A Little South of Nowhere

hmmm

2008-10-02T13:22:00.001-05:00

UN-Heroic!!

2007-05-22T10:01:00.000-05:00

Last night I watched the season finale of 'Heroes' on NBC.
I was Ecstatic up until the closing scenes then they did the unforgivable!
****SPOILER****
If for some reason you have not yet seen the finale and wish to be surprised stop here. OK. If you have been watching you know there was an overall theme involving stopping the murderous Sylar.
You likely also know that Hiro's destiny was to kill Sylar and so he does. Until, in the closing shots we see a bloody trail to a manhole cover.
NOOOOO!!!!!! PLEASE! if there are any future writers out there, DO NOT succumb to participating in this cheapest of tricks. When the bad guy gets killed, LET HIM DIE!!! be creative enough to come up with a fresh challenge for the next volume.
This trick makes the entire plot line and actions involving Sylar pointless. Don't do this! Sheesh!

A Picture Share!

2005-11-25T13:51:00.000-05:00

Camping

The Wish List

2005-11-16T18:14:00.000-05:00

This is going to be a continually updated list of things I like. It seems that every year around this time and again near April (my anniversary is the 3rd and my birthday the 10th), I start getting questions about what I want and/or need. Now I need to preface this iby saying my personal feeling is that Christmas, Birthdays and the like are "special" Occaissions and "special" occassions are for "special" gifts, NOT the everday stuff I buy myself. That said here is a list of the kinds of things I like.

Books. All Kinds. Some Specifics:

Anything By Isaac Asimov (except Foundation, Foundation & Empire, Second Foundation, And Prelude to Foundation)
Anything By Kurt Vonnegut
Anything by John Barth
Anything by EE Cummings
Anything by Faulkner
Anything out of the Literature Section

Music
CD's

Sister Hazel

Chasing Daylight
Sister Hazel
Lift
Life in a Day (DVD)

REM
311
Jeff Beck

Guitar Stuff

Picks
Nickel wound 9's (electric) or Bronze wound 11's (acoustic)
Effects - Overdrive, Chorus, Delay

Games

"Games Lubricate the Body and the Mind." - Benjamin Franklin

Looney Labs

And of course gift cards for any and/or all of the above.

Sounding the all clear

2005-10-25T20:09:00.000-05:00

Wilma is gone and left nothing at our hose but some extremely minor damage and a lot of Palm Fronds. We do have a friend in Weston who received a fair amount of damage. And our prayers are with her and hers. All in all though things don't seem too awfully bad.

Good!

Some Trepidation

2005-10-24T01:10:00.000-05:00

I was not overly concerned about Wilma. In some ways I am still not. I must say however my concern has grown a bit over the last 24 hours. Our home, that we moved into in April, stood up to hurricane Charley a year ago august with minimal damage (our old home being little more than a memory now since Charley took it from us). And though this Hurricane is no Charley it is a bit stronger than predicted and like all hurricanes is still dangerous. For starters Hurricanes can spawn tornadoes and are more likely to do so when pushed by an approaching cold front (as this one is). Another concern is that unlike Charley which was extraordinarily vicious and compact, Wilma is a rather large storm and thought the eye will pass some 75 miles away we will still receive sustained hurricane force winds>Sustained Tropical Storm Force winds are predicted to extend some 60-100 miles north of here (here being Punta Gorda). That is a BIG storm. Still many in my neighborhood are prepared. We have all boarded up our windows and secured lawn furniture and the like. Many in mobile homes have fled to shelters or friends or families with block homes. Still I saw an interview with someone in Naples (close to ground zero) who said "It's just another storm." I hope nothing happens to them . If they had been at ground zero for Charley I doubt they would feel that way. They would know first hand hurricanes are nothing to be trifled with. More Later.

Wilma...Fred is calling...

2005-10-19T23:01:00.000-05:00

And He's NOT in Southwest Florida. Another Hurricane threatens our area and we haven't completely recovered from Charley in August 2004. Well I am about to board up my windows and hope for the best. The current models have Wilma passing a good bit South of here but Charley was supposed to pass us buy too. Forgive us if we seem a bit overly wary. Lines at the gas stations and at Home Depot were long and I am sure the Supermarkets are bare. So it goes when you live in the part of the world. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

Super Duper Fun

2005-10-18T23:03:00.000-05:00

That is a partial screen shot from a game at Super Duper Games . They are one of my favorite game sites. You have seen previously in the blog where I have gone on about Icehouse games, well Aaron the creator/owner of SDG has implemented several Icehouse games as well as many other games. Among the Icehouse games are Homeworlds (a favorite of many), Blam!, Branches Twigs and Thorns (pictured above), and Sprawl as well as others. There are several non Icehouse games as well, Praetorian, Cannon, Terratain (pictured below (which I did the tile art for)), Wizard's Garden and more. If you have never hear d of these before that's ok. These are all turn based strategy games. The way the site works you go and check for open games (or create one yourself) and you and your opponent(s) take turns You have a time limit standard is 3 days per turn. When it is your turn you are notified by email. At SDG I get to play cool games against people all over the world. Go and check it out. My user name there is Kermit (my long time Nickname). Hope to see you there!

