So we just got back from the Governor's Art Show and I'm just wondering why so many Colorado artists feel compelled to paint the mountains so much. Oh granted there was some real beauty in the pictures themselves and artists often paint what they see and hey, if you live in Colorado its quite likely you're taking trips to the mountains - I sure do. It just seemed so trite at the art show since it seemed like the majority of the paintings were of snow covered mountains. If I knew my mountains a little better I think I would have been able to walk by the paintings and name the peaks correctly. There were some excellent other pieces though including some done in egg tempera.

The ten year anniversary of Columbine is tomorrow. There's been plenty of reflection in the local media so I don't feel a huge need to re-iterate here but I certainly do remember calling my future employer about how the employees were dealing with it.

In other anniversaries - its the 25 year anniversary of the M*A*S*H* finale. Twenty-five years and the re-runs are still playing regularly.

A recent article talks about a New Jersey teen being charged for posting nude pictures . . . . of herself! A Co-worker had a perfect remark for this craziness.

- Russell Weisfield

I HATE WINDOWS VISTA!!! Why is it so difficult to do simple things like add a folder to my start menu from the start menu. Why couldn't they have made it such that 32 bit programs would work on 64 bit machines (I understand the problem but now my old complete version of Adobe Acrobat - which was fine for my needs - won't work). UAC absoutely sucks. Heck, I turned it off and still had problems - couldn't copy something to a folder until I zipped the file and then unpacked it. The best thing that they did was the address bar in windows explorer - granted MAC has had it for a while but at least MS caught up. The sidebar is debateable as to whether that is a good thing or not.

While I'm ranting, I HATE PAYPAL. These monopolistic shlubs (thanks Pearls Before Swine for the yiddish this week) won't send me money because they really want me to link in my bank account which, the last time I did that, resulted in them taking money from me. OK the details are far more complicated than I'm going into now but suffice it to say that I am now advocating www.merchantwarehouse.com - at least for now.

Now on the brighter side, I am enjoying the series Arab Labor . This is a rather amusing sitcom from Israel.

- Russell Weisfield

ROCKY: 150 years ago someone emerged from a non-descript building to put forth the first issue of the Rocky Mountain News
MIKE: What seems like 150 years ago, Mike Weisfield emerged from a non-descript building to begin working at a lab

RockY: In the late 90s, to fight its competition, the Rocky sold its services for pennies a day
Mike: In the late 90s to help send two thankful and adoring children to college, Mike Weisfield lived on pennies a day

Rocky: After years of independence, the Rocky was bought by a major media conglomerate (Scripps Howard)
Mike: After years of independence, Mike Weisfield's company was bought by a major media conglomerate (CBS)

Rocky: In December 2008, the Rocky announced that if things didn't pick up or a better offer were not presented, it would cease work operations in the spring of 2009
Mike: In December of 2008 Mike Weisfield announced that unless things got worse or a better offer were presented, he would cease work operations in the spring of 2009

Rocky: In the intervening time, many people who despised the Rocky have said incredibly nice and insincere things about it
Mike: In the intervening time, many people who despsied Mike Weisfield have said incredibly nice and insincere things about him

Rocky: On Feb. 27, 2009, The Rocky will produce its last paper
Mike: On Feb. 27, 2009, Mike Weisfield will work at the lab for the last time

CONGRATULATIONS DAD!

GOODBYE ROCKY!


- Russell Weisfield

Ed Quillen mentioned that his daughter, a bartender, came up with the idea of serving a drink called "Economic Stimulus" that would be quite expensive but no one would really know what is in it. Does anyone know what is in the economic stimulus package. I've heard all kinds of things some of which seem crazy, some seem good, some seem useful to me, and I have no idea about the rest.

In the words of the now departed Patrick McGoohan (No. 6) "Be Seeing You!"

- Russell Weisfield

Quick Tidbits

May Bruce Wayne Rest In Peace. The famed comic book character was recently killed though Batman will likely see a new incarnation.

In an excellent and landmark ruling, Britain was ordered to destroy DNA information on people who were not convicted of a crime! Hooray! Now if only the US also goes down that path!

I finally saw Midnight Express, the acclaimed movie about a drug smuggler caught in Turkey. The interesting thing, besides the fact that he did not like the protrayal of Turkey in the movie, was that he recently (2007) returned to the country. Wow!

Finally, I have to tell the people who set up tents outside of Ultimate Electronics at 8:45AM this morning to get the KBCO Studio C CD (I was there getting my haircut), get a life! What's even worse, was that by 3:30PM (I had to return to see my barber friend) there were about 10 people in line. This thing doesn't go on sale until 8A tomorrow! Moreover, its just not that hard to get a CD. There is no need to waste a day!

- Russell Weisfield

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Even amidst an economic meltdown there is much for which to be thankful. I will not list many here but there are indeed many things.

On some other notes I am now the proud owner of one square inch of land in Pinon Canyon. This opposition group is definitely doing some creative things to raise some cash.

There was a story about a man being charged with criminal libel. What nonsense! There is probably cause for libel in the case - which is a civil tort. Criminal charges for speech? There was a reason many places have abolished it as a crime.

Finally, I'll just note that planning trips to a foreign country can be a pain - even with travel agents.

- Russell Weisfield

Random tidbits

Of interest and possibly missed is that there will be a public sukkah in Denver this year. There was an article about in the Intermountain Jewish News. Also noteworthy is that Comcast is dropping usenet. Let's see, their maximizing the amount you can download (admittedly 250GB is CURRENTLY high but will be small in the future - when there would actually be an outcry) and getting rid of usenet and not lowering rates. This from a company whose employee urinated on my house!

I have been put onto Michael Yon's blog and must admit that it is quite a great perspective on the Iraq war.

Its good to see the market rally today - the selloff made no technical sense and was simply fear driven. A great day to buy more!

When will the name calling in political ads cease? Negative ads are one thing but this election is a whole new low.

- Russell Weisfield

New Year, New Thoughts, Soon a New Blog!

Its a new year (5769)! Have a sweet and healthy new year! I think it will be a good one!

Of course, it started with the news of the Dow Jones tanking. Heck someone at Erev Rosh Hashannah services reccommended saying a mi-sheberach for Dow Jones. It was an amusing thought.

Now mind you the Republicans were able to orchestrate the demise of a bill that was advertised as a way to stem the apocalypse (in this case the financial apocalypse). They did this because it violated their sense of morals and fairness. Why couldn't the Democrats muster the same thing against things like the Patriot Act and Surveillance bills. No backbone!

On a completely different tone, I have decided that the phrase the grass is always greener is becoming an anachronism. Heck, trying to maintain a green lawn in Colorado is sometimes a fruitless effort. Mother nature waters a whole lot better than I can and she hasn't been watering enough sometimes. Furthermore, with too many people coming to the state, water aquifiers are disappearing. Therefore, I have a new saying - "The blacks are always deeper on the other TV". Ok, it doesn't correlate perfectly but the idea is there. Which reminds me of a story I heard in which a person who is color blind bought an LG tv because he could tune it a whole lot better than any other TV. Apparently, if you're not color blind the picture doesn't look so good but then, he tuned it for himself so it makes a lot of sense.

In local politics it seems that Arvada wants to blight land near Olde Town. Clearly this continues the idea that Pretend Mayor Anderson stated which is that Arvada policies are simply about economic development and nothing more. Its too bad that they don't understand quality of life issues. Is that area really a blight? Very small portions maybe (OK by the legal definitions just about the entire city could be blighted) but the reality is that this is just a disgusting power play by the city.

Also, why have the political ads degenerated into simple name calling. In 30 second spots most ads are spending 10 seconds re-iterating lines like "Big Oil Bob" or "Boulder Liberal". Couldn't we go back to just lying about the candidates' stances and presenting half-truths about the issues?

On a caution note, I received a scammail from smithdcole002@gmail.com. He responded to a Craigslist posting and tried the classic I made the check out for too much ploy. I told him that I would be more than willing to send the difference if he would just send me his bank account number, routing number, and wire me an additional $500.00. Strangely, I haven't heard back.

Finally, a new blog is forthcoming. If nothing else, it will be a new look.

Russell Weisfield

DNC PT II

After three and a half days of the DNC I can say some of the catastrophes that were predicted (by myself included) have not materialized. Granted the closure of I25 has yet to occur but the Invesco festivities seem to be going smoothly. The traffic issues have been mild at best. Heck, they opened Speer more than planned and when I went downtown Tuesday night, the city and streets were incredibly empty (though the party I was at was not - more on that later). There were concerns of protesters destroying parks when they tried to sleep there. That didn't happen and apparently they were incredibly considerate of the neighbors during the day by putting up tape designating a respectful zone in which other protesters should be extra courteous. Some protesters were even allowed to sleep at the freedom cage - something that had not been anticipated but gave a place for people to throw down some sleeping bags (albeit in full view of security and with spotlights beaming on them).

Of particular interest, and a story that may have gotten missed amidst all the ballyhoo of Obama being nominated, was the storyof the unplanned parade that ended with Ron Kovic exclaiming "This was a real welcome home tonight.n the city of Denver. We got welcomed home. You guys should be very proud tonight. This is beautiful."

Ron Kovic is the wheelchair bound Vietnam vet who wrote "Born on the Fourth of July." Heck, Veterans Affairs leaders still bemoan that movie. To have Kovic say something like that is truly noteworthy. What is additionally noteworthy was that the police allowed the march to proceed. They even closed highway ramps to accommodate the parade and gave an escort! Now that's excellent respect of First Amendment rights! There have been a few *isolated* incidents that may have been going a tad far but those incidents appear to be getting the appropriate review by the citizen-police review boards and policies. Its been an excellent convention in that regards.

I want to point out one of the speeches that have been made. The speech I want to point out is that of Gov. Brian Schweitzer. Now here is a guy who knows how to motivate and cut out fancy talk. The speech he gave at the convention was unscripted. He felt a boost was needed. I got to meet him at another event and he has some great lines including one regarding how people think that anyone who wants wind power is a hippie up in the mountains smoking marijuana. He has some great Schweitzerims. I want to market a book on Schweitzerisms! By the way, at the aforementioned event I wore a Mike Miles T-shrit and got to ask the panel a question. The panel included Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar who lost the Democratic caucuses to Miles. The moderator pointed out the shirt to him to which he applauded and said "Yay Mike".

So the parties have been interesting. I met up with people I haven't seen since high school, and people I haven't seen since college. Wow! The parties were relatively crowded with plenty of gorgeous people! It was kind of interesting that bands such as Death Cab for Cutie played and most people were more interestd in mingling. Hey DCC is a good band but mingling just seemed to be a higher priority.

You might wonder if the parties were "green". Not really. There were plenty of plastic plates, utensils, cups, etc. that were used and quickly thrown away (no recycling nearby). Heck, if a plate or cup was just sitting it was gathered and tossed. I will at least give credit to the Concert for a Cool Climate that didn't turn on the AC despite being ridiculously hot inside.

In fact the convenion as a whole wasn't as green as it was trying to be. For one major thing, I saw water being used to repeatedly wash the streets. In the west, whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting. Why were we wasting it on the sidewalks almost haphazardly? Oh, downtown looked in tip top shape but it wasn't done by using "green" items. Yes there were plenty of bikes around but most of the people I talked to on bikes were locals. The out of towners didn't bother much with the more notable dignitaries (governors such as Arizona's Nepalotano for instance) climbed into big hybrid suvs to get from place to place. These things still got lousy mileage. Hardly green though I do understand the security issues (and Gov. Schweitzer has a great story about a pollster coming to his door because Montana is not as security nutty as other places). Speaking of out of town diginitaries and celebrities, there were apparently a lot of them in town. I never saw any and was at some places you might have thought they'd be seen.

