I Think

Garbage day. We pay the same for once a week service that we once payed for twice a week service.

I figure that since our December has temperatures in the seventies and eighties, every day so far, we are going to duplicate the past year's non-winter. Not good for an already exuberant bug population. Mostly, I don't mind. I can stand the heat. What I can't stand is the already encroaching drought. That makes for a dangerous situation. We came out of the worst drought ever. The new one might finish more millions of trees. Might kill the ones around my house.

Folks who want jobs might consider moving to Texas. Just be forewarned, it's the king of corporate welfare and most of the jobs getting created keep Texas at the forefront of rising poverty levels.

Today I quoted Dan Quayle on the Your Daily Quote thread. It was too easy. He is an endless fount of humor, much like Yogi Berra. With Dan, it's natural. In Yogi's case, I could never figure out if his quotes are a cottage industry or if culled from natural conversation.

This thread is a great exercise for me. As a younger man, I could only stammer at folks seeking conversation. I recall a number of them complaining that if asked any questions, it was next to impossible to get yes or no from me. I hope one day to equal Bill Clinton in longevity of my speeches.

I am not mentally up this morning. The greater part of me is still asleep in there. All the climbing and reaching I do these days is keeping me tired. I have not had a vacation since the year I visited our friends in New Mexico. But I can handle it.

My router died yesterday. The rep on the phone told me I could get a new one at Radio Shack or various places she named, including ATT. The nearest Radio Shack had none. ATT sent us to another ATT in downtown Tomball, where we spent a hundred and eight bucks, not counting the small change. At least it was simple to hook up and activate.

The ATT people meet you at the door. A person asks what you want. Shortly, they bring you the product. Then a sales clerk takes your payment and walks briskly to the door, after handing you the package. "Here is the router. I will hold the door for you." In short, "Get the hell out." I felt a slight bit of resentment to be herded through the entire experience. Efficient, yes. Happy making, no.

Our dinner had been ready, at the time the router quit. We stuck it inside the fridge, not sure how long we would be out searching for the new one. I was too tired by the time we ate to heat any of it. Tried to get in bed an hour early, but that never works out. You just end with a wasted hour to regret.

Glad to see you all well routed.

I still have a bit of trouble, but it works. It may be that the source of the problem is too small a phone line. I have my computer connected to a fifty foot line that is the smaller wires. I plan to run the heavy line to this room and put a jack by the computer.

I have been thinking of how books are being replaced by ebooks and such. It makes me worried that in the same way supermarkets concentrate their stock into only best sellers, the older books will be left out, all but the best read classics. Hundreds of thousands and more books could simply go away. I hope I am wrong about this.

Cold and windy out there, after weather in the eighties. It could even freeze a time or two this week. Need I say it? Brrr.

I was interrupted by a call from mrs edgarblythe. A tree has fallen across the road. I went down and helped a neighborhood neighbor pull the dead trunk and many branches out of the way. She now is merrily motoring down to Tomball. Hopefully that was the only obstruction to her goal.

12/12/12
Eh. So what?

I am eager to know if the world will leave the N Korean satellite up there. What if the US military's space shuttle has the ability to chase and disable it?

After a month of use, one of my alternative supplements has made hair grow on my bald places on my scalp. Right now it is not noticeable from any distance. Am waiting to see if it fills out. Could prove to be a false hope, but it has grown to almost a quarter inch in length.

What happened? We enjoyed warm weather when we arrived in Austin, but by the time we left one week later, the temp dropped 40 degrees! From roasting to freezing in one day.

That's Texas for you.

In our town, some great stands of trees have been rapidly coming down. Brutally bulldozed land, bare, but for the For Sale signs along the street front. New roads slash through there first, mortally wounding these woods as yet another move by the speculators finishes them off. It's not progress. Just population shift. Which is why I hate it.

Last night was cold enough I slipped one of my shirts on the dog. After the initial shock, she appeared grateful to be warm.

Believe it or not, it's now warmer in your part of the world than ours in the San Francisco Bay Area.

It will be still warmer here after today.

The company Christmas party will be held this evening. I had intended to go, but I will be tired by then. I surrender. Let the younger folks go and drink and party. I will not miss it. Not being a party animal, I would have been there for a dinner and door prizes only.

I was very favorably impressed with PDiddie's and CI's offspring last Saturday. They have ample reason to be proud.

We are starting out 15 degrees warmer this morning.

When possibly 30 to 50 percent of Americans will never cooperate on gun control, when there are enough gun fanatics to begin bloody insurrection, in the event effective gun control laws are enacted (said laws highly unlikely in any event), it seems to me the schools ought to each employ two or more armed officers. Shopping malls hire security. Our troops are killing the "dangerous" overseas. We cannot legislate mental health. The helpless need protection now.

As a lead-in, I respect your opinion. Isolating one specific type of firearm...the assault rifle: do you feel that banning them would be worthwhile?

Also, what do you feel about restricting the sale of large multi-capacity ammo clips?

Now I recognize my own bias with having a liberal viewpoint, but it would seem clear to a logical person that something has to change with restrictions on who gets access to assault rifles and acceess to large capacity cartridge ammo. Can't stop mayhem...but can't we make it harder to so quickly wipe out a classroom or a school?

1. I am not for confiscating every gun. It could not be done anyway.
2. Assault weapons and military weapons do not belong in the hands of the general public.
3. I stated on a different thread that gun manufacturers ought not be allowed to make weapons that fire more than a few shots. That way, would be mass shooters would be too busy reloading or juggling armloads of weapons to get very far.

It is not a strictly American act, these sort of killings
A 32-year old ethnic Norwegian Anders Behring Breivik, suspected of killing over 80 people on the Utoya Island, confessed on Saturday in the mass killing, Dagbladet paper said citing Oslo police.
But we have the most access to assault weapons.

How does one square having a liberal viewpoint with providing support to successive US terrorist regimes? Something seems terribly out of whack, Ragman, unless I guess, you are an American "liberal".