. It pretty much fails here and there putting files across mentioning an error code that the Vista website doesn't recognize. Brilliant. It's just going to take adjustment. My fingers are crossed though.

I also have a few other projects in the works. I need to hold a garage sale next weekend (30th/1st). No computers are going but I need to run around the house and really unclutter some things. Charity already got the shirts from RockStar. Other projects include 'the wall' which I'll explain in detail soon and storing some of the household items that I don't use to unclutter the house.

Reno Education

I previously mixed a post about Information Society with one about driving to win back the girl. I'm finally going to end that story. I was in my first apartment, a little heartbreak with a girl that ran off to school in Reno to her boyfriend after I drove off to try to change her mind in Arizona (my first solo road trip.) I had then sold my car, lost my job and had a flood in the apartment which damaged all my furniture and anything near the floor -- forcing me to move somewhere else or pay damages to the management company. The story continues...

After a few calls, I had reconnected with M.B. (names abbreviated to protect the unaware) and she planned to stop back in Vegas during her break. She had dismissed the boyfriend and wanted me in her life. I had just recovered from some financial issues. I was living with Mom and had been saving money that I was making at a steak house (they had the best cream of chicken soup.) I had also purchased a nice used 1988 Toyota pickup. M.B. was heading back to Reno for classes and I was really tempted to follow her. I did. Well, at first it was a short stay during her birthday. But in the back of my head, I knew that I'd be up there soon. I saved a few thousand dollars and found out from M.B. that my former roommate/co-worker D.G. was heading up there for school also. So we wound up loading his things in the truck as well as mine for the drive north.

It was spring and cooler than Vegas. M.B. and I decided that I needed a place as her parents would probably yank her college funding if a guy was living with her. D.G. already had a place that he was going to stay. I went for what I could, a small little trailer that someone was renting a room out of. I gave him my deposit and had remorse about the deal later, giving up the deposit. I made a deal with D.G. to split rent and would sleep on the sofa bed.

This worked well for awhile. D.G. worked for the photo company we both did in Vegas at the Reno location. I held down a few part-time jobs (K-Mart dock worker, change person at Fitzgeralds, valet person at a downtown hotel and runner/detailer at a rent-a-car company.) Dad was nice enough to help me with tuition for my first classes. D.G. was going to UNR with M.B. while I went down the road to TMCC. We split the bills evenly and had some good times. I tried to give M.B. a little room to study as she had quite a workload at that time.

Things started going bad when D.G. stopped working. After going through his bank account, he sold some rare coins left to him and made calls to his parents for money when needed. Needless to say, things started getting lopsided. He had more free time with some bills getting paid late while I was working and going to classes. In one of my dumbest moves ever, I agreed when he said, "They are going to shut off the phone and power. Why don't we put them in your name instead so we can keep them on?" Heck, we did that with the apartment too. D.G.'s car was uninsured and unregistered now while parked in front of our apartment.

Things weren't going so well with M.B. I was busy and some classes had ended so she had some free time. She and Dave would go off for walks near the botanical park. I chalked that up to him needing someone to talk to as he was financially falling apart and probably not going to be able to continue school. He obviously wasn't going to tell me that himself. It was shortly after that M.B. and I had a little talk about where things were between us and ended it.

I was still working and had only a few months left to finish my classes. Sure, my reason for being in Reno was lost but I knew that I could still accomplish my goal. I just wasn't as aware of how bad D.G.'s financial situation was getting (no work, no income...) I had several of the same friends as M.B. and D.G. up there. L and L were very good friends of mine that worked with her at our former job and lived not too far away. I'd see them every week or so. Her roommate K.R. graduated with me (as did D.G.) and shared a lot of musical interests notably Depeche Mode. She and another girl that I remembered from school had a few friends that they'd get together here and there.

I was over at a birthday party with those friends when K.R. came in and needed to talk. Essentially, she walked into the house and heard the bath running and figured that M.B. was home early. Then she heard a second voice... D.G.'s. Many things went through my head. Of course, I was disturbed by this but heck D.G. had a lot of free time and I didn't. By the time I got back to the apartment (M.B. and K.R. lived in the same complex), M.B. wanted to talk. That was the last thing that I wanted to do. Of course she was worried about D.G. I made that pretty easy as I moved out after finding a place that I could pay weekly.

The last time that I would see D.G. was on my drive back to Vegas. He needed a ride. I never discussed the topic during the hours in the car. It was between M.B. and myself. Sure, my respect had slowly diminished for him (monetary) and disappeared after the other incident. Years later, I left a letter at his parents house just to let him know that all is well. I never heard from either of them again. Knowing they are alive and well would be nice.

But I learned a lot in Reno. Life lessons. You can't run from your problems and have to own them. Trust is earned and can be destroyed easily. I accrued a lot of debt and bad credit. You didn't think that the rent, power or phone were paid after I left, did you? I remember trying to purchase a house several years later and finding a laundry list of debts that needed to be paid. I'm better off for it as getting the house at that time would have been a mistake. Anyhow, I don't hold myself blameless for Reno and my relationships at the time. I'm sure that I had to have done or not done something to lead to some of these issues. I do think that this is probably one of those reasons that I think going to college out-of-state can be a good chance to learn about yourself.

Otherwise, Reno was a beautiful city. Oddly enough, Las Vegas started building a 215 years later and it reminded me of McCarran which is a street that circles Reno. It made a lot of sense there. Ice on the roads freaked me out a little. I'm a warm climate person. When I smell pine, I still think of nearby Incline Village.

