Some days it's not worth chewing through the leather straps

From my friend Tim, who finds the best stuff ever!

I mentioned in my post about our trip to the Seattle area how expensive it was. Kathy's folks have been in The Bellevue area forever, before it was a happening place. They have seen a lot of change, lots of land gobbled up, houses springing up, then the influx of people with cash coming in and buying up the place. Each time that we have gone out to see them, you see many more of the older houses that used to be small and sit on between a half-acre to an acre disappear to be replaced by a huge house or a couple of houses. It really has been amazing to watch the transformation over the last 25 years we have been going there. One of our favorite things to do is go and walk around, check out the flyers in the boxes in front of the houses for sale. I keep hearing about a downturn in the economy and the housing market going to hell. I see it around here, but if you only knew about this area, you certainly wouldn't know it! Here are some samples I grabbed and scanned... Sorry th...

Next entry in the weird tat series comes Mr. Alien with the double headed snake around the neck. Wonder what the Alien will look like in the old folks home, eh?

We got back into town from Bellevue Washington on Saturday afternoon. This has been a trip that has just sucked the life force right out of me. Kathy's whole family is from there, and only Kathy moved away many years ago. The rest of the family, two older sisters, a younger brother and spouses are all still up there. Why then does Kathy have to be the one to organize care and take the bull by the horns? Kathy's mom is not doing well, there are multiple health issues going on with her. The latest is Cancer that has spread from a breast to a tumor on the side of her heart. She is too weak to have any kind of treatment, so she is home now, kind of on a home hospice deal. But, she doesn't like the term hospice, and isn't giving up, so it is the word of which we don't speak. Kathy's dad has his own set of problems, from having a pacemaker with a built in defibrillator (makes for an interesting event when that kicks in), to colon cancer. His turn for surgery is...

Sorry I haven't been posting, I am in Seattle with Kathy and Skyler visiting her family. It has been quite busy, and I have not had computer access, so I will fill you all in on the trip when I get back this weekend. Hope everyone is well, and thanks so much to those nice people who were wondering about where I am! Chris

Take a look at this license from a traffic stop. It's pretty good for a forgery, but there is a critical error that only trained police officers can usually spot: REMEMBER!! When making a fake ID, attach a picture of yourself only... no matter how much you love your girl. I'm surprised that the cop involved could stop laughing long enough to put this idiot in cuffs!!

I was thinking with all of the crazy tattoo pics that a friend of mine sends me, I might start a new series. Kind of like tattoo of the week. Check out this wonderful piece of work, Atlas holding up the weight of the world... What do you all think?

A married couple went to the hospital to have their baby delivered. Upon their arrival, the doctor said he had invented a new machine that would transfer a portion of the mother's pain to the baby's father. He asked if they were willing to try it out. They were both very much in favor of it. The doctor set the pain transfer to 10% for starters, explaining that even 10% was probably more pain than the father had ever experienced before. However, as the labor progressed, the husband felt fine and asked the doctor to go ahead and kick it up a notch. The doctor then adjusted the machine to 20% pain transfer. The husband was still feeling fine. The doctor checked the husband's blood pressure and was amazed at how well he was doing. At this point, they decided to try for 50%. The husband continued to feel quite well. Since the pain transfer was obviously helping out the wife considerably, the husband encouraged the doctor to transfer ALL the pain to him. The wife delivered a heal...

OK, trying to make the good point that you should have your pets spayed or neutered, but holy shit! This is pretty much a reach...

Time for Some Campaignin' by JibJab

Pity me, I'm a fool, but I love me some Mr. T! SPEED WALKER (run like a men)

I worked out this morning on the elliptical trainer next to an old friend Tom. Tom has a business that takes him all over the world, and he is gone probably about 10 months out of the year. His company is in construction, using green technologies to help build solar and wind facilities to help lower the cost of keeping buildings efficient. So why is Tom gone 10 months out of the year? Nobody in the good old USA has the foresight to spend a few extra bucks now to make their facility more efficient in the future. Tom just returned from Dubai, where he told me the have a 5 year plan to spend 1.3 Trillion (yes Trillion with a T) dollars on construction projects that will be some of the most efficient in the world. He said that in these 5 years they will build approximately the equivalent of 4 cities the size of Houston, to house the people who are moving into the area. That's just crazy to me, but he says it's really happening, and that they have plans to be completely off oil ...

Did you all see the NY Times interview of McCain yesterday? Lot's of typical blah, blah, blah we have come to expect during election years, but I was struck by the fact that he let's other people handle that tough task of getting logged on and going online. My God, do we really want our military arsenal in the hands of some guy who hasn't yet mastered the double click of an icon? Some of the interview: " The Times asked, "Do you go online yourself?" McCain, referring to his aides answered, "They go on for me. I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself. I don't expect to be a great communicator, I don't expect to set up my own blog, but I am becoming computer literate to the point where I can get the information that I need - including going to my daughter's blog first, before anything else. ... I don't e-mail; I've never felt the particular need to e-mail. I read e-mails all the time,...