Finally, I want to mention a button I saw. It had the names of three Colorado politicians and their pictures. Except, Mayor Hickenlooper's picture was not of him! The guy selling it swore it would be a collector's item one day and almost raised his price on us then and there. Oh shut up! And shutting up is exactly what I'll do now.

- Russell Weisfield

DNC OBSERVATIONS

The DNC has come to Denver so the question is how much of impact is it really having. Are the protesters or police really out of line? Is traffic really screwballed? Are laws being followed?

Well with regard to the traffic - Southbound Speer was closed before it was supposed to be closed. This caused a bit of a traffic jam especially when out-of-towners pulled over on the on-ramp to I25 to ask police questions. Just drive! Think of it like an accident - oh wait - on second thought don't do that. Doing that would only cause a bigger backup.

Once one got into town there were plenty of meters that were covered. Now this normally would not be too unusual but the ones that were covered made no sense. Clearly the ones at the convention center were going to be shut down but there were ones on Larrimer and Lawrence that were covered. It wasn't even the whole block - just certain meters that were in front of non-critical buildings (potentially some of the hotels could be considered critical with various VIPs staying there).

Moving beyond the traffic and parking issues, one might wonder how else the downtown area had changed. Well for one thing, trees that had been there for a while now have signs saying "this tree was planted in honor of the delegation from [insert state/territory here]." What a bunch of hooey. Much like the fact that all the homeless are nowhere to be seen. That's because they are staying in long metal buildings - and getting movie tickets. Some of us thought about dressing in ragged clothing and looking unkempt to see if we could get free tickets.

Then there is all the police. Oh there are a lot - many from outside of Denver including some horse mounted police from Cheyenne, Wyoming. Mind you these police are carrying some big sticks. I mean I would call the night sticks staves, not batons. The guns they are toting also are quite large. My .44 doesn't quite match up.

In addition to the police there are a truckload of cameras. Check that, there is almost nothing but cameras. I've come to a conclusion that government isn't Big Brother (from George Orwell's 1984 for those of you missing the reference) but our fellow citizens are Big Brother. Everywhere I turned there was some yahoo filming something or interview someone with a camera that he or she bought at a local electronics store. I'm sure many of these videos will end up on YouTube. All these videos are of course in addition to the ones that the pros from Japan, Al-Jazeera, MSNBC, etc. are making.

Then you might wonder what laws are being followed. Some, but not all. In Colorado there is a Sunshine Act requiring that all meetings in which there is more than one government official from the same entity present and in which there is going to be a policy discussion be opened to the public. I tried to get into the convention center but was told that the meetings were closed. Excuse me? In Colorado?

Mind you protesters were no better about following local laws. They plastered posters on many light poles in violation of city ordinances. Searches have thus far been kept to a minimum though there are signs at some garages suggesting that all cars are subject to search in violation of the Fourth Amendment. Speaking of which, there is a rally for the Fourth Amendment this week (after they have rallies for the first three amendments - I doubt the third amendment will get much of an attendance).

In regards to the protests - they weren't nearly as confrontational as certain pictures in the local dailies would suggest. Mostly they consisted of some boring parades with people shouting things relating to ending the war and other odds and ends. One fireman even asked "what are they protesting" because there message was so convoluted (do they want to leave Iraq, not go to Iran, save energy, let Ralph Nader into the debates, what?) One thing missed in the dailies were the counter-protests. A number of people showed up to encourage continued support for the fighting in Iraq. It was not a small number of people. Granted the number of people who came to here Cindy Sheehan and various hip-hop artists speak against the war and various practices of America outnumbered the counter-protesters but the counter-protesters were significant.

Finally, there are lots of booths setup throughout Denver. Many of them selling various DNC related schwag that, drum roll please, is made in China. Oh there's a company that should be producing products for a party that strongly sides with unions. Actually, based upon a booth setup talking about the Chinese persecution of Falun Gong, as well as the efforts of Harry Wu, why would anyone really endorse China. Heck, they cannot even be honest in the Olympics. Only Nixon could go to China but I'm pretty certain that just about any President can put further pressure or cut ties.

Please note I was going to be like the other idiots and take pictures to post but my camera batteries died. I am now reconsidering that whole idea after I saw the sheer number of cameras that were present. It really did feel like Big Brother as you had to rest assured that a camera was on you.

- Russell Weisfield

Information on Arvada tollway opposition can be found at: Arvadans for Responsible Transportation (ART).

- Russell Weisfield

Jefferson Parkway Public Highway Authority

I will be writing more about this topic over the coming month - considering I'm leading the petition drive against its formation. Its important to recognize that the formation of the authority is not just about the building of a road - its also about the creation of another government entity with eminent domain powers!

Russell Weisfield

Two quick shots

So Jack FM used to have an announcement making fun of people who listen to other stations to win prizes. Now they are having silly contests wherein you have to be the X number caller. Quite hyopcritical! Playing the music or just playing ads?

Someone asked me recently what I thought about all the cyclones, earthquakes, etc. I responded that it must mean the U.S. is getting to elect Obama because I always thought the world would end before the U.S. elected a black man President.

- Russell Weisfield

Boston Legal, The Fox, Popular Vote Counts

Boston Legal

A couple of weeks ago in Boston Legal they did a rendition of Tom Lehrer's Who's Next. Wow! I didn't think people were still up on his music except for people of my parent's generation and some of my friends. That was pretty cool. Granted this season of Boston Legal has taken a step downward probably meaning that this spinoff of The Practice is coming to an end. I am tempted to go back and watch some of the last season of the Practice - that was when Denny Crane was in excellent form


The Fox

Why is it that 103.5 The Fox can have a whole month of not repeating songs and still have a remarkably small library of music?

Popular Vote Counts

Considering the number of ways that spinsters are interpreting the results of the primaries and caucuses (e.g. don't count caucus states, don't count solid red or solid blue states, don't count MI or FL, etc.) the old saying about there are lies, damn lies, and statistics seems apropo.

- Russell Weisfield

Obama's Eloquence?

I don't deny that Obama has rallied and inspired lots of people. I don't deny that a cult of personality has formed around him. I don't deny that his eloquence has been praised. I do, however, question that eloquence.

His acclaimed speech distancing himself from Rev. Wright did not deserve the praise it received. There was no change in cadence, little use of parallel structure (something that gained Kennedy his famed oratorical prowess), and mutliple mis-pronunciations of the word 'divisive'. I even verified in dictionaries that Obama's pronuncication was invalid - and he said it the same way more than once!

I first saw Obama at a rally for Ed Perlmutter and was not really impressed but knew that he had been campaigning hard for many candidates so I attributed his less than stellar speech to being over-worked and tired. I read Audacity of Hope and found no new ideas or inspiration. I've seen his famous speeches and am just not impressed with his speaking skills.

This is not a comment on anything else about him (though his advisors on foreign policy could use a shakeup) but just that he isn't as eloquent as his reputation would suggest.

Arthur Clarke

Farewell Mr. Clarke! Your writings will be missed. I am particularly reminded of a quote "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic".


For Better of For Worse

I have to throw in a comic comment - Liz and Anthony are getting married. They were kind of cute in high school (15 years ago now) but now . . . gosh, I swore we were being setup for Liz to marry Mr. Wright.

Concerts

R.E.M. looks to be a hot ticket this year. Tull returning to Red Rocks for the first time since the famed '72 riot will be quite interesting. Wear the gas masks - it will be good preparation for the distaster that will be the DNC. Matchbox Twenty put on quite a show at the Broomfield Event Center - which is actually a lousy venue since the accoustics are awful and the flow of people is even worse with vendors being placed right at the entrance to bathrooms - who would have thought that would be a traffic jam. In other concert news, the Mile High Festival, a better re-incarnation of the Lodo Music Fest, looks to be quite a show - but will it actually sell out . . .

Quick Note

Its been mentioned that this blog could use some editing. I agree. I'm just not rushing to do it.

- Russell Weisfield

Libertarians, caucuses, laptop searches, DNA testing, miscellaneous

Libertarians

So in the beginning of the legislative session the Libertarians were expounding the virtues of Doug Bruce (who has since been censured) and were attacking a bill that would cut down on automatic dialing machines arguing that it cuts down on free speech. Obviously the Libertarians, who think they're well versed on free speech, have no inkling of what free speech is . First, just because you have the right to say it doesn't mean I have to be forced to listen to it. Second, I'm paying for the phone line not them. There is no free speech issue - only the issue of political groups not being able to harass the citizens as much. Sounds good to me!

Caucuses

So the caucuses have come and the precinct ones have gone. A heck of a lot more people than I ever expected. Still not a great format for any political purposes but hey, its how the party has chosen to do it and quite frankly, in general the state should stay out of how the party wants to choose who represents them. Remember its not about choosing a leader, its about choosing who represents the party. With that said though, why do the Democrats wish to engage in sexual discrimination by segregating the number of men and women as delegates?

Laptop Searches

A man traveling on an airplane has been asked to turn over his PGP passphrase. What the hell was the government searching his laptop for anyway? They have no right to be searching his Personal Computer and certainly no right to be reading his files. This is just as bad as when the Redcoats were reading and seizing newspapers that the colonists were transporting. Was there a danger in what might have been in there? Probably - but we live in a free society. I'm certain that we could be safer if the police searched our houses every night - but I for one am glad that the Third Reich did not live its promised 1000 years.

DNA Testing

Mitch Morrissey is obsessed with DNA. He wants to force anyone who is arrested to be subject to DNA testing. A quick outline of why this is bad:

1) It can result in scattershot arrests as police randomly hunt people.
2) Once its left the state's databases (say to another government entity) there are no longer safeguards on it.
3) DNA tells info not just about the individual, but his/her relatives as well.
4) It can be used to look into people's personal health without their consent.
5) Its a blatant violation of the Fourth Amendment.
6) It can still be wrongfully access - just look at Bob Beauprez's gubernatorial campaign.

Miscellaneous

ITunes needs to come up with a way to have podcasts as either music or not music. Its great to not be music when the podcast is your city council meeting - but lousy when your podcast is a song of the week.

New Rule

No more "blogga please" bits!

- Russell Weisfield

The funeral for Diamond Lil was quite nice. She was a great woman and will be sorely missed!

I was going to write a couple of other statements (including some foolishness by Colorado Libertarians) but will wait to write in order to reflect on Lillian's passing. She truly was someone whom everyone liked.

- Russell Weisfield

Final 2007 ipod playcounts:

Eat Out my Heart: 72
Pre-Emptive Strike: 51
Into the Ocean: 39
Mr. Foff: 32
Landed 26
Carbon Copy: 26
We Should be together (1992 live) 24
Scott Bakula: 24
Don't Stand So CLose To Me: 20
Bank Job: 19
Karma Chameleon (really???) 19
Balaimos: 19
Lips of an Angel: 19
Bat Out of Hell: 19
Cop Killer: 18
The Reflex (really???): 18
Jack-a-Lynn (20 years version) 18
It A'int Me Babe (Joaquin version) 18
I Have My Moments: 18
Prozac Girl (Radio Free Earth version): 18
Loser of the Year (live): 18
8675309/Jenny: 18
Manic Monday: 17
Black Friday Rule: 17
Gallileo: 17
Lighthouse (Kevin Rummery) 17
Eyes of a Stranger (Mindcrime version - not live) 17

Well Jackie and I are back from our honeymoon in St. Lucia. It was great! On some quick notes, I noticed that the Unix Y2K problem will start kicking in this month with 30 year mortgages. Think we're ready? I also noticed that the stupid DNC is starting to talk about a big perimeter next year. Think they'll respect the Fourth Amendment? I don't.

- Russell Weisfield

More quick notes:

The Republican House delegation from Colorado - voted for Torture (HR2082) and against tax relief (HR4351) - hmmm. . . . what does that tell you? Of course there was a bill earlier in the year that has a chilling effect on free speech in the name of fighting terrorism. Something about making any remarks that remotely support terroristic acts (like saying you admire Al Qaeda's tactics) would be considered a felony. While reprephensible - its not fellonious.