Life Update - 060107

A lot has been going on with a feeling of being backlogged mounting (some of them don't really deserve their own post anyhow.) So, that means it's time for an update. But, I'll be asking a question at the end, so feel free to help me with what goes in my next post.

• Grandpa is doing amazingly well after everything. I think the only thing that has changed is his hearing has gotten a bit worse. He and Grandma have a thing for bingo and happen to be pretty lucky in the game recently.
• I've come to the decision that I need to have a garage sale in the next month or so. I have a lot of junk that can easily go and they only clutter the house right now. Probably on a Sunday and maybe a Saturday (if I can work around the podcast.)
• I've discovered that I really enjoy the interviews that I do during the podcast but they take a lot of work. There are some possible ones coming but technical difficulties with Skype have me weary. Those listening to the little link to the podcast on the left side of the blog will notice that I sound like a little odd sometimes. (No, I haven't been bitten by a radioactive chipmunk.) It seems to be an issue with the Flash player. I've recently picked up a book, Television & Radio Announcing, to try to help me get better with presentation.
• It seems that Connor and Olivia do rather well in these pageants. Here's an article about them with a photo of Connor #4. Although they were runners up last year (as mentioned in the article), Olivia wound up winning this year.
• I will be keeping a longer list of the books that I am reading and have read on the blog. I mean, it's a good way to feel like I'm accomplishing more than clearing off my shelf. Almost through the books that Lloyd and Teri gave me for my birthday last year (they were all very good and deserve separate reviews.) The 'to read' shelf is packed and I don't know how I'll fit more up there.
• Speaking of reading, I've created a small unorganized reading group at work. It is essentially me handing books out to people after I've read them. In doing so, I'm thinking of picking up book plates (little stickers that go in books) and buying a stamp that says "On loan from the Hennessy library." Makes me feel special.
• I really need to work on the yard. When you convert to desert landscape, there is still maintenance. Pine needles and leaves need to be blown off the rocks as well as weeds and crabgrass need to be yanked out of areas they are spreading. If I did that one morning, I'd be done for the year... it's just doing it.
• Mom looks amazingly better. It's still going to take some time for her to recover all of her motion range without soreness. But, it's almost like the light behind her eyes is that much brighter and 10 years of life have been injected into her. It is amazing how pain can age someone and now it's been removed after the surgery.
• After reading several articles on sodium benzoate (like this one), I have been cutting back on my carbonated beverage drinking. I've also been wondering why they haven't tested potassium benzoate as both can form the carcinogen benzene when combined with ascorbic acid. The one in question seems to be in most drinks so going cold turkey isn't an great option but I'll keep looking at labels.
• I've become extremely lazy when it comes to cleaning around the house. I think that I'm just getting sick of putting trash in bags and taking them out. I never get up early enough to catch the garbage truck. If I leave it outside overnight, someone either parks in front of the garbage can (so the driver doesn't see it) or someone knocks it over. Losing proposition, I think. I just need to get into a cleaning frenzy but that is something I'll have to explain later.
• Lastly.... I have said things like "I'll explain that later" or "I'll post about that later" and now is your turn tell me off for it. Let me know what topic that I left you hanging on and I'll post about them in order of most votes.

Miss Universe 2007

I've never been big on watching these shows but the 56th Miss Universe pageant was the only thing on during my lunch break at work. I only missed when they made the first cut to 15. Some of those dresses representing their countries were absolutely nutty. Many had wings, coral extending from their bodies and some had garb that was more historical. Congrats to Riyo Mori!

I expected that the event being held in Mexico was a chance to showcase a beautiful nation, wonderful people and a tourist hotspot. I guess that two out of three worked out alright. The attendees from Mexico heckling Miss USA was a little much. I'm happy that she held up well under the pressure as she was being judged on that response she was giving. I did gasp when she slipped but think she recovered her composure. 5th place isn't to be mocked.

I was also impressed with the diversity of the final 10. 2 from North America, 3 from South America, 2 from Africa and 3 from Asia. I remain amazed that so many Latin American countries were represented in the end but they were among the favorites at work. (I was leaning towards Japan and Korea with another co-worker.) I was a little worried that Venezuela would win even with the riots going on there at this time. On an odd note, only 77 of 194 countries were represented? (I can easily understand Vatican City being excluded of course.) Due to the event being held two months early the following didn't have their delagates selected: Cayman Islands, Chile, Ethiopia, Ghana, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Namibia, Northern Marianas, St. Martin, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Sweden, Trinidad & Tobago, Turkey and United Kingdom.

Classically Martin: Red Flag - Russian Radio

It was during my last year of high school that I had a habit of collecting cassettes. There were two of them that I played over and over again around this time. One was Real Life's Lifetime and the other was Red Flag's Naive Dance. The latter was a collection of remixes of tracks from their Naive Art album which includes their biggest hit, "Russian Radio." I think that the only reason I picked it up was that I couldn't find Naive Art and it had many of the same song titles. Both are great and well worth picking up.

I mention the album and post the video because I'll be lucky enough to interview Chris Reynolds from the band on Saturday. He was a pleasure to talk to already. Again, I'm lucky enough to talk to an artist that really had an impact on my musical tastes. Now, I just need to talk him into releasing a type of hits collection. I can't say enough about their music and wish that I could post more of their songs or videos but do yourself a favor and search for them.

Erasure - Light At The End Of The World

Erasure have returned with their follow-up to 2005's Nightbird. On Light At The End Of The World, the duo of Vince Clarke and Andy Bell have found renewed energy working with producer Gareth Jones and crafted a terrific collection of upbeat songs.

