Happy Labor Day!

No one I know has this day off. Sounds like a scheme to keep the Post Office from losing more money...On the other hand, if you are working, this is a great time to pick up some overtime...or something.

I managed to get a good two mile run in before the rain started falling. Fortunately I cut the grass back on Saturday. It did not look that bad but I did not want a parade of disreptable looking dudes marching up to my door wanting to cut the grass for $100. Not only is that too much but I can screw it up for a bare fraction of the cost. I calculated it costs about $1.25 for me to mow the lawn. That figure, of course, does not include my invaluable time :-)

Here is a quick way to win any Labor Day bar or picnic bets:

Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September (September 7 in 2009).
The holiday originated in Canada out of labor disputes ("Nine-Hour Movement") first in Hamilton, then in Toronto, Canada in the 1870s, which resulted in a Trade Union Act which legalized and protected union activity in 1872 in Canada. The parades held in support of the Nine-Hour Movement and the printers' strike led to an annual celebration in Canada. In 1882, American labor leader Peter J. McGuire witnessed one of these labor festivals in Toronto. Inspired from Canadian events in Toronto, he returned to New York and organized the first American "labor day" on September 5 of the same year. (compliments of Wikipedia)

Yes, Labor Day here in America started in Canada LOL Well, sort of...After the Pullman Strike, Congress pushed through a holiday honoring labor and made sure it did not fall on May 1 as not to align with any Communist/Marxist agendas or provide any undue remeberances of the Haymarket Riot in 1886.

Yes, I am a history major!

Now, the history major has to install some attic stairs! Then later, back to writing some more of Aries Unleashed!

The Bahamas

Michelle and I returned from Nassau Sunday night. Very hot and very sunny and the waves were incredibly violent! LOL I was not only almost knocked down by a wave at the water's edge but had sea shell fragments in my hair and eyes!

We went on the ship Carnival Sensations and it was quite the experience! I ate a lot but played a lot of fantasy golf too! I loved the hot chocolate the best....

The first night after leaving Port Canaveral, we sailed through the waves in the wake of Hurricaine, I forgot the name. It was at that point I realized why the tickets were so cheap...I ate way to much and felt quesy. It was not sea sickness! >:-) I did see some people vomit over the side so I have the feeling the cleaning staff earned their salaries on this trip! The crew was incredibly friendly and it seemed a genuine sort of friendliness. I also noted my wallet was not missing :-)!

I am not a "water person" but I did enjoy splashing about in the pool and hot tub with Michelle. Going to Nassau is also the furthest south I have ever been. Somehow I did not get sunburned...must be my Mediterranean complexion...LOL.

We came back on Sunday night and yes, I went for a run...a good sweaty run! :-) After all, I had a lot of cake and hot chocolate to work off!

Scotland the Cowardly

People of Scottish heretige must be appalled and angry. The people in Scotland are even angrier. Releasing a mass murderer responsible for killing 270 people over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988 because he is terminally ill is a grave miscarrage of justice...to put it mildly. Adbel Basset al-Magrahi allegedly has prostate cancer and three months to live. Scottish Justice minster Ken MacAskil said he was motivated by Scottish values and compassion to release al-Magrahi. Exactly how much compassion did this man give the 270 people who died? That al-Magrahi was not immediately executed seems like too much compassion to begin with. If you wanted to show compassion for a convicted terrorist, you can do so by shipping his ashes home. MacAskill should follow him.

He probably has more fans in Lybia than Scotland.

Don't worry, Scotland. I still love "Scotland the Brave" and Celtic rock.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5O0cDpEay8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-1B3FA3U50

This is ridiculous

Read this story and try not to get angry...
http://money.aol.com/article/oil-prices-gain-to-above-74-on-recovery/635636

Now explain to me how oil prices can go up when there is less demand, so much in storage that they are leasing oil tankers to store it and unemployment in this country is on its way to 10%?

Oil is used as a hedge against inflation. But if oil rises, it makes inflation inevitable. Higher oil leads to higher gas prices and everything in this country is transported by truck, ship or plane--things with large diesel engines. Forgot to mention trains. Therefore the price of everything goes up which in turn leads to less spending. Less consumer spending leads to lower production and eventually those employees get laid off. Unemployed people do not spend and the whole cycle feeds on itself.

The worst part of all this is that we cannot blame OPEC for once. These are our own people doing this to us.