I saw this story on the news the other day. This is just amazing, Charles Gray had epileptic seizures that were somewhat controlled with medicine. Doctors weaned Gray off his epilepsy medications to intentionally induce seizures so they could better understand what was causing his medical problems, so they could map his brain and determine if there was a surgical alternative. Gray was in University Hospital, checked into a monitoring area that was supposed to be watching him around the clock, because hey - they were trying to induce seizures ! Turns out he had one, while the person that was supposed to be monitoring him decided to go on break... Now he is dead. The local CBS affiliate has the story here. Skyler has been checked into Childrens hospital for overnight studies like that, and we never left his side. There is just too much to worry about.

To paraphrase Hugh Laurie and his acceptance speech... I am a winner, so it seems! Our good friend Hot Lemon over at With a Twist of Lemon, has been gracious enough to bestow upon me and others an Arte. That is, the Arte y Pico award for blogs. Didn't know there was such an award? Well you are not alone. I had no idea either, but I am still quite overwhelmed by the whole thing, somewhat ferklemped, talk amongst yourselves... OK, I have composed myself. Here is the skinny on the award, stolen from Mr Lemon himself, since he writes so eloquently and I am a master at the cut and paste function: The origin of the Arte y Pico Award: "This prize has arisen from the daily visits that I dedicate to many blogs which nourish me and enrich me with creativity. In them, I see dedication, creativity, care, comradeship, but mainly, ART, much art. I want to share this prize with all those bloggers that entertain me day to day and to share this prize with those who enrich me every day. ...

I found this at Patton Oswalt site: http://www.pattonoswalt.com/index.cfm?page=spew&id=83 Great speech, very funny parts and some terrific insights. Here it is in it's entirety: Here's the actual speech I gave at my old high school on June 18th. Well, more or less. There were some extra, last-minute thoughts I threw in there. I think the core idea of what I was trying to say was unchanged. What a great group of kids. What a bunch of smarty-pants, too. Brainy bunch. Very intimidating. Their valedictorian had a 4.35 GPA. That means she took extra classes in a PARALLEL DIMENSION, and then found a way to have the credits count in this one. 4.35? She introduced me, and brought me onstage. And then she shook hands with 2.71. And then I said this: First off, I want to thank the teachers and faculty of Broad Run High School for first considering and then inviting me to speak here. It was flattering, I am touched and humbled, and you have made a grave mist...

Every day, a male co-worker walks up very close to a lady at the coffee machine, inhales a big breath of air, and tells her that her hair smells nice. After a week of this, she can't stand it anymore, takes her complaint to a supervisor in the personnel department and asks to file a sexual harassment grievance against him. The Human Resources supervisor is puzzled and asks: 'What's sexually threatening about a co-worker telling you your hair smells nice? 'The woman replies, 'It's Keith. The midget.'

It was that corrective eyewear question that put me over the edge... Your results: You are Geordi LaForge Geordi LaForge 80% Beverly Crusher 75% Mr. Scott 70% Uhura 70% Chekov 65% Deanna Troi 65% Worf 60% Leonard McCoy (Bones) 60% Mr. Sulu 55% An Expendable Character (Redshirt) 50% Data 46% Will Riker 45% Spock 40% Jean-Luc Picard 35% James T. Kirk (Captain) 30% You work well with others and often fix problems quickly. Your romantic relationships are often bungled. Click here to take the Star Trek Personality Quiz

My buddy from Sun, Jeff, sent this to me just a few minutes ago...

Confessions from an Olympic geek, I just love watching all the events on TV. I am particularly drawn to these Olympic trials in swimming this year. There are so many good story's and amazing performances. But last night was one that is just too amazing to comprehend. Dara Torres is going to swim in her 5th Olympics. She not only qualified last night, she won the 100 meters beating out Natalie Coughlin who finished second, in 53.83. Natalie Coughlin is 25 years old. Lacey Nymeyer who finished third, in 54.02. She is 22. Jessica Hardy who took fourth, in 54.62. She is 21. Dara said later she has goggles older than some of these girls. Some of them had not yet been born when Dara qualified for her first Olympics in 1984. Here is a profile of Dara: And here is Dara winning the 100 last night, sorry there is no embed, only a link: http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/share.html?videoid=bef0b798-5246-4baf-b11a-673a7308cda8 I guess there is hope for us aging athletes after all.

To honor our countries Independence, some quotes for today: FREEDOM "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." -- The Declaration of Independence "The arms we have been compelled by our enemies to assume we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and perseverance, employ for the preservation of our liberties being with one mind resolved to die free rather than live slaves." -- Thomas Jefferson "Whatever the standard of freedom and independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will be America’s heart, her benedictions and her prayers." -- John Quincy Adams "These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks o...

Most of you know Distributor Cap as the hard hitting, thought provoking blogger who keeps us all current on the deteriorating state of affairs with Bushco. But did you know that he also has a heart of gold? Exhibit A is the Al Roker coffee cup that he picked up for Skyler! It arrived today by Mr UPS (why don't I ever get a nice Mrs Brown in short brown shorts?) and Skyler thinks it's the greatest thing in the world. He had me heating up water in the microwave for awhile today in it. Thanks D-Cap, you are one of the good ones!

WANT TO BET?