The first single, "I Could Fall In Love With You," is pop perfection mixing memorable lyrics and a thumping danceable beat. (Ok, maybe there is also something about the opening that makes me think of the Dr. Who theme song.) The second single and opening track, "Sunday Girl," has layers of melody that work well together and nothing gives away that it is a dance song that the lyrics "I'm locked up in a rhythm, the prism of a big glitter ball." "Sucker For Love" is a song that just grows on you. I wasn't that excited about the campy vocal in the opening of the track but the repeating chorus of "the love we have is for the better now" does become an addictive phrase and is the payoff. It is difficult to describe the brilliant track "Storm In A Teacup" other than noting the personal lyrics, broad sonic landscape and haunting melody. Shining from a strong vocal performance and clever production, "Fly Away," is raised above what you expect from Erasure to a highlight. "I admit to originally being confused seeing "Darlene" on the track-listing (thinking it was a Dolly Parton cover) but found myself pleasantly surprised. The song is their first album track sporting a person's name but I'm thinking that Darlene and darling could be interchangeable. Bell's vocal acrobatics on "Golden Heart," the emotional confusion of "When A Lover Leaves You," the pleading in "Glass Angel" and the shamelessness of "How My Eyes Adore You" can't be left out but hold their own among the 10 tracks.

I believe that a true light at the end of this world would be a big disco ball for this duo. And, on Light At The End Of The World, Erasure triumph and shine on one of the best albums of the year.

4.5 out of 5

Sounding Fishy

On October 4th, I'm asking people to stop fishing. That's right. If we don't fish for one day, it will tell the sea that we mean business. One day of fishing save the lives of hundreds of thousands of fish. We can increase the numbers of these fish by just not fishing on that day.

Yes, the above is sarcasm. I (as well as many of you) have heard that today, May 15th, we should not purchase gasoline. If no one purchases gas on this single day, it will send a message to 'big oil' that we mean business as they will lose millions of dollars that day. This will make the companies sell it cheaper because there will be a surplus onhand and prices will continue to drop.

I got that email a few years ago. Got it again a few weeks ago. Economically, it's unsound but sounds good philosophically. Yes, striking out against something you have little control over does feel good. But, I've just been trying to wrap my brain around the numbers behind the whole 'strike.'

I'm going to exaggerate for a moment. Let's say that everyone fills their gas tank every 3 days. (I believe it is much less often... like 4 to 5 days for me but I know Lora probably fills up more because she drives a lot and there are SUV owners out there.) That means that 33% of us might regularly get gas on the 15th. So, this excludes 67% from the 'boycott' right off the bat.

In an effort to participate, someone cutting it close will purchase gas the day before while someone with more in the tank will do so the next day. If not a risk-taker, you probably would buy the day before which gives the company an early profit. Many will. If you do so later, there is a slight chance of a price increase. So, gas will still be purchased and, if going to your favorite neighborhood station, possibly from the same tank below the pump you might have used otherwise. The same consumption still occurs and the monthly statements still look good for the company.

In my talks with many people on this topic, many believe Exxon, Shell and other companies watch some daily numbers that are given to them by all the gas stations nationwide. Or, some ticker in an executive office that shows how much is being pumped minute per minute. For some reason, I don't see either as rational. Gas usage is measured weekly, though, by the Energy Information Administration and measured after the tanks are refilled.

Anyhow, my point is that not using something for a day is a noble feat. Not purchasing something at a particular moment, is a statement. To actually impact the price of the product, one would have to decrease scarcity and demand. Otherwise, it is like a junkie crying in front of their dealer. The buyer knows they have to have it and the seller knows. If said junkie stopped using, the dealer might worry. If all his junkies decreased use, he'd probably advertise more... make better deals.

Before posting this, I found that Snopes.com had an article on this very May 15th 'gas out.' There have even been events held to not purchase from particular companies. The idea behind that had flaws also as many purchase from the same refineries. I just notice that we don't have a Don't Use Tuesday or Gas Free Friday. Economically, it smells less fishy.

More Than One Offender

An auto accident happened last week (no, not mine.) Currently, it's all over the local news. 19 year-old drunk driver hits an SUV full of family members heading to a reunion. Well worth reading the article. The one thing that I didn't hear mentioned or answered while reading is... "What are 9 people doing inside an SUV?" Yes, if you read through the article, 9 people were in the SUV during the accident. A toddler, an infant, two young boys and a 32 year-old were killed in the crash. 5 died. 4 more were hospitalized. I don't know what kind of SUV fits 9 people safely. That toddler, infant and two young boys deserved seatbelts, booster seats and car seats. 3 of the hospitalized were adults, 1 was a child. That's lousy odds for those children.

I'm not letting the 19 year-old off the hook here. Of course, he wasn't thinking as he was impaired. He will be held responsible, likely serve time in jail, lose any job he may have held, lose the chance at education he may or may not have been working on or toward and have the guilt of the many lives he had taken on his back forever. But, I don't let the family off either. I do doubt we will get an answer to why so many were in the car and I don't expect a reporter to ask.

Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero

It took Nine Inch Nails maestro Trent Reznor less than a year to release a follow-up to With Teeth. Through a frenzy of USB drives, cell phones and at least 30 Web site addresses the album created a groundswell of anticipation prior to release.

