Yep, it's been a while since I posted - ten days, actually. My ethernet port on my computer went tits up in the evening of the first, and it's taken Dell that long to get the part in and then schedule the technician to come do the repairs. More on the lard-ass technician later...but in the mean time, I've got about 45 minutes before I have to get ready to go to work (Yes, I'm working on Easter Sunday...such is life in the retail world) so I thought I'd throw some random thoughts out there.
So let's start with the obvious, and I'll try not to go into a full-blown rant over this: Why in the HELL hasn't the US Navy blown the living CRAP out of those Somali pirates??? You mean to tell me that out of all of the special forces the US military has, NONE of them are trained and prepared to do an at-sea hostage rescue mission? I mean, c'mon - these guys are stuck on a lifeboat that is OUT OF GAS, DRIFTING with no control, with NO FOOD, NO WATER, NO TOILET FACILITIES, and the Obama administration ISN'T capitalizing on this??? I mean, REALLY.....WTF??? (You had to know I was gonna throw The Great Pretender under the bus on this one....)
You wanna negotiate? Here's the deal: let the American captain go, and you'll live. Keep him and we'll blow your friggin' heads off. So, deal or no deal? Simple as that.
Up next, a little history lesson for you...today is April 12, 2009, and exactly 148 years ago today in Charleston, South Carolina events were set in motion that would eventually end up in the death of the American system of federal government as envisioned by our Founding Fathers, and the nightmare of James Madison and Jefferson Davis would come true. On this day in 1861 Confederate forces under the command of General P.G.T. Beauregard opened fire on the Union forces garrisoned in Fort Sumter, South Carolina, triggering the War Between The States. The next day President Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to "put down the rebellion" in the Southern states, bringing to life Jefferson and Madison's nightmare that one day a sitting President would use Federal troops to force the will of the government on an unwilling population. And four years after that, when Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox, Virginia on April 9, 1865, the system of government in which individual states had more authority over their territory than the Federal government, which was the system envisioned by Madison and Jefferson, died. RIP, State's Rights; hello, Big Brother. (I would have posted something on April 9 as well, but as I said, my computer was down....)
If you want proof as to just how desperate the American auto makers are to sell cars, here it is: this past week my wife traded in her 2006 Ford Mustang for a 2009 Mustang because the '06 kept on breaking down and Ford couldn't figure out what was wrong with it. (When I say 'kept on breaking down,' I mean FIVE TIMES in a MONTH AND A HALF.) By the time the deal was done, her monthly payments went up a whopping $8.00 and we ended up financing - hold on to your hats - two grand LESS than the car's sticker price! And that includes all of the financing charges and everything! The salesman told us that the dealership actually lost $70.00 on the deal! So in the end everything worked out great - we got rid of the lemon, got a 45th Anniversary Edition Mustang, financed less than the car was stickered at, didn't suffer under higher payments, and now don't have to worry about the car breaking down once a week! Hey, it works for me!
Lastly - me and my "brutha from anutha mutha," Bulldog Chief, are headed to Myrtle Beach Bike Week next month, and we're gonna have a blast! I'm just hoping now that the weathr holds out for us and it doesn't do what it always does for Daytona Bike Week, that being rain.
And that's the story. Coffee time now, then shower and off to work. Y'all have a Happy Easter!
IHC
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Wow, is it April 1st already?
April 1st has a special meaning to the vast majority of the world in that it's the day when everyone has free reign to play as many practical jokes on as many unsuspecting victims as they can. Today is April Fool's Day, and I'm no different than the rest of the world. I played a whopper of a practical joke on my wife on this day several - SEVERAL - years ago, and for the sake of her reputation I'll keep what I did to myself!
But for me, April 1st has two other, much more significant meanings. There was an event on this day in 1998 and again in 2001 that have played a very special and important part in my life, something that will forever be entwined in my being.
On April 1, 1998 after serving 22 years, 9 months and 17 days, I retired from active duty with the United States Air Force. I joined the Air Force only a mere 11 days after I graduated from high school with the intent of serving four years and then getting out. I was going to go on the North Carolina Highway Patrol, since that's where I was living at the time I enlisted. Well, as they say, "the best laid plans of mice and men...." When it came time for me to get out in 1979, my wife (at the time) and I took a good, hard look at the economy and all of the benefits of staying in the service, and decided to stick around for another four years. Four years after that we decided to stay in for the long haul.
Being in the Air Force gave me a chance to see places, do things, and meet people that I would never have had the chance to do, and if I had the chance to do it all over again I'd jump at it. Sometimes I still sit back and ask myself, "What in the hell am I doing out here with all these civilians?" You can retire from the active service, but deep down inside you'll always be military - that's what they mean when they say it's a "way of life."
It's been eleven years to the day that I retired, and I still miss the Air Force. Every single minute of every single day.
The other event for which I remember this day took place on April 1, 2001 - that's the day that "Buster," our Boston Terrier, was born. This little dog showed me that it was okay to love a dog again, and the depths of my love for him scares me sometimes. You see, the last dog I had came to kind of a bad end - he was a Jack Russell Terrier named "Squirt," and I had to give him up because he was terrorizing my kids and tearing up my house. We'd had him for about five years, ever since he was a puppy, and it hurt like hell when I had to give him up. I cried about it for days, and it still hurts to a point to this day.
I was afraid to open myself up to a love like that again, but when my wife Gina said she wanted a Boston Terrier, I gave in. Words can't describe how much I've come to love Buster in the past eight years, and I love that little pooch more each day.
But the love comes with a price, as nearly all love does.
Bostons are notoriously suseptible to cataracts because they're so closely inbred, and Buster was no exception. He had cataracts so bad that he could only see with his peripheral vision in both eyes. We had the cataracts removed in September of 2007, and he was a dog reborn! It was so good to look into his eyes and know that he was looking back, and that he could see me! He was looking at me instead of towards me, and that was a wonderful feeling!