Robert Lopez has to be one of the more star crossed people in the world. His 18 month old child dies and within a week the mother of his child kills herself. Then just recently, some years after that tragedy, he is on the phone with his girlfriend who is murdered by her ex while Lopez is on the phone with her.

On a more upbeat note, my upcoming travel looks to be fun!

- Russell Weisfield

A quick post to keep this active:

1) Wedding was great! We really enjoyed it!
2) What are the real details of the adverse possession case out in Boulder?
3) Why on Earth was Westminster stupid enough to give the unintelligent city manager J. Brent McFall another raise? Boy, the stories I've heard on that guy would make you wonder why he was even hired!
4) Congrats to Angie Weeks on the birth of her child!
5) Congrats to Faith Winter on winning the city council seat in Westminster.
6) Still Wavering on who I am supporting for the Presidential bid - but it won't be Obama! Richardson is still intriguing AND he was the only one in that silly online debate to stand behind civil rights. Of course, his polling is low so if nothing else, its psychologically difficult to endorse him.
7) Glad to see Andrew Tannenbaum is continuing as the VoteMaster at electoralvote.org. Its still a great site - boy its tempting to set one up similar to it but on a state level (my gosh there might even be some lucre involved).
8) Here's to hoping the Pats lose this weekend to fall to 12-1!
9) An important thing for Honda owners (like myself) - from http://www.honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1459625

• 1. put key in
• 2. hold down the trip button
• 3. turn key to ON position
• 4. continue to hold the trip button until maintenance light disappears

10) Anyone want to sell Teddy Bears named Muhammed - one on eBay is going for $50K!
11) An interseting passing - the man who invented Gatorade died. Not quite as exciting a highlight reel as Evel Kinevel but interesting nonetheless.

- Russell Weisfield

Wow - 6 weeks and I have published nothing! Talk about being a Slacker (and not even the one on Alice 105.9). I guess wedding plans and other summer activites kept me way to busy. Let me see what I can't get in here though.

Let me start by saying Happy 5768! Services were good yesterday and I have to say taht I'm quite curious about what Rabbi Mo has planned at Temple Micah for the afternoon service - something about contemporary music and poets.

In other news I was saddened to read about Madeleine L'Engle's passing. The author of A Wrinkle in Time even had an interesting quote pertaining to the Potter series. Her quote was “It’s a nice story but there’s nothing underneath it. I don’t want to be bothered with stuff where there’s nothing underneath.” I tend to agree but I did find that Rowling's writing got much better in the later books.

Closer to home, the death of Elaine Valente was quite saddening. The mother of one of my groomsmen was quite an influential person in Adams county serving as commissioner for 16 years and being the only woman to serve on the county in its first 100 years. Dino's eulogy at his mother's funeral (which was quite large - 400 people or so) was amusing, poignant, and touching. Its also one of the few times I've seen Dino actually need notes. Elaine will be missed!

Speaking of Potter, its too bad that Rowling didn't plan out her world ahead of time as there ended up being logical inconsistencies and she therefore had to spend time backtracking and explaining away such inconsistencies. Most notably was all the apparating. Why didn't people apparate more often? The students had to learn how to ride broomsticks but at the same time Harry had a toy one as a kid. Then there is all the maneuverings with Snape. It would be quite some time to analyze everything there. This is not to say that the story is without merit. It certainly created some memorable characters, had amusing lines, and made for some great entertainment! If one just sits back and enjoys the story (be it in the book or movies) it can in fact be cathartic. By the way, it was also nice to actually read a book that had complete sentences! Take note Dan Brown.

In other notes, I recently was in Boulder where I saw a parking sign that read "For Alternative Fuel Vehicles Only". This sign speaks volumes. Of course, how you interpret it depends upon your political persuasion.

Speaking of Political Persuasion, I laugh at the whole Sen. Craig thing. I didn't think he should be forced from his job or his posts because of it, but I will take a good chuckle at the whole episode.

Football season has begun and this year I can do more than just watch and enter pools/survior leagues/etc. This year I am also reffing high school football. I have no idea right now if I will do it next year. There is the aspect of dealing with coaches and fans, but there is also the aspect of dealing with the ref organization. We shall see, I like some aspects of it. BTW, my nfl predictions are for New England to go long though I am of course rooting for the Steelers to beat Denver at home in the AFC championship game before beating the Packers in the Super Bowl.

I am starting to make plans for post wedding activities including helping Jane Fancher win Westminster City Council, fighting Xcel, and probably fighting the CML. There are of course some trips planned and a few shows including Spamalot.

As for shows, I have not made many this year but did catch Weird Al. He was quite fun as usual and took some shots at Paris Hilton, Kevin Federline, and Jessica Simpson. Of course, making fun of them is like shooting fish and a barrel but sometimes its just fun to shoot fish in a barrel.

With regards to music, here are my top 10 iPod songs:

1) Eat Out My Heart (Sunspot)
2) Pre-Emptive Strike (Sunspot)
3) Into The Ocean (Blue October)
4) Mr. Foff (Sunspot)
5) Carbon Copy (Sunspot)
6) Scott Bakula (Sunspot)
7) Landed (Ben Folds)
8) We Should Be Together (Jefferson Starship live 1992)
9) Bank Job (Barenaked Ladies)
10a) Lips of an Angel (Hinder)
10b) Jack-a-Lynn (Jethro Tull)
10c) Eyes of A Stranger (Queensryche)
10d) Prozac Girl (Sunspot)


And finally, congratulations to Ari Armsrong on completing his own food challenge. That is he and his wife ate for a month on less than three dollars a day!

- Russell Weisfield

Food Challenge, Fancher's Campaign, Amusing Quotes

Food Challenge

Ari Armstrong of free Colorado, will be taking on a food challenge this month that is more extensive than many of the ones tried by various politicians. His efforts are worthwhile when it comes to discussing the merits of various food stamp programs. Is it possible to live on $3.00 a day for food? If so, is it still healthy or feasible to maintain over a long period of time? Reading what he has proposed and then seeing how it pans out should help in answering and discussing some of these questions. To help promote it, I will be donating to EPIC and to the Mr. Hollands Opus Foundation. This is being done based upon Armstrong's original goal for the challenge (to which I did pledge).

Fancher's Campaign

Jane Fancher, a longtime Westminster resident, has formally announced her bid for city council. She is someone who can bring reason to the council in part by seeing them decrease city spending on ridiculous urban development. She is well versed in city processes and cares deeply for the community. Additionally, Fancher wishes to see an closed door meetings be reserved for very particular happenings (personnel matters mostly). Let us hope she wins.

Amusing Quotes

I offer the following quotes because, well, I thought they were amusing when I said them:

1) "Your well paid for the work you do but underpaid for the work you should be doing". (Said to a co-worker who shall remain nameless.)

2) "Here's a way to simplify the three sects of Judaism:

1) The Orthodox call a set of tables the Ten Commandments
2) The Conservatives call the same tablets the Ten Reccommendations.
3) Reform Jews call them the Ten Suggestions."


- Russell Weisfield

Luke Staudenmaier was the first to be knocked out in the World Series of Poker's Main Event but said he did nothing wrong. Actually, dropping out of college and then putting 10k of your own money in a pipe dream seems like doing something wrong. You could argue about his play as well since he went all in prior to the flop and hadn't even picked up any antes. It may not have been utterly stupid but the flop would have scared him and spared him the early exit.

A college student part of an ethanol bus touring the country to promote better fuel usage says that he misses a refrigerator. A fridge is a huge user of energy. Seems a little hippocritical to say that is what you most miss.

Das Meyer is an overrated cake chalet. The majority of their cakes are quite like Angel Food Cake. Granted they do have a couple nifty ones but of course, they end up being a bit more expensive. I'm of course annoyed with them because they lied to me. You see, we had decided to suck it up and pay the extra dollars for their better cakes and were told all we had to do was place an order 3-4 months ahead of time. No problem . . . except we really did have to book the date even further ahead despite the fact we were told otherwise by them.

BSA is a software organization offerring a million bucks if you rat out your company's unlicensed software. Their are so many implications from that . . .

On a sad note . . . . Kudzu's creator has passed away in his sixties. The comics have really been sufferring of late!

These are the quick tidbits anyway. I was going to procrastinate before writing any more of these but I decided to temporarily put off procrastinating. I will, however, procrastinate on writing my other items.

- Russell Weisfield

OK, my postings are getting sparse. This one will also be sparse. First, my condolences to everyone on the loss of Patrick Thornton AKA Baron Patric of Blackthorn. He was a good man. My sonnet for him follows at the end. ALso of note in passing was Mr. Wizard. I learned a few things from him.

Of amusing notes in the government, there is a contract available for people who will write the contract for other contractors. In otherwords, the government is hiring meta-contractors. What I want to know though, is who writes the contract for the meta-contractors? The whole idea is stupid to me. Is that not why we have federal employees?

I am studying Spanish now and I find it interesting that I am translating from Spanish into French - a language I have previously studied. I will note that Ruth Tolliver is quite a hoot as a teacher though. I'm even learning some Spanish though still, Yo ablo espanol mal pera . . .. its getting better.

- Russell Weisfield




The Baron's Passing Caerthen knight let know
And quick recalled how he with sword did fight
in rapier gear or suit of steel he'd go
He gleaned the battle's joy, the bard's delight

On Fields of Gold showed he service adored
A Squire, a herald for king and queen
Alas, the booming voice we'll hear no more
A Smile broad and kind that won't be seen

Short though his reign it was, it should not be
now said that naught was done and plans not set
To Pledge to help Cantons and Schools did he
A Populous it grows, the hopes are met

Patric, you were our baron, nay, our friend
Regale we will your life, too soon to end

Xcel Energy being ridiculous, 1st Amendment, Websites noted, Amusing Thoughts

Before starting I would like to extend my condolences to the Werbel family on the loss of Brian. I send my deepest sympathies.



Now for the rest of the blog

Xcel Energy being ridiculous

Xcel energy is ridiculous in so many ways. The latest I have heard is that if you don't spend enough that you may be the subject of an investigation. Mr. Thomas Hamilton Esq. received a letter notifying him that because he had an extremely low heat bill in Minnesota that he was being investigated for possible fraud. It seems they're worried he wasn't spending enough when in fact his apartment was extremely warm since his neighbors with whom he shared walls and floors decided to excessively heat their homes thereby keeping his apartment sufficiently warm.

1st Amendment

The City of Chicago should not have forced down the sign "Life's Short - Get a Divorce". This clearly reeks of violation of First Amendment Rights. Similarly, the city of Denver should not have forced the removal of a mural that was covering up graffitti even though it showed cartoon characters smoking Marijuana.

Websites of Note

CAUSS.org needs to not be selective about which signs are removed. Either all unlawful signs should be removed or none. Singling out garage sales and lost dog signs as exempt merely conveys the idea that CAUSS is against capitalism or at least certain businesses rather than against street spam.

I also will point out Digg.com today as a new slashdot.org. It seems they are also linking to a video in which the code to crack DVD encryption is sung.

Amusing Quotes

Here is a fun quote from Ms. B. Begay: "If my daughter turns out like Paris Hilton I'll need to beat the sh** out of her just to save face".

My thought for the day: are there polysemy of polysemy?

Some word manipulation: realtors should be called house bookies and stock investors should be called stock scalpers? It seems that both are accurate definitions.

Until next time . . . .

- Russell Weisfield

Lots of Random Thoughts

Stemming from a bit on Slacker and Steve in which I heard people were stealing all kinds of things from work I offer this a Definition of Honest People: Someone who tells a thief exactly where valuables are hidden when not even threatened.

Why can't Ticketmaster tell me the cost of tickets even when there is a pre-sale? And btw, why is there even a pre-sale. Its not that exclusive so why not just offer the sale earlier!