Upon first listen, this isn't my favorite Nine Inch Nails release. I actually remember cutting my teeth as a journalist writing a review for their debut album for a high-school newspaper. The keyboards that drew me to Pretty Hate Machine have gone the way of guitars for subsequent releases. On Year Zero, the guitars are dialed down a little for static and noise creation. That's a good thing. Word that Reznor was experimenting with hip-hop can me misconstrued as there are some great loops here that lay a foundation for some of the tracks and I'm sure someone could have rapped over them if they wanted. "The Warning" is a great example of this. I have to say that "God Given" is the first time that I've heard Reznor urge a sing-a-long during a chorus. The funky beat and deliberate lyrical pauses make the track memorable. "The Great Destroyer" can only be called a production experiment and although some parts are stunning, it readies the listener for the light piano piece "Another Version Of The Truth." There are still some of the expected stellar songs like "Survivalism," "Capital G," "Meet Your Master" and "In This Twilight." The landscape of the album is lush and vibrant making me only wonder how a follow-up album continuing the concept will sound.

4 out of 5

REO Speedwagon - Find Your Own Way Home

REO Speedwagon have released, Find Your Own Way Home, their first new studio effort since 1996's Building The Bridge. It really might have taken them awhile to find it but the band re-establish themselves here. The album is varied enough in tempo, content and delivery to keep the listener on their toes. Instantly memorable tracks here include the classic-sounding title track, the upcoming single "I Needed To Fall" is a powerful ballad, the playful energy on "Run Away Baby" and strong Commitments-like blues on "Born To Love You" (which features vocals by bassist Bruce Hall.) Some of the other tracks have their charms as well. I really enjoy the guitar work on the opening and throughout "Another Lifetime" which should sound great live. "Lost On The Road Of Love" is a blues groove that features what can only be described as a gospel choir on the chorus. "Dangerous Combination" is a smartly written track with a near country rock edge to it and a chorus urging you to sing along. For some reason the chorus of "Everything You Feel" does remind me of The Men's "Church of Logic, Sin & Love" and that's not a bad thing. If anything, it begs to be used in a commercial. "Let My Love Find You" is a pretty song that kind of gets lost among a lot of love songs. The only fault I find with the album is the opening track, "Smilin' In The End," as it didn't knock me over. Yet, the aggressiveness of the song sets a good foundation for the rest of the album to build on.

REO Speedwagon rode the storm out for 11 years and brought back one of the strongest albums of their career. Keep on loving them.

4 out of 5

The Secretary's Day Off

I figure that you can cover a lot of things up in life. We have cosmetics, we have liquid paper, we have tax accountants and I guess we also have secretaries. At least, I hope the letter above was due to her/him having the day off. As much disdain as I have for the public education system (note: not the teachers but the system), this does make a lot of people wonder exactly what qualifications it takes to be Dean. Very sad but take the time to click on and read the letter.

This was posted a few days ago at Digg.com and has made the rounds. As bad as the spelling was, you'll notice (having read it) that there are other spelling errors. Ok, there are several. So... since those weren't highlighted also... that shows some education deficiencies with the person posting the letter as well.

Weekend Concert: Meeting The Smithereens

Ok, I've tried posting this a few different times in different ways. The video above is from a band that I saw back in 1996/97. Essentially, I was given tickets by a customer and I went with my friends Tracy, Mike and Ron. This was at the time that Camel cigarettes was trying to get rid of all their Joe Camel logo items (because the cartoon character might market to kids.) They gave away items, let people bet with their Camel cash and brought in The Smithereens, Big Head Todd & The Monster and Southern Culture On The Skids. Good show but cramming 3 bands in leaves you with short sets.

Anyhow, Kerry found out they were coming to town and mentioned the show. So we went with Daniel, Mike (again) and his wife Kim. The show was amazing. I have to say that they were at least 6 times better than when I caught them before. The crowd was excited and the band seemed to really enjoy being up there performing. They also mixed in a few nods to great classic rock songs during the set. Of course, they played a few songs from their track for track cover of Meet The Beatles (entitled Meet The Smithereens when released recently.) Voice, bass, guitars and drums were amazingly precise and clean. Tremendous show. Purchased a few items after the show to get signed and met the band. Really great guys. Anyhow, here's the video for the first single from the album (oddly enough, they didn't perform it.)

Classically Martin: Vitamin Z - Burning Flame

This song is among my top favorites. So much so that I made a poet's faux pas over it. You see... I used to listen to the radio at night as I slept. Songs would take my dreams every which way they could. One night, I woke up from a dream and thought that I had a new poem in my head. At this point in my life, I wrote poetry constantly. This one, I called "Embers." I kept the poem in my portfolio through high school. Yes, it was the lyrics to the song "Burning Flame" minus the chorus. Essentially, I heard it while I slept or recalled the powerful lyrics during my slumber. So I'll always feel a close relationship to this song. The lyrics really are a perfect description of sandpaper being rubbed over the open wound that is a former relationship. If anything, this reinforces one of my life mottos: listening to depressing music will make you feel better because you know at least the songwriter (or song's main character) is worse off than you.

Accent-u-ate The Positive

What American accent do you have?
Created by Xavier on Memegen.net

Western. Like Midland, Western is another accent that people consider neutral. So, you might not actually be from the Western half of the country, but you definitely sound like it.

Take this quiz now - it's easy!

We're going to start with "cot" and "caught." When you say those words do they sound the same or different?

Same, no wait I mean different, maybe, a little bit different... Different Same

Found this little test out there. I've always thought that I was accentless. (Most people do unless it's pointed out to them otherwise repeatedly.) This pretty much confirmed my feelings.