Automaton

2005-10-04T23:39:00.000-05:00

One of the nifty things that I had mentioned before about Icehouse pieces is that many different games have been designed using them. At the Icehouse Wiki you can find a lot that are completed and some that are in various stages of development. One game I designed (the best one so far) is Automaton. It is a game of robot combat in its playtesting phase. on the right is a picture of a playtesting game. The uppermost robot was victorious. If you have an Icehouse set go read the rules and try out my game. Post some comments on it.

The Worst School Disaster In US History...

2005-10-04T13:17:00.000-05:00

Was not at Columbine. In fact it wasn't even in the last half century. In was in the 1920's in Bath, Michigan. You can get some details Here and Here.

It seems Mr. Kehoe was unhappy about the tax increase for the new school and got himself elected to the school board. When the school needed some electrical work he offered to do it to save some money. In addition to the needed wiring however he also wired the school with explosives. 45 people died, mostly students. There would have been more but not all of the explosives detonated.

So next time you hear someone complain about school violence and long for the good old days, hope they don't mean the 1920's.

Sister Hazel In Tampa - Pics & Such

2005-09-11T23:47:00.000-05:00

We got a late start an therefor missed the Buccaneer part of the even . We enjoyed the show. We arrived in the midst of Swan Dive and ended up standing next to the sound board. Because of our location I started looking for the set list between songs early in the show. After the encore I ran around the other side and got the set list. Afterwards we got Ken to autograph it for me and he took pics with my boys and my grandson. We had a blast. I found out on the way up no one, aside from Lisa and myself, in our group had seen ANY concert before. So we had concert virgins not just Hazel virgins. In our group (oldest to youngest) was Myself (Carlton),Lisa, Tina (my step daughter), Benjamin (My oldest son, 14), Hamilton(12), Jefferson(5), Chandler(grandson,4) And Zoe (Granddaughter, 2 months). Below are pics I have. When we got the pics and autograph from Ken I was going to remind him where we had met before ( at a deli in Ybor the afternoon before the February show, one of the things we discussed then was the fact that Hurricane Charley destroyed our home). I figured he'd say something like 'o yeah the deli ...' but before I could even get the words out of my mouth Ken asked if we were still displaced. I was floored. Never expected him to remember what we talked about and all. I mean assuming he only had one sammich in Ybor before the show I figgered he might remember that, but the details of our conversation and recognizing me on sight...WOW! It was really cool too as my middle son Hamilton had just asked me if I thought Ken remembered me. Now I have the concert downloaded (thanx to my friend, good buddy and lifelong pal, Matt (see Matt that sounded sincere didn't it)(<===if you're wondering what that is all about go to the Hazelnuts Site and read the thread about downloading the Tampa show in the general forum) and am listening to it again as I Type.

2005-09-11T21:11:00.000-05:00

Jefferson and almost Chandler With Ken Block From Sister Hazel

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2005-09-11T21:10:00.000-05:00

Hamilton And Ben With Ken Block

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2005-09-11T21:05:00.000-05:00

The Boys next to the sound board

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2005-09-11T21:04:00.000-05:00

Sister Hazel 4

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2005-09-11T21:03:00.000-05:00

Sister Hazel 3

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2005-09-11T21:02:00.000-05:00

Sister Hazel 2

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2005-09-11T20:59:00.000-05:00

Sister Hazel1 Channelside Tampa 9-9-05

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Icehouse Again

2005-09-09T08:48:00.000-05:00

Yet another game using Icehouse pieces. This time Crackd Ice. This game requires an old or unused CD, An Icehouse Stash for each player and one large pyramid on which to balance the CD. Players take turns adding pyramids to the cd. The player that topples the CD and dumps the pieces loses. A siple game and one of our favorites because anyone can play (in the pic below I was playing with my 4 yr old grandson.

Careful Now!

2005-09-05T10:05:00.000-05:00

Crackd Ice

Land Of The Critters

2005-09-01T14:32:00.000-05:00

Hard to tell from the pic below but that black stringy-looking thing is a Ring Neck Snake. It was about 12 inches long and had the diameter, roughly, of a pencil. Ring Necks are one of the more benign critters here South of Nowhere and Florida is loaded with not so kind ones.

The ring neck was on my front porch and on any given night you can find a frog or two hanging around as well. At the end of our street a neighbor killed a Water Moccasin and you don't have to go far into our front yard to find Fire Ants. On our Hurricane damaged property last year I was bitten by a spider (we are not certain which kind but the doctor said the bite looked consistant with that of a brown recluse). And of course we have gators, mosquitos and a host of other snakes.

I worked with someone not to long ago who moved here from England and had found a black widow in their apartment. All I could say is, "Welcome to Florida".

A small visitor!

2005-08-31T06:08:00.000-05:00

Snake!

Haircutters Anomalous

2005-08-29T10:00:00.000-05:00

A few posts ago I showed a pic of my oldest son shaving for the first time. Well what he needed to shave for was his first inspection in the JROTC in School. He later got a crew cut and his mom complimented hin on how nice it looked. No Big Deal. EXCEPT... My youngest son overheard all this and decided to give himself a crew cut. After all he knew where the clippers were and how to make it so the Bathroom door could not be opened. The picture below is a picture of him sleeping in my car on the way home with me for weekend Visitation with his new haircut.