As mortgage fraud issues abound, I need to mention my loan officer, Tamara Loggains of Earth Mortgage. She was awful in her duties. Most notably, she provided differing terms prior to signing than what was provided at signing.

In owing to the shooting at Virginia Tech (and my heart does go out to the families of the victims), I noticed that the poilce were searching the emails of one of Cho's victims, one Ms. Hilscher. Now I don't know if the family granted access but otherwise, why are the police invading her privacy. Why were autopsies mandatory for all victims too - seems it would be a violation of many religious rights. It seems whenever something bad happens in our country, our immediate reaction is to disregard civil rights in search of more safety. Oh Ben Franklin, if only you were alive today.

Congratulations to Andrew and Jodi on the birth of their daughter Amaya Michelle to which I still haven't seen a spelling so I am assuming I have it right. I think it fitting that she shares a name with an open source web tool (actually its not real fitting but amusing nonetheless). Of course Amaya is also a Middle Eastern dancer.

On the opposite side of life cycles it is a sad note that Johnny Hart passed recently. While the creator of B.C. certainly caused a lot of controversy, I will miss his anthills, Grog, definitions, and stone tablets from desserted islands. Oh sure his family will continue it but the Thaves family has not quite lived up to Bob's work. Sometimes, we need to let our comics go from the funny pages (Peanuts was great but now needs to go). My current favorites include For Better or For Worse, Zits, Candorville, and Pearls before Swine.

In owing to a bill passed on Friday relating to prisoners, Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff counted the votes as "58 in favor and 2 cellmates". I find that amusing. I find it amusing also that he quoted Pat Buchannan of all people during a caucus. The quote also related to an Arabic saying about the dogs barking but the caravan continuing.

A note to Madlen Read of the AP - the plural of index is indices!.

City Manager Brent McFall needs to still get his facts right. Its not that there will be 6 new traffic lights in 8 blocks it that there will be 6 in 8 blocks as well as reconfigured ones. No the Wal-Mart could not be built without all these improvements based upon the agreement that was entered into by the city and the company. If you don't know to what I am referring, it is a letter that McFall wrote and I obtained in an open records request.

- Russell Weisfield

Amusing Quotes:

"Its like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, it looks pretty from the outside, but it’s totally unlivable and it’s hanging around LONG after anyone thought it should. But we keep propping it up!" - Kelley Coleman in reference to software we've developed

"What would be the Yiddish word for Putz" - name withheld by request

"Its like pscyhedelia spewing everywhere" - name withheld by request

Varoius Updates

I'm really getting bad about updating this thing. Too much to do to little time. Here are some notes:

1) Sunspot's new Album Neanderthal is pretty decent including their track Eat Out My Heart

2) Wedding planning goes forward pretty reasonably . . . . for now.

3) Boy does Wal-Mart and its allies (like city mayors) not play fair.

4) Interesting choice by John Edwards to stay in despite his wife's cancer. He is probably still the most eloquent of all the choices. Whether I will vote for him or not I don't know.

5) House Bill HB-1347 expanding patient tracking is bad! May it die a miserable death.

NEW RULE: Putting a glass viewing deck over an overrated hole in the ground does not make it less overrated!

NEW RULE: Quit talking about the Tax Gap! Just because some people are underpaying doesn't mean others aren't overpaying. Lets talk about them huh? Especially when the software that most people use isn't that user friendly - except for the software companies.

NEW RULE: Primaries do not belong in February. Afterall, February is about love and do people really love politicians?

- Russell Weisfield

Various ramblings

First, I have to comment on http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/02/23/MNGCAO9NSB1.DTL in which the Canadians are accessing US databases and denying people entry based upon long ago irrelevant offenses. See where Big Brother has gotten us!

Second, wedding plans are really starting to irritate me. Pretty soon I will probably list all the problems but for various reasons I will hold off so doing.

Third, Westminster looks like they will be screwing over the citiznes again by agreeing to alter the Wal-Mart plan at 72nd and Sheridan. What other ridiculousness! What's worse, they wish to keep it mum.

Fourth, Obama is not impressive!

Fifth, happy 50th Dave M.!

Sixth, congrats to Sunspot on another release!

- Russell Weisfield

Switch of blogger, Bill Crane, much ado, energy tidbit, continued good service


Swtiching to the new blogger was quite painful! It is now switched over but I may also start looking at some other bloggin sites. It still seems difficult to add pictures and the enter key now really sucks (enter in HTML should be <br> and not <p>.

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Bill Crane recently said that he was libeled by someone who said he ran a sleazy campaign. Crane, much like some other people I can think of, needs to learn the legal definition of libel when considering a lawsuit. In Crane's case, the man stated an opinion - protected speech. An interesting libel potential is Wal-Mart potentially libeling the Barbers in Broomfield by saying hteir farm had who knows what diseases. Again, this probably would lose in court and therefore would never get there but there would be a certain appeal in suing Wal-Mart.

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There was much hubbub over the Labor Peace Act of late. What a bunch of hoopla over nothing. Both sides exaggerated the impact of what the new bill would have done. There aren't that many unionists and there aren't that many business that care.

------------

Speaking of appeal in suing Wal-Mart - there is appeal in suing Xcel Energy. I mean afterall, they do owe me a bunch of money in checkwriting fees, illegally charge for using a credit card, and now charge late fees. More to come on this story.

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I would like to say that David Skul of Skul Plumbing continues to offer excellent service. As I have previously mentioned, he installed a tankless water heater for me which is working quite well. He recently helped me with a totally unrelated plumbing problem and again did an excelelnt job. Thanks Dave!

- Russell Weisfield

Catch up time

A bunch of quick thoughts as I play catchup after being lazy about posting.

1) I am playing too much Warcraft now. Thanks Andy!
2) The cities in the Denver metro area really need to clean the roads. It is just ridiculous at the amount of ice and stuff we have had to deal with. My comments at the Arvada city Council meeting on Jan. 8 were perfect (about 10 minutes in at Council podcasts)
3) This is the site of a Lousy City Manager
4) Hello to Jenny who emailed me after a not seeing me for a number of years (yes I replied).
5) Road rage should not be a first degree murder offense. Life without parole is not a fair punishment. I'm not saying that there shouldn't be a punishment, and even significant ones, but the ruling recently doled out was ridiculous.
6) The new season of Rome needs more action. Political intrigue is fine but I loved the visicousness in the first one.
7) Sunspot's Aurora show was great (see my review in YourHub.com) and the album is looking promising. Checkout Sunspotmusic.com for mroe details.
8) RTD needs to just get the land from BN and UP. They would take land from average citizens. Work with the railroads, but in the end, do not do the alternatives down Harlan, etc.
9) Go Indy! I don't like the Bears and hey , the Manning commericials can only get better.
10) Having the family come in was wonderful. My nephew David is quite cute.
11) More to come but I am quite busy right now (or just playing too much Warcarft).

- Russell Weisfield

Cartoonists Deaths, Blizzard, Playcount, DNC, New Rules

Cartoonists Deaths

I found out recently that the creator of Green Lantern (A DC superhero) and Joe Barberra of the famous cartoon tandem that created Jetson etc. have died. More sad passings for 2006.

Blizzard

The talk of the Denver area right now is our blizzard. Its closing most offices, government included, stopping mail, cancelling flights etc. At least it will give some business some extra business (car shops for instance) and be good for skiing. As they say, don't knock the weather, some people can't start a conversation without it - and hell the news can't do anything without it.

As for Blizzard entertainment, well I may buy World of Warcraft yet . . . .

Playcount

Its time to reset my playcount on my iPod. Here are my top songs:

Eyes of a Stranger - Queensryche - 20
"We SHould Be Together" - Jefferson Starship recorded 1992-10-19 13 times
Polyester Bride - Liz Phair 13 times
Jet City Woman - Queensryche 3
Poison (live) Alice Cooper - 12
The Reflex - Duran Duran - 12
Weaver's ANswer - Family - 11
Rag Doll - Aerosmith - 10
If I had a Million Dollars (live) - Barenaked Ladies - 10
Born to Run - live - Bruce Springsteen - 10
Can I PLay With Madness - Iron Maiden - 10
Lady Marmalade - Labell - 10
Every Day is Xmas (live) - Pat McCurdy - 10

Quite Eclectic - thought Hinder with Lips of Angel would make it - but alas they clocked 9,

My Holiday Playlist btw includes:

Merry ______ Xmas - Mr. Garrison
Merry ChrisMaHannuKwaanzika - Pat McCurdy
Channukah Song II - Adam Sandler
A whole bunch of Jethro Tull
The Night Santa Went Crazy - Weird Al
And some of Twisted Sisters A Twisted Christmas

DNC

It sounds like the Gov. Howard Dean is taking his time to decide on where the DNC will be held. Despite all the rah rah from the papers potentially - and hopefully - the DNC will go to New York.

New Rules

New Rule - Milton Friedman's name cannot be invoked for everything under the sun. Since his death - at a rather old age - columnists have invoked his name for whatever their pet peeve is. Quoting Friedman does not make you any more sensible than quoting the Bible. Even the devil can quote scripture and hey - the man had a long life, I'm sure he had lots of opinions that may have even been as passing as the hot air coming from these bozo pundits lips.

New Rule - Al Gore is not allowed to make graphs anymore. In "An Inconvenient Truth" he ues graphs that are inverted, massaged to look good in a movie, and not always sensible. The units vary, the time varies, hey his ability to make sense or for that matter have a sense of humor varies. You may be smart Al, but you're not a scientist!

New Rule - No more potlucks. If you want a party this time of year - throw one by paying for grub on your own. People just bring crappy subs from local subshops anyway so quit pretending that people will bring in food from a recipe that isn't already public. THese things are just aggravating trying to bring enough for everyone and then taking home way too many leftovers!

- Russell Weisfield

Hot Tub Snow Angel Hot Tub, KBCO Studio C, Ice Speed Bump, New Rules

Hot Tub Snow Angel Hot Tub

OK, this is going to be a modest post but there was one new rule I wanted out there and maybe one or two others. Anyway, I have to say I enjoyed my first escapade of the season of jumping in the hot tub, sitting there for a while, then making a snow angel in my back yard (while still boiling from the tub), before running back into the hot tub. It is such a great feeling - especially if you don't suffer a heart attack from the shock.


KBCO Studio C

KBCO came out with their 18th volume of Studio C. I actually got up and stood in line this year. Its not bad, albeit mostly acoustic. I have to say that it was quite cold this morning. Thanks to Marty at my favorite barber shop for scoring me some coffee! There were some real fools there though - like anyone there prior to 6AM!

Ice Speed Bump

Building an Ice Speed Bump to slow people down is dangerous! Its impossible to see, it encourages other morons to do the same, it encourages people to break it apart and potentially do Lord only knows what, and can cause an accident or prevent emergency vehicle from reaching their destination! At least it gave me an opprotunity to meet some more neighbors.

New Rules

New Rule - if you constantly mention that you have less talk than other stations - then you actually have as much talk as other stations. Sorry Jack, with all your commercials and self praise, you're becoming like the other stations.

New Rule - If you get in line the day before a CD goes on sale to get the CD - you're worse than a moron or loser. You're an utter fool who needs to be removed from the gene pool

New Rule - Safety means more than recreation! Before we raise taxes to pay for recreational facilities we need to clean the bloody streets!

New Rule - White Trash divorces are not newsworthy. I don't care about K. Fed. I don't care about Kid Rock/Trampalot Anderson. Stop cluttering the airwaves with such useless garbage. I mean afterall, shouldn't we be focusing on Tom and Katie's honeymoon?

New Rule - Stop telling me what weather I like. Look Ms. Sabine a nice day is really a day when I don't get a bill and have no other crises. I don't care if it is snowing/raining. Hell, I look forward to cloudy days because we get so few. Stop trying to perk me up and hope for warm sun. I don't want it. The water companies don't want it. Stop Stop Stop!