Madden NFL Covers

Yes, this is a sign that pro football is coming back... well, after the draft. But, I'd like to point at something. John Madden (former Raider coach, game commenter and analyst) has had his name on football softwared since 1985. He started working on the games with the NFL (becoming John Madden NFL) in 1994.

In 2000, the Madden games started highlighting athletes on the cover of the game. There has been a lot of talk about a jinx with injuries that have happened to the players on cover that year. The 2000 cover had Barry Sanders on it. They replaced him with Dorsey Levens when Sanders retired at the start of that year. I'm not going to go through the whole list of injured players and try to get you to believe in the jinx. I'd like to pay attention to the covers themselves. Here's a list of who they've had:

2000 - Barry Sanders (later Dorsey Levens)
2001 - Eddie George
2002 - Daunte Culpepper
2003 - Marshall Faulk
2004 - Michael Vick
2005 - Ray Lewis
2006 - Donovan McNabb
2007 - Shaun Alexander
2008 - Vince Young

So essentially, they've had 5 running backs, 4 quarterbacks and a middle linebacker on the cover. Notice anything missing here? Sure, there aren't wide receivers, tight ends, defensive backs, offensive linemen, kickers or punters. The Associated Press MVP for the year prior to each of these would have some merit in their decisions one would think. Here's their list:

1999 - Kurt Warner
2000 - Rich Gannon
2001 - Marshall Faulk
2002 - Rich Gannon
2003 - Peyton Manning/Steve McNair
2004 - Peyton Manning
2005 - Shaun Alexander
2006 - LaDainian Tomlinson

So, essentially they got two of them right (well... 3, word is that Tomlinson turned down the cover this year.) Then there are the Super Bowl MVPs... and to save you a long list, Super Bowl winning quarterbacks John Elway (2), Tom Brady (3), Warner and Manning could have been on covers as well as a few wide receivers too. Now, Ray Lewis is the only one of that bunch that made a cover. Going back to that original list of those that have been on the cover, I wonder what the criteria is. I don't think I have to say that I see a trend. It does make me wonder if there is purpose in it and if there's a definite market they are trying to go after.

Latest Grandpa Sighting

After my last update, I wasn't very optimistic. In fact, I first thought that I would be able to add to the previous post for a few days and everything would be ok. I gave in after a few updates. I'm not saying that pessimism and lack of faith were part of me at that time but I was ready for the worst.

Before the weekend, they took out his ventilator again in an attempt to get him breathing on his own. And sometime this morning he fell out of bed. The last part, I didn't know about before we went to see him today. I asked the desk if he was in the same ICU room and the lady shook her head and gave me another room number. I gave her a quick 'thumbs-up' and left smiling. That had to be good news, right? So we get up to the room (after passing by it on accident) and the bed was empty...

Grandma and Shawna (my aunt) were on the other side of the room talking. I looked to my left and there was Grandpa with a nurse. He was sitting in a chair, looking at the dumbfounded people that just walked in. I retrieved my jaw off the floor and joined him by his side, giving him a slight hug. He turned to me as if little had happened and said, "Hi Mort." (I never really understood why he started calling me that as a child but figure that it's to separate me from my dad and just continued on.) We talked for awhile and visited until some friends of his from Idaho came to visit.

Essentially, his hearing is worse than it has been. Hearing aids will not help. But, if he focuses, he can understand you. I welled up seeing him like that and the shock on my face was evident to Grandma, Shawna and Kerry. He was laughing like normal and my worst fears were dismissed. They will continue watching him but things are looking better. Thank you for any and all your thoughts and prayers.

IQ

Took a short little IQ test. I've always wanted to take a real one but as far as I know, I never have. Maybe someday.

Grandpa

I guess that some people have a really close relationship with their grandparents. For my siblings and I, we lived far enough that it would take over a day to drive to any of them. The Hennessys were in Sacramento, the Boltons in Idaho and Grandpa McGillis in North Dakota. We only went to North Dakota a few times (one was a quick visit, the other for the town's 100th birthday and the last for Grandpa McGillis' funeral.) For awhile, the Hennessys would come and stay in town on a regular basis but it became a little less regular when Grandpa Hennessy died. Then we had a run of trips to see Grandma there on her birthday instead. Idaho was different, though. Sometimes Grandma and Grandpa Bolton would come here and we'd head there on Thanksgiving (lot of snow there when we'd visit sometimes.) There were a few years where we'd go there for some of our summer vacation. Sometime, I'll have to talk about "working on the farm." You could say that we spent more time with the Boltons than any other family members combined. I would say it is just shy of a decade since they relocated to nearby Boulder City and we haven't spent many holidays or birthdays apart.

I know, you are wondering when I'm getting to the point of all this. You see, Grandpa Bolton was found on the driveway in front of his house yesterday and at this moment lies in a coma in the hospital. I found out about it as I finished working on the newsletter yesterday afternoon, finished working on it, called work to let them know that I wouldn't be there and went to the hospital. Kerry met me there as did my brother, his wife, my aunt, my mom and Grandma. I spread a few hugs and listened to what they'd heard and seen so far. When he was airlifted from Boulder City to Vegas, they believed that his brain had been without oxygen for 5 minutes or more. He broke his nose, damaged his leg and hurt his arm in the fall (which they believed he tried to protect himself before he hit the ground.) It could have been a stroke or caused a stroke. Many are afraid to be too optimistic at this point. However, they also said he was responsive to the people around him and apparently tried to follow some direction. I went in to his room shortly after.

