1. It's "nuclear" not "nukular" Holy cow.
2. One would think ghost hunting would be more effective with a shotgun.
3. Eating 2 bags of Andy Capp Hot Fries back-to-back is not advised.
4. I wanna rock right now.
5. Checking on a strange sound yeilds unpleasant results sometimes.
6. Again... NEW-CLEE-UR, you bonehead.
7. Politics is like an overblown game of "Pull My Finger".
8. Thank you, Andreas, for pointing out the silent "J" in "Jarlsberg".
9. You lost me when you said the word "duty".
10. I'm not Rappaport!
11. How many "U's" are in the word "nuclear"? Seriously. I count one.
12. Story Problems on tests provide bathroom breaks to instructors.
13. The media is theater... very lowbrow theater... without a concession stand even.

but when I do, I prefer Reach.

My thoughts today are of the people and animals of the areas of the Earth that have been hit hard by yesterday's earthquake. I got the news while listening to Coast To Coast AM on the radio late last night, and this followed immediately after the radio show had reported that the country of Russia had issued a warning to North America to watch closely for devastating seismic activity in the next 2 weeks. A Geologist was also briefly interviewed, and he said that a rare combination of mass animal deaths worldwide, solar activity, and the proximity of our moon, were coming together at a very bad time, and we should all be watching out.

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Mike Starr was a member of the Seattle-area musical group Alice In Chains. He played bass. Mike Starr was found dead on Tuesday in a residence in Salt Lake City, Utah.

His passing is quite sad to me, even though he had many troubles in his personal life. Those who knew him well will say good things about him for the rest of their lives, and those who didn't can catch a glimpse into his spirit through the recorded music of Alice In Chains that featured his work.

I was originally going to cite various songs by Alice In Chains that (in my opinion) best represent his unique way of playing, but I will only point respectfully to the bass line from the Alice In Chains song "Would?".

He stayed heavy when seemingly everyone around him was lured by the siren's call of the media and pop culture in Rock/Metal music of the Seattle area in the early 1990's. He chose to keep growing his hair, making jokes, and going out on stage bare-chested - all while playing his patented chunky, forceful, and oftentimes swirling, bass... at a high volume.

Mike Starr is a person who cared little for the trappings of the "media", and enjoyed life full force and head on.

\m/

Mike Starr 1966 - 2011

ahhh...

Do you smell that?

...no, the other thing. :P

The scent of Chinese take-out food, used dryer sheets, and hand sanitizer can mean only one thing...

:o

BOOTMAS!

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Thirteen Undeniable Truths

1. Things will change, and will continue to do so for a long time.
2. Getting older is harsh, but it totally dominates the alternative.
3. This is the third thing on the list.
4. A sandwich is exactly 42 percent better when someone makes it for you.
5. Extraterrestrial beings may or may not exist.
6. The Law of Diminishing Returns just isn't what it used to be.
7. Muffler replacement is exhausting.
8. When the chips are down, switch to popcorn.
9. It is "annoying" when "people" "overuse" "quotation marks".
10. As far as numbers go, ten is way overrated.
11. Somewhere in the world right now, it is raining.
12. You will have read twelve things on this list after you get to this point--->.
13. You are being lied to.

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Have a happy and safe Bootmas!

:D

...and all through the house

not a creature was stirring...

not even a mouse

The scene is one of utter mayhem here at the site of this year's Bootmas festivities...

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A steaming slab of trivia for you:

Prohibition in the country of Iceland went into effect in 1915, and, as you may recall from my last blog entry, it lasted until March 1, 1989. By all accounts, March 1 of 1989 was a HUGE day of celebration in Iceland. :D

Iceland wouldn't answer the phone or come to the door for the next few days, but it all turned out OK in the end, because Iceland is still there. :P

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Bootmas Trivia

Bootmas (or "Days of the Boot" in Old Bootish :P) is an ancient and long-standing celebration that I very recently made up, and contrary to the framework of similar (yet gaudy by nature of their longevity) holidays, Bootmas is the four days leading up to my birthday, as well as my birthday itself, as opposed to twelve or thirteen (even fifteen) days as seen in other holiday traditions and celebrations.

The official snack food of Bootmas is Andy Capp Hot Fries:

note: Special care must be taken for the celebrants of Bootmas to remain ever-vigilant and hyper-aware of the potentially caustic residue of the Andy Capp Hot Fries on the fingers, lest a happy merrymaker becomes the subject of ridicule or a test subject for the limits of pain. ...just saying.

The official mascot of Bootmas is the mighty Blind Cave Troll... which was not always visually impaired.

WASHING HANDS WHEN ENJOYING ANDY CAPP HOT FRIES IS VITAL

:o

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Only 1 shopping day left until Bootmas is wrapped up, so get out there and buy some seafood!

For those who are allergic to/grossed out by seafood, corn dogs will do.

Most timezones on the planet are bidding a fond farewell to March 1st, so I have taken it upon myself to inform you of what you may have missed out on...

...besides observing the days leading up to my birthday - "Bootmas".

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March 1 is "Beer Day" in the country of Iceland. The people of Iceland celebrate the end of prohibition, which ended on this day in 1989.

:D

As you can easily tell in this photo, my cat is bursting at the seams with exitement...

My wife and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary over this past weekend. :D

Back when my wife and I were first married, I could never have imagined doing ANYTHING for thirteen years consecutively, much less remain married for that amount of time. :P

But hey, all of the marital/relationship myths and legends that get waved around have proven, in our world, to be not only false, but also conversationally irrelevant.

:)

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You know what the anniversary date means...

It means the festivities for the days leading up to my birthday have begun!

:o

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Look at a pic of my cat in a box...

...and that I switched browsers too. :P

I (like many many other fellow GS users) have experienced a large amount of glitches on this website in recent weeks, and I followed the advice given by the GS staff :o and made the switch to Firefox to at least get things like Raptr linked up correctly here. It doesn't fix everything, but it fixed a couple of things, and that is excellent.

I would like to take this opportunity to formally apologize to my friend Brad for my IE stubbornness, despite his honest efforts to get me to change over to Firefox.

"was blind 8) but now I see"

Bill gates had me in a headlock, and his B.O. was vicious. :P

I wear the pit stache and I been panced.

.

You may or may not know this, but I am a longtime fan of the T.V. show "Ghost Hunters", and their new season kicked off tonight with a new episode... which I am watching a repeat of right now, actually.

Good stuff overall - new look intro and segment graphics/artwork, some new uses of new and old equipment, improved tempo and editing, and a subtle "oldschool" vibe that is both surprising and welcome.

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A couple of important dates in my world are coming up in the next couple of weeks: 13th wedding anniversary and my birthday... in that order timewise.

So I think to myself "hmmm... how can I manage to fit this stuff into my Halo Reach regimen?" :P

I don't know if you noticed, but I play a LOT of this game. The obnoxiously high amount that I play was brought to my attention by my friend Brad, who had a "holy cow!" moment upon noticing this, and shared it with me in a message.

Hey, I don't know... I just play. Counting and thinking robs me of precious in-game resources...

and I need all the help I can get. :lol:

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All of the wonderful (or horrible... depending on how you think of it) snow here that fell in large amounts has melted away.

:(

But wait...

what's that?

:o

The frozen North has elected to give us one last sloppy kiss before Winter rolls out of town for the last time this go around - We are due to get about 2 to 3 inches of snow tomorrow night.

This is an estimated forecast in the mainstream media, however, so we will see...