- Russell Weisfield

Happy Thanksgiving, Film Fest, news items, beer fest, cute quotes

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

I hope everyone has had a happy Thanksgiving. It has always been one of my favorite holidays. This year I had a more traditional one though I do recall enjoying lobster and crab on Thanksgiving instead of Turkey. I also didn't play any turkey bowl games this year though perhaps next year I can get one organized.

Film Fest

This year's Denver Film Fest was quite good. I will be reviewing three movies this year. My favorite of the fest: "Chalk" - a mockumentary on teaching, "Who Loves the Sun" - an English language Canadian dramady that was well done , and "Free Lisl: Fear and Loathing in Denver" - a not so well done documentary on the saga of Lisl Auman with some key footage of Governor elect (the prosecuting DA at the time) Bill Ritter and also of footage of Hunter Thompson together with Warren Zevon both of whom have since died. On a special note - I re-united with Mr. Mike Rauwerdink who was attending the festival and was a Wisconsin Alum who worked with me at my first company in Colorado. Congratulations on the forthcoming birth of his child!

News Items

Here are some interesting news tidbits:

Batman and Robin nabbing some criminals in london

Machete wielding robber stopped by machete wielding clerk

I am also looking for one on pedestrians being killed by motorists - I have a vague connection to one of those pedestrians killed.

Beer Fest

I never did a full review on the beer fest so I thought I would highlight a few beers and potentially review them later (I did review Avery's Czar for Yourhub.com)

Lost Abbey's Cuvee de Tomee - my favorite of the fest.

Dry DOck Brewery's Vanilla Porter - the best Vanilla porter going and just happens to be in Aurora

Hopsquatch from 4 Peaks - my favorite hopped beer of the fest

Bristol's Cuvee - not as good as Lost Abbey's but tastey nonetheless.

Allagash brewery for a concoction they created that was aged in Jim Beam.

Prickley Pear from Borley Bros. - an interesting drink though not one I'm rushing back to.

Sacre Fleur - for their Belgian style

21st Amendment Brewery for some wonderful drinks

I'm actually having trouble reading some of my notes (gee no wonder why) so I may have a couple things wrong. Also I am forgetting some decent Texas breweries. I will also note, beer is not meant to be healthy - stop trying to make it as such.

Cute Quotes

"You can't take baby food through the airport anymore - even if its still in the breast it has to be removed" - my mother

"Guests are like fish - after three days they stink" - my grandmother

- Russell Weisfield

Election 2006, Skul Plumbing, Fruitcake Lady, DMB, Queensryche, Fourteern, Film Fest

Election 2006

Election 2006 was quite a night! I don't think anyone in Colorado batted 1000 with the ballot being so ridiculously long. The Ed Perlmutter victory party was quite satisfying - have a few pictures to post (of course the only one in which I am pictured with Ed was the Farmers 5000 race and I don't have that one).

I have to say that the person in Douglas county who voted at 1:30 AM - 6.5 hours after getting line and after the polls closed, 2.5 hours after Bill Ritter's gubernatorial victory speech - deserves some kind of prize or award from some company. At minimum, a de-motivational picture needs to be made from it (and yes I'm working on it).

I think Pelosi will do a great job and I am hoping that the debacle of the Patriot Act is whittled away as well as energy policy being made sound. Eliminating the debt wouldn't be bad either (or properly funding VA programs).

Of course, now it is time for the next round of elections. Westminster and Arvada have big elections next year. Following that, of course, is the 2008 Presidential and Senatorial election (in which Rep. Mark Udall will be running). The primary to replace Udall will be interesting. I'm thinking the Dems will be featuring Clinton, Richardson, or Obama in the Presidential. The Republicans will be featuring Frist, McCain, or the former Gov. of Mass. I wasn't overly impressed with Obama at the rally here in Denver. He didn't seem as articulate as people made him out to be (stuttering quite a bit). His words didn't seem particularly profound or original either. Richardson, though, seemed quite astute and genial on Bill Maher's show.

Fruitcake lady

One of my favorite correspondants on the Tonight Show passed away on Nov. 3. The Fruitcake Lady was quite a spunky lady - her advice was rather amusing to watch. My condolescenes to her family.

Skul Plumbing

I recently had a Paloma tankless water heater installed (I reccommend one to everyone) by Skul plumbing. David Skul of Skul plumbing was quite professional, efficient, and knowledgeable. I found Skul Plumbing to be easy to work with and well priced. I HIGHLY RECCOMMEND THEM to anyone who has plumbing needs.

DMB

Having had a second chance to see DMB about two months ago - I would have to say that I am still not overly impressed with their performacne. Its a long show and the violinist is great, but if you're not a diehard, and you see them at a lousy venue like the Pepsi Center, its not that fun a show. In fact, its somewhat boring and unsatisfying if they don't play certain songs (they had played all the radio hits the night before so my show had far fewer hits).

Queensryche

This show on Sep. 29 featuring both Mindcrimes was quite good. Mindcrime I was virtually the same as the year before but there were some nuances I missed last time and Geoff was much more ticked at Bush this go round (if that were possible). The second Mindcrime was difficult for the audience to get into. It ahd its moments particulary "I'm American" and the guitar solo in "Fear City Slide" but mostly it was Geoff sitting on a couch griping. Thankfully they closed with "Jet City Woman" rather than the final song in OMII.

Fourteener

For those of you who are wondering, my annual 14er climb this year was to Grays and Torreys on a wonderful snow filled day. In fact - there were only two other expeditions on the mountain (that NEVER Happens). The mountains were beautiful! Unfortuantely, I was not prepared for the near blizzard so I stopped just short of the top of Torreys - perhaps 1-200 feet and a half hour walk. I will bag them one day but would like to get down towards Durango for some of those mountains next yaer.

Film Fest

The Denver Film Fest is underway tonight. I have "Chalk" and "Free Lisl" lined up on my list. I don't know what else I will see but hope to ahve some reviews posted.

- Russell Weisfield

FBI and Beauprez, Ellis, and continued from previous

FBI and Beauprez

The CBI and FBI are investigating how Rep. Beauprez's campaign got information regarding a man Bill Ritter prosecuted. This is the same tact that was used during the recent wiretap flap. I ask, why is the FBI holding such secret information about us?

NOTE: This was written prior to the Rocky Mountain News's op-ed on 10/21.

Ellis

Affie Ellis continues to display integrity - even writing a personalized postcard. Not sure whom I will vote for in the race but . . .

No Denver 2008

There is an interesting site regarding keeping the DNC from Denver 2008 at http://www.nodenver2008.org. It makes some good points.

Clinton Hiring Assassains

It seemed quite cavalier the way Pres. Clinton talked about hiring assassains to take out Osama. While certainly eliminating bin Laden would have been a good thing to do - I wonder when Presidents flagrantly discuss hiring assassains.

UK Copyrights

Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull discusses how UK copyright law will allow certain material from the Beatles to become public domain soon though the lyrics would not be. He argues that this is illogical and the same rights should be afforded the music as the lyrics. I agree! I just think that the lyrics should not be afforded the protection for as long as they are. It is ludicrous how long something is copyrighted for. Lets be honest, after a couple of generations, you are generally not making much new money on a piece of work. Mot the Hoopl, for instance, is just not a big seller anymore and it hasn't even been a full two generations.

- Russell Weisfield

Bob Thaves, Haroon, Ticketmaster and Scalping, DMB, upcoming GABF, Nodenver2008, Offenders, Clinton hiring assassains, UK copyrights, Art Auction, more politics, Queensryche, and more

Bob Thaves

An under-reported event in August was the death of Bob Thaves - author of the Frank and Ernest comic strip. He was quite old and had been preparing for his children to take over the strip but it is sad nonetheless. I remember a number of years ago - when not everyone in America had an email account - I sent an email to Bob's aol account and even got a response. I am trying to dig it up but I think it is lost in old computers and email accounts (though I'm certain the NSA has a copy somewhere).

Haroon

An article recently in the Rocky Mountain News discussed the plight of Haroon who despite being a citizen was continuously hassled because his name resembled that of a terrorist who was apprehended this year. The thing is, INS still wishes to deport him - if for no other reason than to prove that they have power. Should they really ahve such power. I will try and find the linke to this article.

Ticketmaster and Scalping

Ticketmaster recently has worked with various state legislatures to legalize scalping - mostly because they see a profit in offerring the services themselves instead of eBay or StubHub or whomever. Hasn't Ticketmaster been scalping for years?

................. To Be Continued

- Russell

Random Rants

I'm tired right now but I feel like ranting a bit. Before I rant though, my trip home this weekend was really good - far better than I had thought it would be. My parents new home is also quite large I might add - oh and they have a ton of art - more than I remember and of which some is even good. BTW, Andy, I now have a Gropper repro:)!

Ken Waters was wrongly denied ballot access in Arapahoe county. Apparently the stupid rules that the two major parties make have to be good for everybody. In a related matter, why are primary elections sponsored by the government? They should be sponsored by the parties and the government should be completely left out of it - afterall - the parties are really private organizations.

NARAL is extremely stupid. As many of you know NARAL is a pro-choice organization. They refuse to endorse the only pro-choice candidate in the Gubernatorial election - Dawn Winkler. Now I'm not saying what my views on abortion are but shouldn't an organization stand behind its principles? The Log Cabin Republicans did in 2004 by failing to endorse Bush as they had in 2000 because he was deemed opposed to Gay Rights.

President George W. Bush is an utter power hungry, unpatriotic, self serving, disgrace! His announcements about the prisons today demonstrate his dis-regard for the Constitution. A Patriot protects the Constitution and what it stands for, not just the people living under its law. By that definition, George W. Bush is no Patriot! He pretty much said the U.S. was torturing its prisoners and holding them with disregard. This on top of FISA violations, not telling Congress anything, . . . Boy, and we impeached Clinton for a little nookie.

Godaddy.com is crap. I tried to order nodenver2008.com and had succeeded - for all of 24 hours. Mind you this site still had ads on it despite the fact I paid not to have ads. Then they refunded my money for some reason but still as far as I can tell kept the domain registered. The domain btw, is dedicated to keeping the Democratic Convention from coming to Denver in 2 years.

No in depth coverage is needed for irrelevant stories - which of course is most anything on the local news. Quite frankly, cut down on the weather - I really just need to know a quick overview of the next few days of weather and maybe an overview of the country. Devastation such as hurricaines can be covered in the regular part of the news. Oh and get rid of the stupid banter between the anchors. Why do I watch it - I don't know anymore - I think I'll stop. I might even stop reading the papers if they continue writing irrelevant human interest stories and continually tell me that "another sign of the weakening housing market . . . " - hey shut up already - we get it.

OK, I feel better - maybe I'll even publish these rants for a little while.

- Russell Weisfield

Interesting Articles and side notes

Here are some interesting stories I've recently read that are probably going under-reported

1) A couple of guys survived being marooned on an island for 8 months (since last Dec.) after their fishing boat sank. The interesting details were in Discovery.

2) A local man is still being hounded about a traffic ticket - two years after he paid it on time. In fact, he is still occassionally getting arrested for the stupid thing.

3) A woman wrote in the Sunday Denver Post a few weeks back about how mineral companies have usurped her mineral rights and pretty much destroyed her land. Something about a law that says if the landowner is asking too much then the mining company can pay what it thinks is fair and start drilling anyway . . . I'm looking for the full article its a realy eye-opener.

Seperate Items

Craigslist is fast becoming my favorite buy/sell website. Ebay not only charges but things don't always sell there - and almost never for a reasonable price be it too high or too low. I'm having much more success on Craigslist.

An Iraqi War soldier who had his lower left leg amputated when asked what happened - "Well, I came in here for a vasectomy".

Moonlight bike ride is tonight. HOpefully the rain and my 102+ fever will stay away.