Grandpa served in the Airforce during World War II. Not the glorified fighter pilot-type division... he worked on the planes. They really didn't protect their hearing back then, nor did they have the knowledge about the longterm damage that comes from sustained noise levels. So, oddly enough, my brother and my voice are low enough to be heard clearly by him through his hearing aids. I walked into the room and told him it looked like Romanowski tackled him (he's a Broncos fan.) I felt his hand tighten. I told him that the waiting room was full of his family and named them individually. I could see he tried to move his lips that were around a breathing tube. I then told him that I'll watch after Grandma for a little while but he has to come back to take over the job as they've been through too much together. I made him a promise that when he gets better we'll go see a Broncos/Raiders game but he has to get better first. I stayed for a little while longer and made sure to tell him to relax and recover as we'll be here for him. They had to sedate him a little more after I had left. It made me think that if he is trying to get better, going in and talking to him would only keep him tired, drugged and awake -- which I don't think aids recovery.

I believe that he is going to be alright. I can't give any credible evidence as to why other than his reactions to particular things that I had said. I have faith that his recovery has started and I will be making a call in a moment to get an update. There are a lot of mixed thoughts running through my head at this time but right now, I worry about Grandma. You remember my mentioning my mother having surgery a few days ago? Well, Grandma has been at Mom's house taking care of her since (heck, I think she was also waiting at the hospital for her also.) Grandpa wasn't happy that she wasn't there with him but understood. She even mentioned her call to him that morning where he sounded a little unusual even in ending their conversation saying, "I just missed the sound of your voice." So, she was feeling torn and now a bit shaken and guilty. She shouldn't. As I told Grandma and Grandpa separately yesterday, Hennessys come together in times of need... as do all families.

I'll update this post as we know more and I want to thank you for your thoughts or prayers at this time.

Update: According to doctors, his condition has slightly improved as he 'seems stronger.' Otherwise, there is really no change and still no word on if it was an aneurism, stroke or heart attack.

Latest Update: It is Easter morning and I stopped in to see Grandpa at the hospital. The good news is he woke up. I was given good reports during the last few days. Today I received the clearest description of his condition from a nurse that has been with him for the last 3 days. He had kidney problems a little while back. Right now, his kidneys, heart and lungs are among his problems. He is on life support. His fever has come and gone. They tried to remove him from the breathing tubes but that only raised his blood pressure. In truth, things do not look good as all 3 of the organs that I mentioned earlier are not in good shape.

Even Later Update: Grandpa is awake a little longer. They sedate him every time he gets over-excited. I know that even with a chance of recovery that this will take quite some time. So, I'll add a post if there is any major news. But right now, I believe that he will continue to fight to get better. I also have faith that somone is looking out for him.

Sad Kermit - Hurt

Loved the original, loved the Johnny Cash cover and this... well... it's not for kids. Saw it and I had to put it up here. Yes, I've sung "Rainbow Connection" at karaoke before.

One Of Those Signs That I Don't Want To Grow Up

Somewhere in the back of my head, I hear this little voice (not that I normally hear voices mind you) that says, "That's it! I'm sick of feeling responsible all the time." Of course, I tell it, "Quiet in back or I toss you out of the bus." It is true that I throw a lot on my plate and, for some reason, when I take on a project it dedicates sections of my life from then on to it. The best examples of that are the newsletter, website, podcast and writing the book.

I think that is why I surround myself with some reminders that I really am a child at heart. There's a whole section of my DVD collection dedicated to that but while cruising through the store looking for gifts for the nieces and nephew, I saw Ernie. Yes, I know there have been rumors that Ernie and Bert are ummm... gay. I don't see it but what I remember most about the character are his rubber ducky and his laugh. I catch myself mimicking it still to this day. So, I quickly threw Ernie in the cart under the guise that I'm getting it "for someone." Anyhow, he now sits up on my very crowded headboard with his new friend Mr. Raider Bulldog.

Even though there are times when I look over there and think that Ernie looks like Mr. R.B.'s prison cell-buddy (for lack of a better word), I also see something that quiets that little voice and says, "I haven't forgotten what it's like to be a child. I'm just too responsible to let it control my life." Heck, I'd love to wake up as early as possible on Saturdays to watch cartoons in the morning with my Just Right, Kix or Pac-Man cereal sitting in front of me. But as you notice from that train of thought... cartoons now are on Sunday mornings (and there are several 24/7 channels dedicated to them) and it is really hard to find any of those 3 cereals. When things change, you have to grow up and accept it... but hold that little something to remind you of those early Saturday mornings.

My Mom: The Pain In The Neck

No, I'm not calling my mother names. Mom suffered a neck injury while at work nearly a decade ago. This changed her life as she has had multiple surgeries to alleviate migraine headaches and more recently shooting pains and numbness in her left arm. Well, it seems that after all this time that they have figured out that that the bit of bone (they took from her hip) that they used to fuse 2 of her neck vertebrae (which was reinforced with a metal plate) broke loose and has been pinching her spinal cord. According to the two doctors she has been going to recently (as well as her insurance) a surgery is required to pull that bone out.

The photo you see above was taken of my parents in the early 70's. I was recently told by my mother that it actually was some photo manipulation as they had people between them in the photo. Mom likes the photo quite a bit so I decided to snap a quick shot of it from on top of our piano. Anyhow, this morning she went into surgery to have that bone removed. I called and talked to her last night while I was at lunch. I'm optimistic and I'm hoping that Mom remains the fighting spirit that she has always been. There is a strong chance (50%) of paralysis in this surgery but then again she was also told that she would progress towards that if the bone weren't removed. Essentially, having the bone pressing against it for so long is going to require so much longer for it to regain its shape.