Monkey See Monkey Do

2005-08-29T09:55:00.000-05:00

Trying to be like his brother.

Sister Hazel In Tampa - AGAIN!

2005-08-25T23:25:00.000-05:00

Sister Hazel will be in Tampa again on September 9th, 2005 at Channelside. It will be a free show at 9:10 PM. I hope to be there and will be if everything falls into place. BONUS!!! if things do work out I will be taking my kids to their first concert.

Another Hurricane

2005-08-25T23:21:00.000-05:00

Katrina spins across the Everglades as I type. We don't expect much from Katrina other thatn a goodly amount of rain over the weekend. She is at present a weak storm and not much of a threat to this part of Florida. Still we do have some extra water on hand as well as some propane for our camp stove. Hopefully we won't have to use them and will use them later to go camping.

Feeder Bands

2005-08-25T15:25:00.000-05:00

Katrina

I might be getting old if...

2005-08-24T10:30:00.000-05:00

Well this must be a sure sign of the apocolypse. My oldest son is shaving. He is only 14 and NEEDED to shave. During our visitation we stopped and got some shaving gel and a Mach 3 Razor. As I was instructing him on the finer points in shaving I took a quick pic on my phone which is below. 14 seemed a little early but at at 15 I had a moustache and by 16 I had a full 'Stache and Beard. I regularly passed for 26-28 at 16. Ah well I am not that old and my sons will probably be just like me in the hair department (I am a fur bearing varmint).

First time for everything!

2005-08-23T07:41:00.000-05:00

Shave

2005-08-18T11:24:00.000-05:00

I have been in a particularly geeky mood lately. This is evidenced in my beginning to learn ProLog (a programming language) and my sudden interest and increasing use of Lynx. Linx is a text ONLY web browser. No graphics, no flash, and NO POPUPS! if you are looking for info from a website Lynx is the way to go. I often go to Google news and a number of other news sites with Lynx and read away. The pages load extremely fast since there are no graphics. Navigations is extrememly simple and only takes a few minutes to adjust to. The link below will take you to a page offering information and downloads for Lynx. Try it out. Text browsing is an interesting alternative to being constantly bombarded by ads and images.

A screenshot of Lynx showing Google Search Results.

Lynx Browser for Windows 9x/NT/2000/XP

Surprise!

2005-07-15T21:35:00.000-05:00

At about 7:30 tonight we went out front only to see this..(picture below). This is the first tornado I have ever seen in person. It was about 3 miles away. I watched it for several minutesa and took 7 0r 8 pics on my camera phone. There was no wind near me nor any rain. Also we couldn't hear the tornado. The scene was actually somewhat surreal. Here was this silent pillar of swirling cloud in the sky and I watched it for 5 or 10 minutes as it slowly contorted then disolved. I suppose I expected something a little more destructive or a little more violent in appearance. Fortunately it wasn't very destructive. Early reports are of no injuries and only minor damage (the morning may bring more news). After Charley last summer we don't need any more destruction. Looks, so far, like we dodged this one.

Yowza

2005-07-15T19:00:00.000-05:00

Tornado

A new Grand Daughter and Fluxx

2005-07-13T13:55:00.000-05:00

7/13/2005 1:26 PM - My Granddaughter Zoey Summer born!! She was 20 inches long and 7 lbs 10 oz.

While we were awaiting her arrival her mother, grandmother and myself played Fluxx. Fluxx is a card game by Looney Labs (who also produces Icehouse the subject of a previous post). Fluxx starts out easy enough 3 cards per person and each turn you draw one card and play one card. Also as you start there is no way to win the game (hang in there a second we'll get to the winning directly). As you play you can put down keepers in front of you (cards like cookies, milk, sleep, brains etc.), or a goal like, for instance 'cookies and milk' (if 'cookies and milk' is the goal than the player with both 'cookies' and 'milk' keepers in play wins). So what's the big deal you say? Well other players can change the goals and the rules as well as take your cards and a whole bunch of other things that keeps the game in a constant state of ...well... Fluxx. This is a great game as well in that my 12 and 14 year olds can understand and enjoy it as much as adults. Go get your self a copy!

Playing Fluxx While waiting for my Granddaughter to arrive...

2005-07-13T13:33:00.000-05:00

Waiting...

And here's who we were waiting for!!!

2005-07-13T13:22:00.000-05:00

Dennis the Hurricane

2005-07-08T17:05:00.000-05:00

Well, It is Hurricane season again and folks here in Punta Gorda are antsy (understandably so). Dennis is arounrd Cuba right now and the outermost feeder band just moved through town. Dennis isn't coming here but you can't help but be a little nervous when the hurricane is close enough to rain on you. (after all Charley wasn't supposed to be coming here either but charley was passing a LOT closer. In all we should get several inches of rain and stronger than normal winds but remain mostly undamaged. Let's Hope anyway.