- Russell Weisfield

Response to Terror Threat, Candidates

I have to say that my heart sank upon hearing of the recent threat. At the same time I was thrilled to hear the British had foiled the plot. In fact the way they did it, from what I currently understand, is exactly the way we civil libertarians have been saying such matters should be handled. The police successfully infiltrated the cell and then REQUESTED and RECEIVED appropriate authority to monitor a select group that they had good reason to believe was engaged in nefarious activities. This sharply pales to willy nilly unwarranted searches.

Now I should also add that I was thrilled and amazed to see the Rocky Mountain News's editorial decrying the excessive searches. I too find that the airports engage in excessive searches. Granted currently there is a reasonable heigthened sense of fear. That said, making new permanent standards that ignore the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution is not a proper way to go. We, as a populous, can accept X-ray machines and subsequent hand searches upon seeing something in a bag. We can further accept that such handsearches should be done in private and begin by explaining exactly what is being searched for (as would be done in a warrant). This in fact will aid in the search as agents can be directed where such an item might be. It also adheres closer to the Fourth Amendment than current random meshugah searches.

It should also be noted that though the plan was sophisticated, it should have been long assumed that common products would be used to make a bomb. There are plenty ways of finding out how to do so such things in many chemistry books not to mention The Anarchist Cookbook. Banning all items on the plane is not a good solution. There will always be a new way to strike fear. Destroying the forest to save the trees (or vice versa) is not how we should deal with our freedoms. Eternal vigilance is, however, a fine solution.

Candidates

Perlmutter winning was great! Boy, was that also the hottest party in town on Tuesday (both literally and figuretively). As for other candidates, I have to say that Affie Ellis made an impression on my by stopping by my door to talk to me and rap politics for a while despite the fact that I had a sign for the opposite party on my lawn. I should also add that Dawn Winkler made some excellent points in the Gubernatorial debate last night. Its unforutnate that the media will continue to exclude her in their gubernatorial coverage because she is running as a Libertarian. She definitely adds some wonderful things to the debate.

- Russell Weisfield

Perlmutter, Outlands 20 Year, Letters to the Editors, New Rules

Perlmutter

As is known I am supporting Ed Perlmutter (not his swine cousin Jordan) in his bid for the U.S. Congressional seat formerly held by Bob Beauprez (who with any luck will lose his Gubernatorial bid - though I am still waiting for a better choice than Bill Ritter). I have to admit though that the ads that both Perlmutter and Lamm have been tossing about are darn right ugly and full of lies. I am not going to take time to debunk them (the individual candidates sites are doing that). Rather I will outline a few reasons I support Ed.

1) He is no fan of the Patriot Act. He would like to see a fair amount of it repealed.

2) He has a solid plan for renewable energy, especially by using NREL.

3) He is not a standard tax and spend Democrat. Rather he wants to muffle raising taxes as well as tax breaks (hey there's a concept - neither raise nor lower taxes - spend what we have).

4) This one is less of an issue but when I've met him and his family they ahve seemed intelligent, articulate, sincere, and good-humored.


Outlands XX Year

THe Kingdom of the Outlands just celebrated its 20th year anniversary. I expected more people to come out fo the woodwork. Alas, they did not. In fact, even though more people didn't show, it was still somewhat mismanaged. As there are so few land grab events, the whole land grab process was poorly handled meaning where I camped got less than the anticipated amount of space. Oh well. Of course, I would have liked to have seen the fencing more organized. Still a fun event with plenty of OUtlands history spread around (that trivia contest was hard as all get out). Also the procession, even though it rained, was quite neat to see and hear the names of those who had come before.


Letters to the Editors

I recently wrote two letters ot the editors of the two biggest papers (one to each the ROcky and Denver Post). They told me they might publish them - but they ahve not. Anyway, here they are:

------------------------------------------

The Denver Post continues to promote the Democratic National Convention while completely ignoring opposition groups and the negative impact such a convention will have on the metro area. For months groups of people have been protesting bringing any political convention to Denver.

The ill effects of these events can be seen at previous venues such as Seattle. The property damage done to the city during that convention was quite high. Furthermore, with growth already out of control in the metro area, the worldwide attention brought by the convention will only increase the probability of more people flocking here.

Residents can also expect increased delays and congestion as various roads get closed. If there is a drought, it can be assumed that visitors unfamiliar with conserving water will extend the problem.

Bringing such problems so that wannabe politicians can hobnob with the powerful is hardly something beneficial to the average resident of this region. Its too late to stop the bid, but its not too late to stop the Convention from coming here.

---------------------------------

Apparently Vincent Carroll now embraces activist judges. In his recent column, Carroll praises Judge J. Frederick Motz's decision to overturn the state legislature's law.

In his ruling Motz created his own interpretation of law so that he could insert his opinion. As is often noted, the Constitution clearly states that powers not given to the federal government are reserved for the states. Federal powers must therefore include regulating health care plans for private employers.

Even looking at precedents and other federal law Motz's decision is a leap. His decision is as despicable as the Colorado Supreme Court's decision on the immigration referendum. Carroll embracing that decision is hypocritical.
-------------------------------------

New Rules

New Rule - J-Bomb is not a term when saying the word Jews. In fact, saying Jews is perfectly acceptable. There is no C-bomb for Christians or F-bomb for the French (well okay maybe there is an F-Bomb)

New Rule - No more space movies in which the characters survive their ship being ripped open in space. They can't hold on the railing, they can't breathe, hell they can't even maintain their shape. Why is it that people can believe in the Titanic that a tiny hairline fracture in the sub will kill everyone instantly but a big gaping hole in a spaceship is survivable?



- Russell Weisfield

Happy Holidays! WSOP Results, Vegas Roundup, upcoming plans, World Cup, books news opinions, Fun Quotes

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

I didn't right on the Fourth of July (as I was in Vegas) so I hoped everyone had a good one. I heard it rained in Colorado (YAY!) There were no fireworks on the Strip in Vegas - what the heck. On NYE its extremely raucus but fairly quiet on our nation's birth. I'm not saying shut down the casinos but a few fireworks would have been nice (though they probably would not compare to Rhythm and Booms in Madison).

To all you Orangemen - happy July 12th. To all you Irish Catholics - to hell with King Billy. To you Frenchmen and other lovers of Freedom - Vive Le France. Happy Bastille Day (Friday).

WSOP Results

So as you may have guessed - I did not win the World Series of Poker. I ended up getting knocked out just before the antes kicked in (a few hours after the start). I went out on an Ace-Jack suited (clubs). Three of us stayed in for the flop - the same three who had stayed in a few hands earlier. The same guy who raised 1G the previous time raised 1G again after the flop (which was 2 clubs and a high card of 9). I re-raised him all in (with about 3500). He called. He had an Ace-9. The turn came an Ace. The river did not make my hand. It was neat and I did last longer than Chris "Jesus" Ferguson who got knocked out in the first hour on 5s full against 7s full. I saw a few other pros and got to shake hands with Doyle Brunson and Mike Caro. I can also add that I played pretty well - I think. I correctly folded my 10s after someone raised on the flop with his Jacks (he showed them) and I bluffed people out (you didn't think a 10-8 offsuit would win did you?) It was a truly great experience! Thank you IRSA for giving me the opportunity!

Vegas Roundup

The rest of my trip to Vegas was pretty fun. It was mostly relaxing (hell I slept better there than I have in weeks). I also got to play a nubmer of games including Craps and live action No Limit Hold'Em. Gratned I played Craps like a fool - bouncing between betting the dark side and betting the light side not to mention all the odds bets and crap checks I threw.

Now the No Limit cash game - boy is it fun but scary. The highlight though, came when I pulled 3-400 bucks off a guy who consistently had been raising with his big pair. He decided to go all in (again) against me after the flop came giving him a pair of Kings. Now I had just picked up a few big pots and was dealt American Airlines. I emphatically called!

Cirque Du Soliel's "O" was not bad. I find CDS to generally be a glorified buskerfest (having seen anothe of their shows before). O had a slight twist of including water that allowed the acrobats to throw in Olympic caliber dives. It was fun enough to watch but not eye popping to me. I mean, in part, the fire dancer they had, while better than some of my friends who do it, were not particularly innovative.

I would like to add that it seems Vegas got more expensive in the past few years. Everything seemed jacked up in price. About the only thing I can figure is that since its more of a Disneyland atmosphere (hell there were kids wandering around at the Bellagio) that people are spending less in the Casinos - even though the Casinos were fairly busy (though NY,NY was a little more empty than I had previously remembered it).

Upcoming plans

So I now don't have a degree to focus on (I did receive the hard copy of my diploma - and as opposed to my U. Wisconsin diploma the UC one shows my major!) and don't have a poker tourney to focus on. What is next? Perhaps some election things. Ed Perlmutter is in a tight race and he is currently the ONLY candidate I am endorsing here. He also seems like someone who caould use the help. . . I of course also have some websites to fix not to mention other writings on which I have been working.

World Cup

Its too bad the World Cup is over now. I enjoyed the heck out of it though I do hate things being determined by a shootout. I will probalby take in some Colorado Rapid games - particularly if they play Columbus. The U.S. really played a lot worse than they should have. I was disappointed. I won't mention Zidane's muff - many other people have discusesed that (and the Refereeing). I would add that the Italian fans the Rio Casino went haywire when the Italians scored against Germany. I would also add I did not like losing the Over (2) and the Portugal bet when Portugal played France. I was also disappointed taht the Sports Books did not have some crazy bets like they do in the Super Bowl even though they are taking bets on
whether Reggie will return a kick for touchdown this year.

Books

I have finished reading Carrie Vaughn's latest book "Kitty Goes to Washington". Its not bad. If you enjoy her books you might also enjoy Kelley Armstrong's books. I do hope the Kitty Norville books do well though. In other books I've been trying to slog through "The Red Tent" after my sister-in-law reccommended it. Its just not doing it for me. The premise is interesting but its just lacking in plot.

News Opinions

Actually, since I didn't read a newspaper for a week I got mildly out of touch though still felt quite free. It wasn't hard to catch up. There is still constant talk of Global Warming and the Bush Administration destroying the Constitution to the reallying cries of his supporters who decry anyone who questions the methods. Colorado had a special session to work on immigration. Interesting - a bill was passed that I haven't fully digested. I think I'll wait to wade into that one. And for those of you who think I may be losing my edge, I will ramble and grind an axe soon enough I'm sure.

Fun Quotes

Me (after observing Chris "Jesus" Ferguson leaving the WSOP 5K Hold'Em Tourney: "Where's Jesus going?"

Person at table: "To hell".

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"Expectations - if you have none they'll be exceeded. If you have some you'll be disappointed" - R. Charlip.



- Russell Weisfield

Catchup, Missing Files This year, babies, emails from friends, World Cup, New Rules

Catchup

I haven't posted in a while. I guess I've been too busy catching up on things now that school is over. Well, OK also had to get ready for the College of Three Spires first SCA event. That was yetserday and considering that we competed with the Lillies War and the Uprising in Artemesia, it went pretty well!

I of course am training up for the World Series of Poker in less than a month and that is taking time away not to mention preparing for a party a weekend ago (really people who say they are going to come should really come - I have a lot of leftover beer I'm stuck to drink on my own now) and doing chores aroudn the house that I've put off for a while (that back faucet will be fixed - I swear. There will be no leaks!)

I of course also have to enjoy having won a few bottles of booze at Crossroads. My favorite of course was a bottle of Scotch that Robert Magness owes now. Don't worry Bobby, I'm sharing it.

Missing Files This Year

The announcement by the VA of the 26.5M missing records has caused quite a stir (understandably so). While I probably shouldn't elaborate on that debacle at this time, I thought I would list some major losses of personal data in the past year:

Denver Election Commission - 150K+ records of voters since 1992
Metro State College - All students since 1997
Citibank (unconfirmed)
Verizon
Fidelity 200K+ retirement Accounts
US Marine Corps
Bank of America

Ah heck the Guardian Edge has a great list. And people wonder why I'm so uptight about my SSN (XCel does not have it).