After typing the first two paragraphs, I decided to call around a little. Since I get off work around 1am and she was due to head to the hospital at 7:30am, I opted to go to sleep as I have to work today and woke up just before typing this. After calling my sister, I tried the hospital (as grandma doesn't have a cell phone that I know of) and was having a nurse check on her status. Then my cell phone started ringing. I looked down and it said "Mom." Those were the last words I expected on the Caller-ID and the first out of my mouth as I answered. There was a long pause but it turned out that grandma got ahold of Mom's cell. According to her, the doctor said the surgery went better and quicker than expected. I'll be heading over there after the podcast tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed.

What About Darfur?

I've seen this commercial several times. It hurts. It's that level right above watching Sally Struthers show emaciated children too weakened (or tolerant) to swat away the flies in their eyes. As much as I would love to see the United Nations go into Sudan to investigate and halt the genocidal horrors going on there since 2003, I know that it isn't going to happen. The government (if you call it one) there will not give them the permission to enter the region.

I think what hurts me most isn't just the rape, murders and savage disfigurement of the indigenous people by the Janjaweed militia. It's the fervent calls to action inside our nation for George Bush to go in there and fix it. Over half of the United States is upset that our country went around the U.N. to form a loose coalition going into Iraq. Yet, many of those same people that are against that action are screaming for us to act somewhere else again without the consent or backing of the U.N.? Are our troops supposed to be the ones to go where the U.N. fears to tread? Personally, I'd like to see the United Nations grow some testes, investigate and secure the region. But, calling Bush into action gives more ammunition to other nations (especially Venezuela) who already believe we are imperialists that go impose our will at will.

St. Patrick's Day 2007

It was pretty odd that the podcast landed on a holiday. I was trying to figure out what to babble about this week (I've been doing a lot of that.) After much thought, I decided that it was a good chance to talk about the musical contributions made by the Irish. Of course, U2 are pretty much the top of the heap there but many other acts helped shape the musical landscape. A few of my other personal favorites: Enya, Clannad, the Pogues, the Virgin Prunes and My Bloody Valentine. Sinead and the Cranberries had some moments also. You should be able to hear a little of what they sound like in the featured clips areas of each link.

That aside, I finally moved over to the new Blogger. Why did I take so long? Well, I really liked having a big archive on the side to remind me how long I've been typing up my thoughts and so I can check in on them easily. Maybe, labeling may make this even easier. Don't know. But, I also knew that Teri is having trouble replying and that could be due to me not changing with the times. We'll see how it works.

Feeling a lot better now and over the course of this, I've dropped some weight. This is a good thing. My eyes know that my stomach can take in more food than it should. Usually, I lose my appetite when I get sick and I've used that as a way to correct my portion control issues. It also seems that my family is getting together in September to do a family photo. This means that I could actually have the first decent photo of myself with the kin folk since grade school. Got my fingers crossed.

The Everything Test

I'm not big on these weird little tests but for some reason, I couldn't stay away from this one. Funny that it pegged me pretty well. I do worry about the phrases: "more concerned about self than concerned about others," "more atheist than religious" and "more lazy than workaholic." Then again, if I had 49% score in answers dealing with selflessness, religion and workaholism (?) then I guess they could be right. Hard to believe a test that can't spell adventurous, though. (Too bad the test is too wide to fit well in the our blog template. I did try to shrink the width to little success but don't think that will stop me from putting it here anyways.)

The Everything Test

There are many different types of tests on the internet today. Personality tests, purity tests, stereotype tests, political tests. But now, there is one test to rule them all.

Traditionally, online tests would ask certain questions about your musical tastes or clothing for a stereotype, your experiences for a purity test, or deep questions for a personality test.We're turning that upside down - all the questions affect all the results, and we've got some innovative results too! Enjoy :-)

Personality You are more logical than emotional, more concerned about self than concerned about others, more atheist than religious, more loner than dependent, more lazy than workaholic, more traditional than rebel, more engineering mind than artistic mind, more cynical than idealist, more leader than follower, and more extroverted than introverted. As for specific personality traits, you are adventurious (100%), romantic (86%), intellectual (73%), horny (72%).

Stereotypes College Student 100% Prep 92% Old Geezer 83%

Life Experience Sex 60% Substances 24% Travel 29%

Politics Your political views would best be described as Libertarian, whom you agree with around 79% of the time.

Socioeconomic Your attitude toward life best associates you with Middle Class. You make more than 0% of those who have taken this test, and 28% more than the U.S. average.

If your life was a movie, it would be rated R. By the way, your hottness rank is 64%, hotter than 90% of other test takers.

TAKE THE TEST
brought to you by thatsurveysite

Project DIY: Bathroom Renovation

Ok, now that I'm feeling a bit more like myself, I have projects to get started on. I even made a little list last night. One of the big ones will be taking out the shower/bathtub in the hopes of converting the area to a full shower. It should be easier than when I converted the landscape outside, right?

You should be able to click on the photos to get a better look but essentially what is currently there is the original basic shower/bath. After my first few years in the house, I noticed some cracks in the tile on the side wall (zoom in to the mold on the bottom right.) I tried to do some of the repair myself but I came to the conclusion that water may have gotten back there. So, that requires a bit more renovation. I don't even use the tub in there as there is a second bathroom that looks just like it in the house. So changing over to a nice shower has been on my mind for the last year now. (I think having room to stretch in there is a good thing too.)

