Fletch taught me that.
I went to a “wine festival” the other day. I refer to the festival parenthetically because it was more like a carnival that happened to serve wine. The primary foods were deep-fried and consisted of corn dogs, potato thingies and bloomin’ onions. Very unhealthy stuff. The patrons did seem of slightly higher stock than those you would see at say Denny’s or Check-Into-Cash however. It was a good time.
There are very few things I hate more than people walking around all day with Bluetooth devices on their ears. Also, Iran has decided to start imprisoning women with suntans. Makes sense to me.
Speaking of unhealthy food.
Kuwait
I love this picture. Wish I could say I took it. That would be weird though.
Speaking of eternal love: I hate Kay Jeweler commercials. Jewelry stores in malls should be avoided like hepatitis. I really have no empirical evidence to support this… I just think mall jewelry stores seem sketchy.
I saw a report on CNN about an illegal immigrant turned Army Soldier who was expressing disgust over the recent Arizona citizenship legislation. At one point he said “I don’t know if I even want to live here anymore.” Well, that seems like a no-brainer.
These are my Grandparents of whom you’ve read much in the past. Want your own copy of the picture? Click the photo, and then on the Flickr page it takes you to, click “Download the Large Size.” If you want an even higher resolution version, e-mail me and I’ll gladly send it your way.
Denny, Mimi
I think global warming and “going green” are the modern day equivalents of McCarthyism.
Illegal immigrants in Arizona are protesting legislation which aims to verify citizenship. Read that again. A reporter asked the Governor of Arizona what an illegal immigrant looks like. She couldn’t answer. I can: they look Mexican… generally. Offended? I bet if you ask a Mexican what a terrorist looks like you wouldn’t be offended by their answer.
If I could punch Rachel Maddow in the face and get away with it, I would. Actually, if I could punch her and just get in a little trouble, I would.
I was in an El Paso Wal-Mart today for 25 or so minutes and I didn’t hear the English language spoken once.
Baseball players are smug.
I really, really wish Joe Montana wasn’t endorsing those rocking-shoe soled Sketchers.
The best thing about neck tattoos is that you never regret them.
Fact: HDTV makes reality look more realer. I can even watch the NBA in HD and that’s really saying something.
I wish I liked baseball. I also wish I liked scotch. I think the likelihood of either is the same.
I’ve locked myself out of my house three times since I got back from Iraq. That means that I’m a dumb-ass.
Radical Islam
In celebratory anticipation of Eva’s return, I’m posting a shot I grabbed of soldiers waiting to fly home. I was waiting too.
Abstract, Kuwait
I apologize up front for the fowl language. Let me illuminate you with my logic.
What does a credit score allow you to do? It’s not a trick question. It allows you to borrow money, or get a credit card which, for all intents and purposes, is just another way people borrow money. What give you a bad credit score? Well, generally it’s a bad debt. Or two. Or three. Unpaid debts (ie. unpaid mortgage payments, unpaid car payments, unpaid credit card payments, etc.) will cause the debt owner to report you to the three credit bureaus who annotate the ding on your credit record and it causes your credit score to go down. This credit score is of course a completely fabricated metric, but it’s the only metric, so that’s what’s used.
Where am I going with this? Well, people are worried about their credit scores because a garage band dressed as pirates or Ben Stein told them they should be. And guess what? If you have a bad credit score, it’s because you have bad or exorbitant debts and the last thing you should be doing is borrowing money or getting new credit cards. I don’t understand how more people don’t understand this. Instead of worrying about a stupid score which can get you more debt, you should be focusing on paying off the debts you already owe.
Of course this is assuming you pay your debts and don’t declare bankruptcy as a result of your ineptitude. And I admit, that’s a monstrous assumption.
The shot today is of Eva listening to a guided tour in the cathedral of Mont St. Michel in France.
Eva, Mont St. Michel, Normandy Region
This statue is in the Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso. It’s right between a Cinnabon and Spencer’s. It’s actually quite technologically impressive. The statue is both a beautiful depiction of the first mayor of El Paso from the year 1531, as well as a soda machine. At the base, which you can’t see in this photo, are soda selection buttons and the money inputs. When you select a soda, the open right hand reaches behind the body and emerges with your tasty beverage. It’s quite cool. I don’t fully understand how it works, and I’m not sure I want to. I choose to just let art be art and truthfully share the facts of this magnificent El Paso sculpture/vending machine with my faithful readers.
Also, in the hit song by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys about New York, Keys says “New York, where dreams are made of.” That doesn’t make any sense and it makes me angry every time I hear it. Where dreams are made of? It just made me mad to type it. Now it made me mad to type about typing about it.
Paris, France
It just doesn’t make sense. Apparently there are no guns allowed. No guns = No violence. Everybody knows that.
Cell Phone Shots, El Paso, TX
I am so sick of commercials and advertisements telling me what I deserve. Today I was asked whether or not I deserve a vacation to Las Vegas to stay at the Treasure Island hotel and whether or not I deserve a new car and car loan. The answer is no. I don’t deserve either of those things. No one deserves any of these things. No one deserves anything just for existing. Not vacations to Vegas, not cars and not health care. I can’t even describe how much I despise hearing about what people deserve. It’s just another way to get more people in this country to spend even more money they don’t have. Much like the government. More and more I find myself siding with Libertarian views. If Libertarian were a viable political party I think the country would be a lot different and a lot better. And a lot more economically sound. Especially since Republicans and Democrats are basically the same now.