Babies

Congrats to Justin and Celeste on the birth of Morgan Elizabeth Cragin!

Still haven't heard more on when Jonathan and Sanella's baby boy is due.

Dave Rael should be reporting any day about the birth of his child!

Charlotte Cocaign, whom I finally met, does look a bit like her parents.

Email From Friends

Thank you to Amy Whordley (soon to be Amy Donis) for replying to my vanity search net. It was great to hear from you and I hope to hear more. Perhaps some of the other people in the net will respons (such as Chris Schuettpelz, Zach Schwing, Jordan Rosen, etc.)

World Cup

I have to start by saying I was watching the Sports Reporters from the Gym and it had the closed caption on. At one point the CC said "Sucker Buffs". Quite amusing!

At any rate, I am looking forward to the U.S./Czech Republic game though I'm a little annoyed at having a work meeting at that time! The other team I need to root fo is Croatia, mostly because I have them in my World Cup Pool (don't worry Sanella, I would not otherwise root for them and would even root against them - its strictly about money).

I'm amused that English fans are not allowed to make reference to the war. Hey, get that finger out from under your nose and quit goose stepping!

Oh, and Stuart, even though you got Brazil, I hope that's where your luck ends.

New Rules

New Rule - There need to be more trucks on the road. To clarify, there need to be more 18 wheelers. You see, when I'm stuck in traffic I need something to block the sun and pulling up right next to a big rig is perfect!

New Rule - If you don't want theives to know that they've stolen data with personally identifiable information on it, don't announce it to the media!

New Rule - Movies do not have to perfectly parallel a book - its not the same art form. Don't drag out a movie just to make it conform perfectly to a book. Oh and don't add worthless sequences that were not in the book and then highlight them on the Tonight Show (but thanks Tom Hanks for having that shown on Leno).

New Rule - Since there were so many parties for 06/06/06 - especially in Hell, Michigan - its time to start planing for 07/07/07 - especially in casinos!

- Russell Weisfield

A New Award, Noteworthy Facts, Races, local politics, Ipod List, Richard Clarke Note

A New Award

I am launching a new monthly award. It is going to be called "The Blacker Pot Award". It is of course going to the person who is pointing out a fault in someone else when in fact it is he who has the fault as in "if that isn't the pot calling the kettle black" or more amusingly "Kettle. Come in Kettle. Kettle, are you there. This is Pot. Come in Kettle". Yes, I too am eligible for this award.

This go round, however, I am giving it to Mike Rosen. In his recent column he asks why any concervative would go on Bill Maher's Politically Incorrect as it is geared toward leftist ideology. First, its not wholly leftist though it certainly leans in that direction (hey not all the New Rules have anything to do with ideology). More poignantly though, why would any liberal go on Rosen's show since its so geared towards conservative ideology. I watch Maher's show and listen to Rosen's. Let me tell you Mike, your show is far more attack based and denigrating than Maher's.

Noteworthy Facts

In a business column today out of the Washington Post it was noted that P.T. Barnum's famous quote "A sucker is born every minute" was never said by Barnum (further verified on http://www.sniggle.net/barnum.php This is actually fairly well known but I think it proves how we're all a bunch of suckers.

Races

Yesterday I ran a 5K. My time (which gave me second in the Men 20-29 category) was a respetable 24:31. I've run faster but I'm happy with that. Oh I know if some other guys in my age group had shown up I would not have been 2nd but hey, showing is sometimes 3/4 of the battle.

Today of course was the first Colfax Marathon. I tried to get a team together for the realy segment but well, that didn't happen. Of course, forking over 30-50 bucks a person to get start running at 0600 on a Sunday is certainly not most people's idea of a good time. The price did seem high though I understand why the race started when it did (heat).

Local Politics

Its interesting to compare some of the local mayors. Hickenlooper has an incredibly high popularity and with good reason. Mayor Nancy McNally has a fairly low and with good reason and may hopefully be out soon. Mayor Fellman has a medicore rating and with good reason as he does some great things followed by some real bonehead things (like opposing restrictions on emminent domain).

Ipod List

My latest most played list on my iPod. Liner notes are available at http://www.frogtails.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=83&start=60

1) Eyes of a Stranger - Operation Mindcrime by Queensryche

2) No More Mr. Nice Guy - Alice Cooper's version from Billion Dollar Babies - speaking of which "Nights With Alice Cooper" is a pretty decent radio show.

3) Can I Play With Madness - Iron Maiden

4) I have my Moments - Pat McCurdy

5) Revolution Calling - Operation Mindcrime

6) Rainbow Blues - Jethro Tull M.U. Vol1

7) Cum on Feel the Noise - Quiet Riot's version

8) Scott Bakula - Sunspot off the album Cynical - if you like Sci-Fi and Quantum Leap you have to hear the song.

9) Ring of Fire - Johnny Cash.

10) Last Caress - Metallica's cover of The Misfits off the album Garage Days re-vistied.

Richard Clarke Note

Richard Clarke put out an excellent reason why gathering the phone numbers you call is of importance. It has to do with the 6 degrees of seperation (often played with Kevin Bacon). Figure someone who you know within a few steps is on the FBI watch list. Therefore, by drawing conclusions from datapoints, you may end up on the watch list.

- Russell Weisfield

Hodgepodge and New Rules

A quote from Sen. Russ Feingold "I've enjoyed you're lecture too sir" in response to Sen. Arlen Specter who said "Good Riddance" when Feingold said he would leave. What civility the Senate currently has.

A quote from a co-worker: "Like I needed a periscope from heaven to figure that out."

Props for David Harsanyi in the Denver Post. I find his column to be somewhat refreshing and different than most columns though it is not always the most insightful column. Ed Quillen is still my favorite in the Post. Nationally I'm reading Reuben Navarette, Charles Krauthammer, Paul Krugman, and occasionally Molly Ivins. Local media critic Dave Kopel hit some excellent points about the lousy coverage of the immigration debate but unfairly labeld unions as Communists. Unions are comprised of capitalists who recognize that joining forces and monies can be better for all. Its no different than buying in bulk. Granted some unions are out of control and should be dissolved, but certainly not all. Jason Salzman had some interesting insights lately and I still am tickled that he found me to be "a free thinker" when I responded to one of his questions and it wasn't striclty ideological.

New Rules

New Rule - no more sweeps weeks. Why the hell do shows have to end in summer anyway? With Tivo and everything else, the actors ought to work a whole year like the rest of us. I mean afterall, Survivor was originally a summer series - which did spawn a wretched genre of television so perhaps the execs are onto something.

New Rule - You are not being cutoff if someone gets in front of you. Being cut off is when they almost hit you - which of course is because of your lousy driving. If it weren't for rotten drivers like you we'd have no accidents. Well OK, the other driver is lousy too. In fact, all the other drivers on the road are lousy drivers (police excluded because otherwise they may give me a ticket).

New Rule - Only one minor league baseball team is needed in the Denver Metro Area and that should be the Rockies (Arvada and Aurora really don't need any).

New Rule - No more hesitating on getting diplomas to people. I want the confirmation already perferably in a nicely typed frameable full size heavy stocked paper with the school emblem and other official looking logos and signatures in a nicely produced backing. Alternatively I will accept the way School of Mines gives out diplomas - on a piece of Silver so as the joke goes, at least the degree is worth something.

- Russell Weisfield

Grad Completion, Spying and Kudos to Papa Joe, Concerts, Random Thoughts

Grad Completion

I completed my final final on Wednesday! I'm pretty certain I did fairly well on it (and certainly enough to graduate). Won't know for sure for a few weeks but I'm feeling quite good!

As for my next plans, well I intend to take some time and enjoy not having to go to school and also get some more years in at my current job. Who knows from there? I also need to brush up my poker skills. Of course, all kinds of things can happen so as they said in Star Trek, "the future is the undisovered country".


Spying and Kudos to Papa Joe

Let's see, it came out yesterday that the NSA demanded phone records of almost every American. The President said that safeguards were in place to make sure American's privacy is protected? What? Who I call is my private business. There is a such thing as privacy for the sake of privacy which I recognize most people don't acknowledge as they only think of privacy as privacy without consequences. Interestingly, there was a talk sponsored by Microsoft (of all people) wherein the speaker (ask me if you want his name as I don't have it handy) correlated privacy and security as being equivalent! Quite the talk.

I, like much of Denver, have to give Kudos to Papa Joe Nacchio. Here is a man utterly reviled in Denver for banking millions while destroying Qwest and the future of thousands of employees. His current insider trading troubles aside (and I have no idea on the validity of the charges) he deserves high accommodations for telling the NSA to buzz off and for not being caught up in "patriotic" appeals of the NSA. A true patriot, like Nacchio, knows the rights we fought so hard to protect can be whittled away quickly and are worth a continued fight! I salute you Joe!

In owing to the Presdient's comments by the way:

1) Remember, banks aren't stealing your money when charging fees, they're protecting it.
2) Cameras at intersections are to protect you from the guilty by catching them running through lights a second after it turned red but not giving them a ticket for months.
3) Safeguards are in place to allow Americans to choose what they eat and drink as long as they don't eat and drink certain things (and certainly don't smoke).
4) We're protecting Free Speech by restricting where you can say things.
5) We're protecting the what the Third Ammendment stands for by forcing police to live in certain homes for stakeouts.
6) Safeguards are in place to ensure that a legal defense is prepared for any questions about cruel and unusual punishments especially those punishments that people in the 1700s never could have dreamt.
7) Safeguards are in place to make sure no Americans are slaves - slaves of non-Americans is perfectly OK and is of course sanctioned in Leviticus.
8) Safeguards are in place to ensure the Second Amendment is protected provided that you first satisfy a huge list of requirements.
9) We're ensuring the validity of elections by using machines developed by a company in cahoots with the current Administration
10) We're ensuring every American's access to representation by diluting the amount of repesentation each American has.

Concerts

A variety of concerts this summer are looking good. I have Dave Matthews Band Tickets (anyone want some), Queensryche tickets) and will probably snag a few other shows. I'd like to make Tom Petty/Pearl Jam but I leave for Vegas when they're here. I did miss Bryan Adams last weekend but tickets were a little more than I wanted to spend. I'm astounded by the fact that so many concerts are charging $50+ for tickets AND they're selling out.

On a simliar note, Ticketmaster has improved its company significantly. Customer Service is excellent, precautions are taken to minimize one person from collecting all the tickets, and charges seem to be in line with other outfits. Mind you the charges are still outrageous and border on scalping (which should really be legal anyway - and is in some places) but at least Ticketmaster service has improved.

Random Thoughts

If you're interested in some thoughts on the immigration debate read Reuben Navarette and a column a few weeks ago by Ed Quillen which has some amusing points about immigration to Salida.

If you're interested in Hollywood news not involving Brittney Spears or Tom Cruise, good luck.

Jeffco Bike is working on some great things including FastRoutes - trails meant to mirror FastTracks.

VP Al Gore is promoting a new movie on global warming - I have no idea how good it is.

Three movies attracting my attention in the upcoming weeks are: X-Men III, The Da Vinci Code, and Pirates of the Carribbean II.


- Russell Weisfield

School, Voting, Upcoming, A Quote

I know I'm behind but school is almost over! YAY! Party is planned for 06/03/06. Currently will not be going to Commencement but I did go to a College of Engineering banquet. I even got a certificate from it. Woo hoo.

Voted today in the North Jeffco election - they have a really bad idea on increasing taxes ridiculously for the sole purpose of improving fitness facilities and pools. A poorly publicized election that almost rivals the shenanigans that occurred out in Aurora with their mental health tax district.

I have plans to update the site severly - by summer's end you should see something entirely different either here or elsewhere (which may become my main blog site).