First feeder band from Hurricane Dennis

2005-07-08T16:28:00.000-05:00

Dennis

Holiday Stash Pad

2005-07-05T20:29:00.000-05:00

Stash pad

Icehouse (sorta)

2005-06-29T22:59:00.000-05:00

I said in a previous post I was going to review the game 'Icehouse' and games using icehouse peices. Well I halfway told the truth. I have never read all the rules of 'Icehouse' and therefor never played the game. I did buy the 'Zendo' game which is a boxed set with 4 stashes of Icehouse pieces and some extra stuff. Here is the scoop Icehouse is a game invented by Andrew Looney of Looney Labs. It has definite Martian and Ice overtones. But Icehouse is more than a game it is a game system. The original Game was called Icehouse and played with pyramid shaped pieces. An enormous number of other games have been invented using those same pieces. There is a game design competition annually for games using these peices. This year's winner was Torpedo a variant of the original Icehouse game you can find the rules here. You can find other games at IcehouseGames.com and IcehouseGames.org. The former is the official company site and the latter is a wiki of players interested in game design. Below are pictures of games in progress.

Iceberg

2005-06-29T18:10:00.000-05:00

Making a move! (to see the rules go to the Wiki)

Torpedo

2005-06-29T17:51:00.000-05:00

Getting ready to fire in Torpedo!

OVERWEIGHT WHO DIET SUCCESSFULLY DOUBLE RISK OF DEATH

2005-06-29T12:00:00.000-05:00

From The Undernews

Overweight people who diet to reach a healthier weight are more likely to die young than those who remain fat, according to a study. The finding needs to be backed up by further research before sweeping changes are made to public health strategies, the authors warn, but it highlights how poorly the long-term health effects of dieting are understood. . .

Hmmm...this is news to me. The study was carried out in Finland and followed nearly 3000 obese people with these results...

'Healthy overweight or obese subjects who try to lose weight and succeed in doing so over a six-year period suffer from almost double the risk of dying during the next 18 years compared with subjects who do not try to lose weight and whose weight remains stable,' said Dr Sorensen.

Those who gained weight also had a greater risk of dying young.

But how could this be? Losing weight is supposed to prolong our life right?

The researchers were unable to identify why the dieters were at a greater risk of dying younger, but believe it is caused by fat being lost from lean organs as well as other body tissues.

'It seems as if the long-term effect of the weight loss is a general weakening of the body that leads to an increased risk of dying from several different causes,' said Dr Sorensen. 'The adverse effects of losing lean body mass may overrule the beneficial effects of losing fat mass when dieting,' he added.

OK...Apparently it wasn't news to researchers here in the states...

The finding is supported by an earlier study by researchers at the US National Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion in Atlanta.

It followed 6,391 overweight or obese people for nine years and found that those who had no intention of losing weight and even gained weight were least at risk of dying young.

So now what? I am obese and I intend to lose weight (of course I am also not HEALTHY and overweight. I have diabetes and hypertension and weight loss will help reduse the effects of both.) But if you are overweight and basically healthy your best bet may be to just maintain. Go figure.

Charley 10 Months After

2005-06-26T15:21:00.000-05:00

10 months after category 4 Charley tore through are area much has been done. And much remains to be done. The picture below shows a strips center still in need of repairs. The Holiday in downtown and the Municipal Auditorioum no longer need repairs. They were demolished many homes and buildings are repaired many are in process and many were given up on. Our home was sold to a developer and we moved across town. My employer is still in the process of rebuilding his. Just as note to all the folks who heard so much about or town and what happened here last August on Friday the 13th. We are still here and we still have a few years to go before the scars are no longer visible. The healing is however, well under way and the city's future is in sight. It looks beautiful and vibrant. I will document that with future photos and posts.

10 Months Later

2005-06-25T12:32:00.000-05:00

Charley damage. Note that through the arches the debris you see is the roof.

GeoCaching

2005-06-24T00:46:00.000-05:00

I ran across a new game/sport, Geocaching, It is fun (though often a bit frustrating). The Idea is to go to the website at Geocaching.com and find the location and GPS settings of a cache. Then use your GPS to go searching. I don't own a GPS but after looking at some of the locations. I figured I would try my luck at finding some of them without a GPS. It was a bit frustrating because we were (apparently) walking right by them and not seeing them. One difficulty is that you don't always know what kind of container you are looking for and where it may be hidden (the GPS can get you within 3 meters, around 9 feet). but with some persistance we did finall find one. We plan to go looking again for some of the ones we didn't find. One of the real attractons of this for me is that if i go to a new city the folks who hid the caches there most likely hid them in really neat places to go and look for them. Looking forward to playing this game for a long time. I hope to bump into you out there on the search.

A Picture Share!

2005-06-24T00:25:00.000-05:00

My first find

Trying to get back in the swing.

2005-06-23T23:30:00.000-05:00

Sorry for anyone who reads this blog. I have not been posting regularly at all. I am considerng the future of it in fact. I will be posting more regularly but may shift my focus somewhat decidedly. I am thinking about going to mainly gaming and photos. I play a lot of games and am helping to design a few and I love to take pics. I have a camera phone and now that Blogger has a mobil option I am planning to try it out. I think I will do some of the pix and ad comments to them. As for game i will be doing some reviews and recommendations. Some of the Game I will be blogging are:

Fluxx

Button Men

Aquarius

Icehouse (and games involving Icehouse pieces

Give Me The Brain

Lord Of The Fies

Just to get started.
Have Fun!