The photo today is of the Eiffel Tower in December of 2009. I think the light projecting from the top of the tower is the French National Gaydar. I could be wrong.
The image below shows you where my political views fall. Want to know where you sit? Click the picture to find out for yourself.
Paris, France
Today, as I was driving in the car and listening to AM radio as I oftentimes do, I happened to switch the channel to AM 690 here in El Paso, and low and behold Sean Hannity was on. He was ranting and raving about how the country is going to hell and it’s all President Obama’s fault. I happen to be slightly more moderate than old Hannity and think most things he says are crazy talk. I do happen to agree that the country is on a steady decline and it is due in large part to the ridiculous spending of the Obama administration, but I also think W is as much if not more so at fault. I digress. Hannity was ranting and raving about how Obama is ruining America, and lambasted him for bowing to the dictatorial President of China at the recent nuclear summit. Then he quoted Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to support his point. If you don’t see the lunacy in that, leave my website immediately. Seriously.
The photo today is of Notre Dame at night. And there’s someone hiding at the bottom of the frame. Here’s a hint: she’s cute.
Eva, Paris, France
I was listening to NPR today as I do many days. They were, not surprisingly, talking about the W. Virginia mine explosion and Massey Energy, the company that owns and operated the mine that exploded. They were talking about how Massey Energy is “insensitive” because Massey is planning how to make up for the $120+ million they’ll lose in output this year from the decrease in coal output as a result of the collapsed mine in W. Virginia. Insensitive? Apparently these people forget that Massey Energy is a publicly traded company that needs to turn a profit. I guess the miners didn’t realize their job was dangerous. I suppose NPR would be happy if yet another American company failed. These people kill me.
When you fly back to the US from Iraq or Afghanistan, you fly through Bangor, Maine. When you get to the airport, you’re greeted by cheering and clapping well-wishers. Some of these well-wishers are WWII vets. WWII vets thanking us. Unbelievable.
Normandy Region
I’m back in the US and let me tell you: this place is better than Iraq. Eva is still in Iraq and she will be for the next 3 or so weeks. I’m looking forward to her getting home.
Check out my Flickr photostream. Immediately.
The other day, as I walked through the mall from Macy’s to Sears in search of an espresso machine, I walked past a bearded fellow. He was dapper enough; dapper in that he had on a button down shirt which is more than you usually see at the mall. He was an employee. He worked at one of this hallway shops, you know the kind: cell phone accessories, sunglasses, “authentic” gold jewelry, etc. The shop he worked at sold lotions. He was wearing sunglasses inside. And he had an iPad. I thought to myself: “If you work in a mall hallway lotion shop, you probably shouldn’t drop $500 on an iPad.” The relevance of that story? None.
I watched Born Into Brothels today. The whole time I wasn’t thinking “Wow… so moving. So gritty. So disturbing and simultaneously beautiful.” Instead I thought “What the hell is this woman doing in these brothels? Wow is that pointless.” She won an Oscar for it though… guess the joke’s on me.
The photo today is a gargoyle overlooking Paris from Sacre Coeur Basilica.
Paris, France
I’ve been sitting in a tent on metal chairs since 4am. I woke up at 2:40am to come here. Since then I slept an hour on the aforementioned metal chairs while being periodically awoken by a fly landing on my face. Iraqi flies are inherently more gross than other flies. And they probably want generators too.
I recently said “I’m not racist, but if ‘contractor’ was a race, I would be.” I just don’t see what the hell they are doing here that the Army couldn’t do itself. It makes me so angry. For example, there was a mouse in my old room at one point a few months ago. So, we went to the vector control subject matter expert co-located on FOB Hunter with us for guidance. We wanted to tap into his expertise. Mind you he is employed by KBR and therefore essentially paid directly by the US Government. We told him about our mouse problem. He handed us mouse traps. Thank God he was there. There were probably 20 or 25 contractors on Hunter at any given time and I couldn’t tell you what they did. They certainly didn’t do anything for me. And you should see Tallil, where Eva is. Sometimes you can look around and there are more contractors than Soldiers. To make matters worse, 90% of the time they seem to have foul attitudes. They’re here to presumably do something better and/or more efficiently than we as the US Army are capable. I disagree. You should see some of these people. They don’t seem capable of doing much more than bitching and eating. And they’re getting paid $80K plus a year. By you. I just don’t get it. Why are more people not more angry about this? Then of course there’s the whole cost-plus issue. If you read this and don’t get upset then you’re a communist. Or on welfare. I hate contractors.
Speaking of nationalized health care, why is everyone so averse to letting poor people die? Is that cold? Perhaps. But what are they doing for us and for you? Very little. And now they are actually going to cost you more. People that don’t pay taxes to begin with will now have health care paid for by your tax dollars. I’m glad people are angry about this. It doesn’t matter though. Once American Idol is down to the final three nobody will remember the health care outrage.
The photo today is of Eva and I in Ghent, Belgium. This picture, unlike the thought of contractors and nationalized health care, makes me smile.
Ghent, Belgium