Before moving in, a co-worker gave me a bunch of boxes containing glass block. I expect to integrate that into the shower wall facing this way. I may also be replacing that window above the shower as it is useless (the contractor building the home put those in to avoid placing air vents in the bathrooms.) This means that I'll have to add ventilation to the remodel. But it should be a good project. I'd like to do the tiling myself and subcontract out the plumbing (I'm not even going to attempt it.) But first thing will be removing and cleaning the area. It'd probably be easier for me to screw it up and just call DIY To The Rescue. I really watch too many of those shows.

Oh, the other things on that list? 1) replace missing roof shingles from last storm 2) take crappy printer back to Costco 3) return bad peanut butter to Wal-Mart 4) send out new interview requests

Meth-ed Up Thinking

Curve balls get thrown often in life. Over a week ago, I told myself that I wanted to do a post about pseudoephedrine. You see, Nevada lawmakers have been considering making changes to how you can acquire products containing the decongestant placing it squarely in the hands of physicians. Currently, there are already Federal Laws that limit purchasing the items (daily sales not to exceed 3.6 grams without regard to the number of transactions or monthly sales not to exceed 9 grams in regulated products.) Many manufacturers have "reformulated" in an effort appease but the effectiveness of the substitutes can be questioned. Of course, this is all being done to cut down and fight methamphetamine use. I planned to talk to talk about how this hits the little-man in the pocketbook with an extra co-pay just to get something for influenza or a cold. I wanted to denounce the lobbying by those in the medical field had to have done to push that through. I can honestly say that every pharmacist that I've asked, "What works best?," told me that the items with the drug were better by far.

Then I got sick on Sunday. Tried to make it through work on Monday but left halfway through my shift. I went straight to Walgreens and picked up Advil Cold & Sinus which was recommended to me as well as some cough medicine and cough drops. I went home and slept. I spent all of Tuesday in bed. That night and the following day were tough as was sore, had the chills and couldn't sleep longer than 30 minutes at a time. At 6 a.m. this morning, I gave in and drove to the Quick Care near the house... they open at 8, so instead of being suspicious sleeping in my car in the parking lot, I went home. Killed off a can of soup, took a hot shower and got back in the covers. Finally pushed myself to go back at 3:30 p.m. It's bronchitis. The doctor said that it was pretty bad and gave me 4 prescriptions to fill... one was for Pseudovent (pseudoephedrine/guaifenesin.) I'll be better soon but I keep thinking that it sure would have saved me 48 hours and +$30 in "over-the-counter" medicine if I had just gone to see the doctor in the first place.

So, in my recent experience, I'd say that making pseudoephedrine-based products a prescribed medicine would have saved on lost productivity, restlessness and coughing. But, not everyone has insurance. Not everyone can pay an extra co-pay on top of the price of their medicine. I am all for monitoring the use of these drugs at pharmacies. The Advil that I purchased had 20 tablets in there. Individually, they have 30 milligrams of pseudophedrine (recommended dosage of 1 to a maximum of 2 tablets.) I'm not going to do the math for you (1 gram = 1,000 milligrams) but if you are using nearly 3.6 grams of it per day... you are probably a meth addict. I'd be more apt to believe a uniform box that contains enough for a two week supply (as it's probably more serious if it lasts longer than that) is a great idea if one is allowed to purchase a box per month. Then again, maybe if they had a little machine (like the one that checks blood pressure) that will hear the rumble in your lungs, it would steer me away from purchasing the box and seeing a doctor.

All-Star Attraction

You probably know by now that Las Vegas was the site of the NBA All-Star Weekend 2007. We are still awaiting final word on how the city did during the event but there have been mixed reports (good and bad) on how it went. But as with any industry dominated town, casino revenue versus city expenditures will weigh the most in judgment.

My personal take? 403 arrests were made by local police from Thursday to Sunday. Most of them were of people not from the city. Hotel rooms on the Strip were sold out. But, I believe many of the visitors coming for the weekend didn't have rooms. The event pulled people from all over the Southwest but according to most in my inquiries of hotel employees, many were sleeping (sober as well as intoxicated) at the gaming machines. Cocktail waitresses were groped right and left. One mentioned to me that in fear of violence many were served Coke (instead of rum and cokes) after some just grabbed drinks off of trays going by. Many crimes went unreported in the media to avoid embarrassment by the hotels and management. So, personally, I could do without the thug-mentality, the event or even a team coming to Las Vegas in the future.

The weekend was a magnet for many of the negative aspects of the sport. Upon further reflection, I don't remember hearing of any other all-star professional event that attracts problems like this. The NHL, CFL, USTA and FIFA don't have these issues. I think that the one thing that can be done is what the NFL does... they hold it on an island. People can't just drive over to the event to people-watch, party, solicit, attack or steal. The attendees also have to pay a pretty penny just to get to the location let alone get a room or get tickets. Then again, I may be biased from my working in the industry.

Great Value In Unexpected Revenge

The recent warning about Salmonella contamination in certain brands of peanut butter got me thinking recently. You see, when my recent house guest (who charged up $6,000 in credit card bills and new credit card accounts) didn't eat much. She believed that she was a 'born again' vegetarian. I had no problem with that. I remember asking her if there was anything she wanted from the store that would make things easier. Peanut butter, crackers, tampons and beef sticks (yes, I probably had the same reaction to the final two as you are now.) I picked up the items and went about business as usual. So, months later, I see that report and I decide to check on the peanut butter... the number on is starts with the "2111" number series we were warned about. Maybe there is some divine justice out there although I do hope that she is alright. Does make me feel a little better as I'm still dealing with the credit card company.