Spiderman 2.25 - Spidey Vs Scorpion

2005-04-14T23:03:00.000-05:00

Well, not "THE" Scorpion, a scorpion. Also not spiderman, actually just the dvd case from my "Spiderman 2" video. I was running the wire for our home theatre speakers when what should appear on the top of the book case but a scorpion! I asked for a magazine and my daughter, Tina, handed me the dvd case. Spidey was victorious again!

I will also mention I will be blogging regularly again as I am now in a home instead of a FEMA trailer. YAY!!! We mved last weekend and had a housewarming/Birthday (mine) party. It is so great to be out of that 8x30 FEMA trailer and sleep in a real bed again. WOO HOO!!

2005-04-14T23:01:00.000-05:00

Scorpion

Posted by Hello

2005-04-14T23:00:00.000-05:00

A scorpion (defeated)

Posted by Hello

Sister Hazel In Tampa

2005-02-04T23:44:00.000-05:00

Lisa (my Wife) and i Are going to the Sister Hazel Concert in Tampa (Ybor City) tomorrow night I will post more about the show afterwards. Note the new banner at the top of the page. Sister Hazel holds a special place for me as noted in this posting to the Hazelnuts Site:

I have to give a little preface. I got divorced 2 years ago. It wasn't too messy but it was hard for me as my ex wife initiated the divorece and though i saw it coming it was still very hard. As I was driving down the road one afternoon feeling a bit sorry for myself and more than a little depressed on the radio came "Thank You" followed by "Change Your Mind" I had to pull over because I wept (yes I am a guy who admits to crying). I was overwhelmed. I had heard Sister Hazel's music before but this was the first time it "spoke" to me. When I met my new wife i soon heard "Everybody" and of cousre we came across "One Love" wjen looking for wedding music. We had a lot of SH music at the wedding. It has been a rough summer for us as we lost our home to Hurricane Charley (we live in Punta Gorda). It is going to be a great show in Tampa and a wonderful treat for us. If it were a month or two later it could be our aniversary (April 3) Instead it is our Valentine's gift to each other. To the band: Thanks for being there when I needed your message.

I Dyed!!!!

2005-02-04T23:41:00.000-05:00

OK I finally broke down and did it. I dyed my moustache and bear and sideburns. for the first time in my life they match my hair!! Wheeeee!

2005-02-04T23:40:00.000-05:00

After

Posted by Hello

2005-02-04T23:39:00.000-05:00

Before

Posted by Hello

The Husband Store

2004-11-08T15:10:00.000-05:00

Recently a "Husband Super Store" opened where women could go to choose a husband from among many men. It was laid out in five floors, with the men increasing in positive attributes as you ascended.

The only rule was, once you opened the door to any floor, you HAD to choose a man from that floor; if you went up a floor, you couldn't go back down except to leave the place, never to return. A couple of girlfriends went to the shopping centre to find some husbands...

First floor

The door had a sign saying, "These men have jobs and love kids." The women read the sign and said, "Well, that's better than not having a job or not loving kids, but I wonder what's further up?" So up they went.

Second floor

The sign read, "These men have high paying jobs, love kids, and are extremely good looking." "Hmmm," said the ladies, "But, I wonder what's further up?"

Third floor

This sign read, "These men have high paying jobs, are extremely good looking, love kids and help with the housework." "Wow," said the women, "Very tempting." But there was another floor, so further up they went.

Fourth floor

This door had a sign saying "These men have high paying jobs, love kids, are extremely good looking, help with the housework and have a strong romantic streak." "Oh, mercy me," they cried, "Just think what must be awaiting us further on! So up to the fifth floor they went.

Fifth floor

The sign on that door said, "This floor is empty and exists only to prove that women are impossible to please. The exit is to your left, we hope you fall down the stairs."

Spider Bite!!!

2004-10-26T06:32:00.000-05:00

I have recently had the misfortune of what seems (most likely according to the doctor to be a spider bite. The bite itself I don't recall however the first symptom appeared last Thursday, October 21. It was a small itchy spot on my inner left thigh that felt like a small pimple or blister. By Friday evening it was a bit larger and very red. Sunday evening when I went to the ER it was 3 inches long by about an inch and a half wide. It was red around the outside with a ring of white inside that and Black in the center where some tissue had begun to die (necrosis). At the ER the doctor made and incision about 3 inches long and a quarter inch deep to drain the pus and then cleaned and packed the wound. I received an hour and a half of IV antibiotics and needed to come back the following day. A nurse came in to dress the wound. She used 2 or 3 gauze sponges, an abdominal pad and coban to hold it all in place. Coban is a stretchy stuff that sticks only to itself. I asked the nurses twice if they were sure this would hold they assured me it would. It didn't. We ended up using Elastoplast and a conforming bandage to hold it in place. Wheeeee!

Halloween Choices

2004-10-12T00:40:00.000-05:00

OK folks, help me out a bit.Which mask should I get for Halloween?