America voted for change last November but this seems like more of the same. Oil and the commodities markets need regulation. I remember during the first Gulf War back in 1991 that oil prices remained the same even though Saddam Hussein was blowing up oil wells in Kuwait. The market was also regulated. The statutes for regulation of these markets expired in 2002. Bush let it expire and Obama does not seem interested in doing anything to rectify the problem.

Aren't you glad you voted for change?

Running on a Sunday night

My new junk food: GRAPES!

I don't know what it is but there is something special, maybe even magical, about running on a Sunday night. Or I am just insane. Fifty/Fifty chance either way. I prefer to work out early in the morning but when you run on a Sunday night and you're sweatier and stinkier than usual, you feel like you have actually done something. Quite an accomplishment when you have spent the day watching football! Of course, it isn't football season but Sundays tend to be lazy and lethargic regardless of the time of the year.

I did manage to write a little in my third book so the day was not a total waste!

Sotomayor and Health Care

The headlines in the local fishwrapper (Yinzer for "Newspaper") screamed "ANOTHER BARRIER FALLS!" the day Sonia Sotomayor was sworn into the Supreme Court. I found that ironic considering the barriers she tried to throw up in front of some firefighters from New Haven, CT based on their skin color. I don't care about your skin color or ethnicity. Can you do the job? I do not know where this Nazi-like obsession with race came from with the newspapers or media but it might help their pathetic circulation numbers if they dropped it. I would be happier to have Judge Joe Brown on the Supreme Court rather than this toady, obnoxious woman who sees everything through racial lenses. No wonder she's divorced. Judge Joe Brown takes no crap from anyone. Washington could use him.
I could not help but hear the whining from the usual Republican suspects. First they call Sotomayor a racist but fail to stick with the criticism. As usual, they say one thing but always fail to stand their ground. They complain about illegal immigration, record budget deficits, unemployment, recession...but somehow fail to remember this also happened with Bush in the White House. No wonder they lost as badly as they did in 2008. How is that for non partisan, equal oppourtunity bashing?:-)
Health care in this country desperately needs to be reformed but is Obamacare the answer? Anything that threatens people with fines if they do not enroll obviously has something wrong with it. My advice to BO (assuming he is listening...) is start over. The people clearly do not want it and they see it is not the solution.
At the moment our health care system is a corrupt parasite that sucks sick people dry and literally leaves them to die. I have heard so many horror stories about people who pay their premiums on time for years and years only to be left hanging as their company refuses coverage. I have also SEEN this happen but no need to get into that now. I am in a bad enough mood thinking about it.
I hope the insurance companies get it between the eyes with both barrells. If you are looking for terrorists, those people fit the bill. Unfortunately, so, increasingly, does our own government...regardless of what party is running the show.
Replacing corrupt bloodsucking corporate run health care with Soviet-style command care is not the answer. It is simply the worst of both worlds.
The solution: Gives us the very same plan Congress has. I remember Candidate Obama saying he wanted to give the American people the same plan members of Congress has. How much do you want to bet you never hear that sound bite...
Sorry about sounding so angry but I really hate corruption.
End on a high note: Weather is great! Michelle and I (mostly Michelle...LOL) are working on the cover for Aries Marching along with the maps and I will be diligently beginning Aries Unleashed tonight. Right now, I have to take Michelle to Moe's LOL

Farve and Vick

If Brett Farve wants to play, then he should play. I do not care one way or the other but I wish he would stop being a drama queen about the whole thing! We have been listening to this every year since, what, 1830? Actually, 2003 but it seems a lot longer!
OK, Mike Vick has paid (sort of...) his debt to society so I guess he gets a clean slate. Now, who wants to sign him? I heard some wierd stuff about my Steelers looking into it but Coach Tomlin says it hasn't happened. Also heard the Patriots were thinking about him but no one can find Belicheck.
I look at Mike Vick and I see a guy with trememdous raw talent who just flushed it down the toilet, acting like some stupid wannabe thug, listening to everything his knucklehead entourage said. Not the greatest stats but he was giving the Falcons something they never had: HOPE. Now he is the one who needs it. What happens, happens. Believe it or not, I really wish him nothing but luck and I hope he has become a better person.
I remember being a 29 year old rookie trying out for the Hamilton TigerCats but I did not have the advantage of being a convicted felon. I left everything out on the field so no hard feelings and I had a lot of fun.
Good luck Mike and try not to screw up this time!