Anyone who has ever had a dog who has had cataract surgery knows that you have to constantly be on the alert for the development of glaucoma. The vet gave us some drops to put in Buster's eyes to help prevent glaucoma, and for 18 months they worked. His right eye was always fine, but his left eye was always a prolem. It'd get foggy every now and then, but as soon as we put another drop in it, it would clear right up.
And then, about two weeks ago, it wouldn't clear up. Took all day and several additional applications of drops, but it finally did clear up. Three days after that, Buster woke up on Sunday morning and BOTH EYES were cloudy to the point that he couldn't see. My wife and I were scared out of our minds that he had gone blind overnight, but as soon as some drops were put in his eyes, they both cleared up. We took him to the vet four days later (the doggie eye doc only comes down to this area once a week on Thursdays) and the vet told us that Buster had "limited vision, if any" in his left eye, but that his right eye was fine. He gave us some additional drops to put in his left eye to help keep the pressure from building up, so we're putting drops in Buster's eyes three times a day, every day, and ya know what? We don't mind!
Since that day, Gina and I have been fighting like mad to keep Buster's right eye clear, and we've succeeded. It hasn't been cloudy once since that Sunday, and we've even managed to keep his left eye clear as well. He just can't see out of it. "Limited vision," my ass - he can't see out of it at all. Maybe some light and shadow every now and then, but for the most part, nothing.
But as long as he has the sight in his right eye, we're good. And we're gonna fight like hell to keep that sight for as long as we can, hopefully for the rest of his life.
Which, I hope, will be for a long time yet to come.
Someone once said that there is no love purer than the love of a dog, and brother, do I believe that.
Happy Birthday, Buster! I love you, baby boy!
IHC
But for me, April 1st has two other, much more significant meanings. There was an event on this day in 1998 and again in 2001 that have played a very special and important part in my life, something that will forever be entwined in my being.
On April 1, 1998 after serving 22 years, 9 months and 17 days, I retired from active duty with the United States Air Force. I joined the Air Force only a mere 11 days after I graduated from high school with the intent of serving four years and then getting out. I was going to go on the North Carolina Highway Patrol, since that's where I was living at the time I enlisted. Well, as they say, "the best laid plans of mice and men...." When it came time for me to get out in 1979, my wife (at the time) and I took a good, hard look at the economy and all of the benefits of staying in the service, and decided to stick around for another four years. Four years after that we decided to stay in for the long haul.
Being in the Air Force gave me a chance to see places, do things, and meet people that I would never have had the chance to do, and if I had the chance to do it all over again I'd jump at it. Sometimes I still sit back and ask myself, "What in the hell am I doing out here with all these civilians?" You can retire from the active service, but deep down inside you'll always be military - that's what they mean when they say it's a "way of life."
It's been eleven years to the day that I retired, and I still miss the Air Force. Every single minute of every single day.
The other event for which I remember this day took place on April 1, 2001 - that's the day that "Buster," our Boston Terrier, was born. This little dog showed me that it was okay to love a dog again, and the depths of my love for him scares me sometimes. You see, the last dog I had came to kind of a bad end - he was a Jack Russell Terrier named "Squirt," and I had to give him up because he was terrorizing my kids and tearing up my house. We'd had him for about five years, ever since he was a puppy, and it hurt like hell when I had to give him up. I cried about it for days, and it still hurts to a point to this day.
I was afraid to open myself up to a love like that again, but when my wife Gina said she wanted a Boston Terrier, I gave in. Words can't describe how much I've come to love Buster in the past eight years, and I love that little pooch more each day.
But the love comes with a price, as nearly all love does.
Bostons are notoriously suseptible to cataracts because they're so closely inbred, and Buster was no exception. He had cataracts so bad that he could only see with his peripheral vision in both eyes. We had the cataracts removed in September of 2007, and he was a dog reborn! It was so good to look into his eyes and know that he was looking back, and that he could see me! He was looking at me instead of towards me, and that was a wonderful feeling!
Anyone who has ever had a dog who has had cataract surgery knows that you have to constantly be on the alert for the development of glaucoma. The vet gave us some drops to put in Buster's eyes to help prevent glaucoma, and for 18 months they worked. His right eye was always fine, but his left eye was always a prolem. It'd get foggy every now and then, but as soon as we put another drop in it, it would clear right up.
And then, about two weeks ago, it wouldn't clear up. Took all day and several additional applications of drops, but it finally did clear up. Three days after that, Buster woke up on Sunday morning and BOTH EYES were cloudy to the point that he couldn't see. My wife and I were scared out of our minds that he had gone blind overnight, but as soon as some drops were put in his eyes, they both cleared up. We took him to the vet four days later (the doggie eye doc only comes down to this area once a week on Thursdays) and the vet told us that Buster had "limited vision, if any" in his left eye, but that his right eye was fine. He gave us some additional drops to put in his left eye to help keep the pressure from building up, so we're putting drops in Buster's eyes three times a day, every day, and ya know what? We don't mind!
Since that day, Gina and I have been fighting like mad to keep Buster's right eye clear, and we've succeeded. It hasn't been cloudy once since that Sunday, and we've even managed to keep his left eye clear as well. He just can't see out of it. "Limited vision," my ass - he can't see out of it at all. Maybe some light and shadow every now and then, but for the most part, nothing.
But as long as he has the sight in his right eye, we're good. And we're gonna fight like hell to keep that sight for as long as we can, hopefully for the rest of his life.
Which, I hope, will be for a long time yet to come.
Someone once said that there is no love purer than the love of a dog, and brother, do I believe that.
Happy Birthday, Buster! I love you, baby boy!
IHC
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