2004-10-11T23:39:00.000-05:00

Me as a punk Rocker with a Mowhawk

Posted by Hello

2004-10-11T23:38:00.000-05:00

Me as Frankenstein's Monster

Posted by Hello

Hmmmmmm

2004-10-01T21:35:00.000-05:00

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Amzanig!

Satan's Constant Battle

2004-09-26T14:03:00.000-05:00

In the beginning God covered the earth with broccoli, cauliflower, and spinach, green, yellow, and red vegetables of all kinds; so Man and Woman would live long and healthy lives.

Then using God's bountiful gifts, Satan created Ben and Jerry's and Krispy Kreme. And Satan said, "You want hot fudge with that?" And Man said, "Yes!" and Woman said, "I'll have another with sprinkles." And lo and behold they gained 10 pounds.

And God created the healthful yogurt that Woman might keep the figure that Man found so fair.

And Satan brought forth white flour from the wheat, and sugar from the cane, and combined them. And Woman went from size 2 to size 10.

So God said, "Try my fresh green salad."

And Satan presented crumbled Bleu Cheese dressing and garlic toast on the side And Man and Woman unfastened their belts following the repast.

God then said, "I have sent you heart healthy vegetables and olive oil in which to cook them."
And Satan brought forth deep fried coconut shrimp, butter dipped lobster chunks and chicken-fried steak so big it needed its own platter. And Man's cholesterol went through the roof.

God then brought forth running shoes so that his Children might lose those extra pounds.

And Satan came forth with a cable TV with remote control so Man would not have to toil changing the channels. And man and woman laughed and cried before the flickering light and started wearing stretch jogging suits.

Then God brought forth the potato, naturally low in fat and brimming with potassium and good nutrition.

Then Satan peeled off the healthful skin and sliced the starchy center into chips and deep-fried them in animal fats and added copious quantities of salt And Man put on more pounds.

God then gave lean beef so that Man might consume fewer calories and still satisfy his appetite.

And Satan created McDonald's and the 99-cent double cheeseburger. Then Lucifer said, "You want fries with that?" and Man replied, "Yes! And super size' em!"

And Satan said, "It is good."

And Man went into cardiac arrest.

God sighed and created quadruple bypass surgery.

And Satan created HMOs.

Amen

Enough Already

2004-09-26T12:21:00.000-05:00

Charley was more than enough all by himself. Then came Frances. Now Jeanne. Enough. I say it's time we do something. We could maybe put up a giant sign in the Keys directing all hurricanes out into the Atlantic. Or maybe change all local listings to show the FSU Seminoles playing in Texas or something (the Hurricanes like to beat up on the Seminoles). Perhaps a GIANT tub of Damp-Rid would soak up all the humidity and snuff out the hurricane. Or a million bicycle pumps to raise the air pressure. Or move Miami to Virginia (actually could we just do this one anyway?). I don't know. I do know that Florida doesn't need any more hurricanes and there are still two more months of hurricane season left. We need to figure out something.

Someone Explain This

2004-09-24T00:48:00.000-05:00

I have been job hunting lately and today I filled out an application at a large company in the area. The application was lightweight asking for only my personal information and last 5 employers. As I handed it to the HR receptionist she said "Allow us several weeks to process it." I was dumbstruck. SEVERAL WEEKS!! There are only 5 phone numbers to call and background checks don't take but a few days. In several weeks I intend to have been employed for at least a few weeks. What takes so long? Someone explain this. Anyone? Please?

Charley and the Fifty Percent Rule

2004-09-23T00:26:00.000-05:00

Imagine our surprise as we are in the midst of making aranements for the necessary repairs to our home and we learn of the 50% rule. This is a local ordinance which states (and I am paraphrasing) that any single family dwelling that sustains damage totalling more than 50% of the value of the dwelling must be (here I am a bit uncertain as to which way option is enforced) brought completely up to existing code or torn down and rebuilt to existing code. Either way we will not have enough money to do it and are hoping against hope we can get a loan. HOLY UNFUNDED MANDATES BATMAN! We also discovered that our insurance company is only responsible for the damages they assess. We are between a rock and a hard place and another rock. While I understand and actually agree with the basic idea, to replace older damaged structures with newer more sound ones the burden on the homeowner can be immense! There needs to be some form of assistance for people with older homes to help mitigate the cost of such ordinances.

Charley: Aftermath Part Next

2004-09-18T09:35:00.000-05:00

This is one of those stories of those stories of strange miraculous things that happen during disasters. I had written earlier about staying with friends as Charley passed and how their shed had blow apart. In that shed was containers with decorations of all types. much of it was missing after the storm. One container it turns out later was found. A man found a box at his home in Peace river shores and showed the box to a friend. This woman looked at the handwriting on the box and recognised it as that of our friend (they had known each other since grade school) Look at the pics below to see the distance (though not necessarily the route) the box traveled as well as the type of box. The box was found intact and with the lid still on though I cannot speak for the condition of the contents.

2004-09-18T09:33:00.000-05:00

5.88 miles according to Mapquest

Posted by Hello

2004-09-18T09:32:00.000-05:00

A rubbermaid tote.

Posted by Hello

Stupid Horror Movie Tricks

2004-09-17T00:50:00.000-05:00

I recently saw "The Ring" and I liked most of the film except for two things. Two stupid horror movie tricks. The first goes like this whenever the monster/maniacal killer/whatever appears to be dead or defeated it must come back and kill one more person. I hate this one. Just let it die.

The other one was the one I call the 'un-ending' . In this case right at the very end the reveals that it really isn't the end. In "The Ring" this is where the main character is having her son make a copy of the video and he says "what will happen to the person I show it to?" This is such a CHEAP plot device.
If there are any future writers, playrights or filmmakers out there do us all (including yourselves a favor and don't use these cliches.

Drivers Wanted

2004-09-15T00:01:00.000-05:00

A note to all drivers including myself ( I promise to read this later and pretend to be surprised). I'd like to pass on a few tips to make everyone's driving experience a little better.

Drive Like You Have Somewhere To Go - even if you don't, likely the person behind you does. I am not saying drive like a maniac (as you'll see in a moment) just don't putt-putt down a main thoroughfare at 20 MPH while looking at all the pretty flowers.
Get Directions Before You Leave - This would seem like a no brainer but a lot of folks apparently don't do it.
Take It Easy - if you're running late that is YOUR fault and YOUR problem don't make it everyone else's. Life is the journey not the destination. BTW- If you are one of those folks who comes zooming up behind me on the interstate doing 90 when I am doing 70 and flashes your high beams, KNOCK IT OFF, I am doing the speed limit, you are not supposed to be going faster than me in the first place. If I am in your way while you are breaking the law DEAL WITH IT.
Change Lanes More Than 20 Feet Before You Need To Turn - Another no brainer but one that a bunch of people don't do. There is never an excuse for making a right turn from anywhere other than the right lane ( or a left turn from the left).
Chill - Mellow out, calm down, relax, etc. (just not so much that you fall asleep.)

I know this won't be popular with a lot of folks but so what. I am guilty of all these from time to time as well. I promise to do better. I hope you do too.

Charley's Angels

2004-09-14T00:08:00.000-05:00

I have talked several times about the damage and devastation caused by Hurricane Charley i would like to take an opportunity to thank some of the people who came to help us recover. Some are volunteers, some are not. First I must thank the 'Convoy Of Hope' For providing food and other necessities. These folks ran a comfort station just south of downtown Punta Gorda, distributing water, Ice, Food, Clothing and other supplies. No questions asked. Walk up get some stuff and go on your way. I can't emphasize how HUGE the no questions asked part of that is. After dealing with FEMA, The SBA and Disaster Unemployment it was nice not to have to fill out more forms and answer more questions. The Salvation Army also was out there providing meals. The national guard, law enforcement, and fire-rescue teams from all over. In the weeks after the hurricane there was little power and few traffic lights the visiting police helped direct traffic and protect us. This was incredibly needed. One of the true tragedies was hearing that some folks who disregarded the curfew ran an intersection and were hit by a semi at 11:30 PM. Three people were killed. There would have been a lot more of this if not for visiting law enforcement. There so many people from so many places, it was truly heart warming to see the outpouring of assistance to our small Florida county. Thanks to one and all. I hope I can return the favor one day.

Charley: Aftermath 2

2004-09-13T01:40:00.000-05:00

As mentoned in the previous post we had gone into town to locate assistance. Along the way we were moved to tears on several occaisions at the sights around us. It was unbelievable. The amount of destruction was mind boggling. In a town called Cleveland there is a mobile home park on each side of US 17. That area looked like something large and powerful had been detonated there. While some homes were still standing most had just, come apart, during the storm. Debris was every where anything vertical had aluminum wrapped around it. We even saw a mattress hanging on a power line. I also said in my last post that I didn't like the fact that the mobile home parks got so much of the coverage. This is because I believe that this gives some people the false impression that concrete block building are safe. While block is safer it is by no means invulnerable. The other two pictures today are of the Harbor Inn and the Supertest gas station, both concrete block structures both destroyed.

2004-09-13T01:00:00.000-05:00

Gas Station-Convenience Store

Posted by Hello

2004-09-13T00:59:00.000-05:00

Cleveland Mobile Home Park

Posted by Hello

2004-09-13T00:58:00.000-05:00

Harbor Inn

Posted by Hello

Charley: Aftermath 1

2004-09-11T22:24:00.000-05:00

We were overwhelmed without water, power or a roof we could not live in our home. The friends we rode out the storm with offered to let us stay there but there was already a house full there. My parents, sister and her family came down on Saturday the 14th to help get the cleanup started. They offered to let us stay with them for a few days. We accepted.
We stayed in Bradenton (about an hour and a half north of Punta Gorda) for two days. At my folks house we saw television and newspapers for the first time since the Charley knocked out our power. One thing that bothered me abou the news coverage was that most of the video was of trailer parks. There was a lot more flattened by Charley than trailer parks. On Monday one of my wife's co-workers was going north for a week and said we use her home in Englewood. We accepted that offer as well and were about an hour closer to home and work. We began to look for the FEMA offices and the comfort stations. We needed food and water. We had brought some food with us when we left the house but with both our workplaces closed we didn't know how long that would hold us. As much as I dislike port-a-potties there were a welcome sight when no business or pulic building had water. There also groups all over serving free food and drink. Again this was a welcome sight as we searched the county for information and supplies for trying to get things back to normal. My sincere thanks goes out to those volunteers who made life more bearable for all of us through this tragedy.

Charley:Going Home

2004-09-10T10:02:00.000-05:00

After looking around our host's property we thought we would see if we could make it over to our own home to take a look around. It was a very cautious drive over there were downed trees and power lines all over. It was however, still passable with great care. As we reached US-17 we saw utility poles and power lines down for miles. We had already passed several homes damaged from fallen trees or missing roofs. It was difficult to see very much so soon after the storm because of the trees and debris had not yet been cleared. We looked around with anxiety at the damage wondering what had become of our home. On the way down our street we noticed our neighbor's front porch was no longer there. We saw aluminum littering the Brazilian Peppers on the other side of the street some was from our neighbor's porch, no doubt, but I was certain that some had come from our home.
We had expected the utility sheds not to survive beyond that we were not sure what to expect. We were in no way prepared for what we found. No matter how many pictures of this sort of thing you see on TV or in the newspaper you are not prepared for seeing it in real life. There is no comparison. The first thing that drew our attention was the travel trailer. It had been sitting next to the driveway. It was now thirty feet to the north. Two feet from where it now rested was a five foot tall bottlebrush tree that the trailer had gone OVER. Our thirty foot Coachman Catalina had been tumbling and was roughly five feet in the air! This realisation took a moment to sink in. As we continued to assess the damage we noted that the roof-over was gone, the carport, utility sheds and well pumps destroyed, and the electric lines down. We had very mixed emotions. Our home was still standing and relatively fine inside apart from a few leaks and some broken dishes, but outside was a scene of extreme violence.

2004-09-10T09:58:00.000-05:00

Part of the carport or roof-over wrapped around the Brazilian pepper out front.

Posted by Hello

2004-09-10T09:56:00.000-05:00

The utility shed ( this one housed the well pumping system).

Posted by Hello

2004-09-10T09:54:00.000-05:00

The travel trailer (note the small tree next to it)

Posted by Hello

2004-09-10T09:51:00.000-05:00

Carport & Home (note the insulation all over) The travel trailer used to sit in the left foreground.

Posted by Hello

Friday The Thirteenth: Charley's Coming

2004-09-09T13:20:00.000-05:00

On the morning of 8/13/04, my wife and I were discussing what to do about evacuating. If Charley stayed offshore and headed for Tampa as forecast we should only see 70-80 mph winds and be safe at home (we live in a home that is part mobile home and part frame). Just to be safe we decided to stay at a friends home about 2 miles away. That turned out to be a wise decision.
At our friends home we watched the weather on a big screen tv not expecting much from this category 2 hurricane that was going to skirt us on its way further north. About an hour and a half before it was to pass by however everything changed. Charley had suddenly become category 3 and had turned just a bit more east. Still not a threat for a direct hit but things would be a bit worse than expected. Our host wondered aloud if we shouldn't perhaps leave to go further inland. About that time the news bulletin came that Charley was a category 4 storm and that it had changed course again. We watched anxiously as the weathercaster plotted the new course on the radar images and the arrow he drew pointed directly to us!
My friend really wanted to leave now but the weather was already very bad as evidenced by several trees that had fallen on the property. I told him if we left now there would be trees and powerlines on the roads as well as the fact that we definitely would be safer in a house than in cars. We decided to stay.
As the storm came closer more trees fell. We bagan to see debris flying everywhere (we later discovered that most of what we saw was part of his barn and a storage shed). I all some 60 trees were toppled. evantaully the pool cage fell as well. At the height of the storm I heard the "freight train" sound of high wind ( I have a train track at the edge of my back yard so i am very familiar with what a train sounds like). We survived with the house for the most part intact and once the winds died down we ventured out to explore the damage. The next few pictures will show you what we found.

2004-09-09T02:07:00.000-05:00

The Barn

Posted by Hello

2004-09-09T02:04:00.000-05:00

Storage Shed Next To Barn

Posted by Hello

2004-09-09T02:03:00.000-05:00

Pool Cage and Broken Trees

Posted by Hello

On Your Mark...

2004-09-09T00:43:00.000-05:00

Ok I have got my profile in place and am working on getting some thoughts about Charley and to a lesser extent Frances organized. But first I may have to deal with Ivan. Jeezo-Peezo! Enough already. I hope the forcast track changes or something. We are still reeling from the damage that Charley coused to our home and town and jobs. It is hard enough to find a job let alone a tech job in this county. Without knocking down businesses and knocking out power. We need a break down here!!!

2004-09-08T23:55:00.000-05:00

Actually this is me!

Posted by Hello

Hello From Nowhere More or Less

2004-09-08T13:22:00.000-05:00

This is the initial post for my blog. I live in Morgantown, Fl. (I you just have to know where that is go to MapQuest and look it up). For a general idea we are just a bit north of Punta Gorda, Fl. Before you ask, yes we were smacked around a bit by hurricane Charley. I intend to go into that more in some subsequent posts. That is all there is now until i get a little more organized and start with the Charley Posts in the next day or two.