Congrats to Jonathon and Sanella on buying a house (and on the upcoming birth of their first child - a boy).

Happy belated birthday to David (hey I talked to you on your first birthday anyway).

A great quote "I have never been so honored by a city I can't afford to live in" - The Sage of World Class Wrong (AKA Brett Saunders) on being told by the mayor of Boulder that last Saturday was the Sage of World Class Rock Day.


- Russell Weisfield

Quick Note

Have plenty to post about that I am kind of saving in my head right now but I did want to post on my Grandfather's first Yartzeit. Busy with finishing school so probably will have a plethora of words posted upon completion - perhaps a pic of me on a "new" bike too, who knows.

Happy Passover/Easter/Eid/etc!

- Russell Weisfield

Fees

Meant to add this in the last post. I will also be talking about this a bunch more in the future. The thoughts stems from all the fees Tom and I encountered when he was here (including a bizzarre surcharge while skiing). My new idea, and I encourage everyone to partake, is to add a "check writing fee" when paying your bills. Knock off 3 bucks (hey you have you're costs of writing the check, mailing it, etc.) and note it on the check and let them know by cashing it they agree to the fee (heck they throw in fine print too).

- Russell Weisfield

More quick thoughts

This is going to be another quick stream of conscious post - term project is knocking on the door.

March Madness - looking good for me I think I won my pool regardless of outcomes this weekend (I could be wrong but it does look good).

Arvada in the podcast from 3/06 talks about a big study session for money going towards the Arvada center - this is something I am hoping to get my hands on as the 6M price tag is quite high and frankly, I wouldn't mind my steets being cleaned of snow.

Dino Valente had this great comment regarding a proposal to be cleaning graffitti in Westminster: "Personally, I don't want the city cleaning up my property unless I get a blight designation and tax subsidy!" (if you're missing the brilliant sarcasm - let me know.

I now have Queensryche tickets for their performances of Operation Mindcrime I AND II (due out April 4).

Anyone planning for June 6 this year (6,6,6)? I saw that a book due out then, "The Alphabet of Manliness" is already at the top of Amazon's best seller's list. What?

Lindsey Graham is not competent to make comments differentiating apples and oranges since he he can't tell them apart himself (relates to his comments about Dean's comment about Nixon and Bush).

Need to find a new bike soon - spring is here and I need to be ready to bike to work more - especially with rising gas prices. The mountain bike is just a little slow on the streets/paths.

Cincy was quite fun - saw some family, ate at a wonderful restaurant called Daveed's, and saw the Rembrandt sketch exposition currently showing at a museum there.

A New Rule: No protesting soldier's funerals unless that soldier was the one to kill you.

- Russell Weisfield

Quick Addendum: Just wanted to put in a quick link to googlebomb Butch Hicks. Oh and happy belated birthday Jonathon.

Catch up time - to include a cracked open head, Bennish, Caucuses, Visit from Friends, stupid Quotes, upcoming plans

I have lots of catching up to do - not all of it will happen now. I will try and get some thoughts I have been pondering along with some updates of my world.

Cracked Open Head

Well, I was skiing on Friday at Crested Butte having gotten free tickets for attending the Colorado Rapids last game last year (the Semi-final). First, Crested Butte is terrible. Never mind the flat light and short slopes, but the runs cross each other in weird ways to the point where you're suddenly skiing over flat and then going over a small cliff. Oh yes, skiing by braille is quite fun. To top that day off, I was attacked by a Mogul armed with a ski. The Mogul flipped me and my ski came off and cut my head to the point of needing 7 stitches (insert joke here about the hole in my head or brain damage).

The next day when I was skiing with Mr. Tom Hamilton Esq. who was in from Minnesota, I decided to buy a helmet. Why I didn't before, I don't know. It really was rather comfortable and I didn't experience a sense of hubris I thought I might.

Bennish

Here is a topic that was beaten to death of late - Mr. Jay Bennish. Just a few quick points - nobody discussed what Bennish actually said. He stated that things Bush said in the State of the Union were similar to what Hitler said - that happens to be somewhat accurate and is that's not the same as saying Bush is Hitler. Some of the other things said were much more outrageous. Second, geography in high school is not merely learning where the capitals of the world are. There is a higher level of thinking that must occur. Third, Mike Rosen stated on his radio show that it was unConstitutional for the school board to forbid Bennish to speak to the media under threat of losing his job (in part because Rosen wanted Bennnish on the show). Yet during the Ward Churchill fiasco, Rosen repeatedly stated how he believed it was a matter of personnel matters as to whether Churchill was fired or not and not a Constitutional matter. Seems to be contradictory statements here.

Caucuses

This is spelled correctly though I think an 'o' should actually go in there. They were, as expected, mostly a waste of time. Between 5 precincts there wasn't even 10 people - not even a Minyan. Also we didn't get to vote on the hotly contested CD7. That was one of the more interesting reasons to go (though I did get to here how Ed Perlmutter is rightfully distancing himself from his swine relative Jordan).

Stupid Quotes

Trent Lott lamented recently about how the new rules regarding lobbyists would force Congressmen to spend time with their wives (having trouble finding the actual quote). Oh, is poor Trent going to get divorced now becuase he'll open his big fat mouth and actually converse with his wife who might discover who he really is?

Jason Fox in Fox Trot wondered if a Flash stamp or Superman stamp would get the letter to arrive quicker. Now that's an amusing thought (and not really a stupid quote).

Upcoming Plans

Going to Cincy tomorrow to see my brother, sis-in-law, and nephew. Need to really enjoy Spring Break which ends to darn soon. ALso will be practicing more poker in anticipation of my July 4th showdown in Vegas. Other plans brewing - going to Beijing to see Pat is a definite possibility. So is going to Pennsic. More to come.

New Rules

New Rule - The turn signal really can be used to show you're merging into another lane!

New Rule - You're sperm should not be more productive than you are. Kevin Federline is a prime example of why survival of the fittest needs to be brought back.

New Rule - Less than a ten people at a caucus is not democracy - its hobnobbing with the want to be elite.

- Russell Weisfield

Some Quick New Rules

New Rule: If you don't care about a sport for 1460 days out of 1461, don't pretend to care about it for that one.

New Rule: Sitting on a bench at a gym and periodically standing up is not doing a set!

New Rule: Having to type in a passphrase every time you send a mail on Yahoo is not stopping spammers but is stopping people from using Yahoo!

New Rule: Charging maintenance fees at a bank is theft.

New Rule: Just because the season has not started does not mean that the Rockies are not already eliminated from playoff contention.

New Rule: If you leave your cellphone on at work you have to change the ringtone weekly! Additionally, you must pick songs the rest of us can tolerate.

New Rule: Discussing your medical ailments and procedures at work is unneccessary. Hell, it borders on harassment - especially if you are as quiet as a banshee.

New Rule: The Steelers winning their fifth Super Bowl is awesome!

New Rule: The Steelers winning their sixth Super Bowl will be more awesome!

New Rule: If you own a business in Pittsburgh and are not selling some sort of Steelers' gear, you should be out of business for being a moron!

- Russell Weisfield

Birthday, Death of an iPod, Super BOWL!, Powerball, Valentines Day

Haven't written in a while and was really going to on my birthday (Jan. 28th). Things just came up. Had pretty reasonable seafood that day though. Mind you, the day before my iPod up and died. Everything on it was mysteriously erased. I re-installed all the music but it only worked for another week or two. It is now being serviced by BestBuy.

Needless to say, I enjoyed the heck out of the Super Bowl! Please don't cry to me about the Seachickens fighting the refs. Holmgren's just being a sore loser. The Steelers played a better game, plain and simple. The calls were not atrocious, on occasion they were questionable but not atrocious! Quintuple Yoi!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some notes on powerball:

TurboTax cannot handle the number:)! This may be similar to the fact that the IRS cannot handle Bill Gates's taxes except on a seperate computer (reported online in a number of places).

If you could feasibly buy every possible combination and get the money on each winning ticket it would cost 124,020,452 excluding the jackpot. As you can write this off against your winnings when reporting taxes you would net roughly $21M excluding having to share the prize with other people. This 124M number comes from the following calculations (for example 200K is paid out to anyone who has all the numbers but the powerball meaning there are 41 of these combinations).

200,000 (41) = 8.2M
10,000 ( (50C1) * 5C4)) = 2.5M
100 ( (50C1) * 5C4) ) * 41 = 1.025M
100 ( (50C2 * (5C3) ) = 1.225M
7 (( 50C2 * (5C3) ) ) * 41 =3515750
7 (( 50C3 * 5C2 = 1.372M
4 ( 50C4 * 5C1) = 4606000
50C5 = 2118760


Where C is the Choose function such that XCY = X!/ (X-Y)! / Y!.

Happy Valentines Day to everyone!

Football, Colorado Legislation, upcoming projects, New Rules

Football
Denver has been crazy this week with the upcoming Broncos/Steelers game. Of course, from what I understand, Pittsburgh has been just as crazy, even more so since one Rocky Mountain News reporter called the city "butt-ugly". His column today was a most amusing ending to the saga. I have also been amused at the offers for tickets (one doctor offering a vasectomy) and the various curses thrown my way (I like the Broncos too but I still remember my 18th birthday - Super Bowl XXX with the Steelers playing the Cowgirls and a certain someone having a face painted in black and gold in Wisconsin). The game ought to be fun and I am looking quite forward to going. I imagine that those people skiing tomorrow should enjoy the slopes as much as I did yesterday since there is some GREAT powder and the day should be nice and lacking in people!

Colorado Legislation
This legislative session is shaping up to accomplish little (this is normally a good thing in the legislative world as it means fewer rights can be eliminated). The biggest plans are for the elimination of the Super Slab (using eminent domain for the purposes of toll Road) - a piece of legislation Gov. Owens previoulsy vetoed and one he poo pooed again on the Lewis and Floorwax show yesterday. Also in the works is a smoking ban since there is a citizens group determiend to put it on the ballot otherwise.

The most interseting thing is that there is a plan to have the ballot filled with a gay marriage ban and an endorsement for civil unions. I figure if one were to vote against the civil unions and against the gay marriage ban, that would make the least sense of the four options. Perhaps that's how I'll vote just for the heck of it.

Upcoming Project

1) A redesign of this boring site. No really!
2) A web program for super bowl squares - any help offerred?
3) A redesign of a number of other sites to be unveiled soon.

New Rules

New Rule - Angelina and Brad are having a baby. Jen Isn't. Who cares?

New Rule - Warranties that cost extra and don't offer anything aren't warranties. They should not automatically be entered in a bill of say - buying tires. Give me the tires, take my money, go away.

New Rule - Tickets are not worth two months of mortgages! You're not proving how big a fan you are by buying tickets that are that expensive, you're proving how big a moron you are.

Win, Steelers!

- Russell Weisfield

New Year, Shows, stupid news items
Coming soon: Colorado legislation, Upcoming Projects, Football!, New Rules

New Year

Its a new year. Well, its a new school year starting tomorrow anyway. Its also of course a new year since I last wrote. Guess I've been lazy about writing - that and actually making this site look like something worth two darns rather than random thoughts. Its coming - kind of like the Chinese New Year, July 4th, Bastille Day, etc. Actually, my new calendar this year (a Castle Calendar) conveniently has a holiday on just about every day. Its a really cool calendar. Heck, I found out from it that my birthday is the same as Jose Marti's (poet from Cuba in the 19th-20th century famous for such works as Guantanamera).

Shows

After next weekend I will have attened the following events in 2 weeks:

Professional Bull Riding (More on that in a moment)
Wisconsin's drubbing of the Colorado College Tigers on Ice Hockey
Anthrax
AFC Championship game

This adds to the Denver Taiko (drums) I saw a couple weekends ago, Aida perfomred at the Arvada Center, and possibly a few others. I need to stay in more - then again maybe I was just enjoying the school break. It at least allowed me some time to practice my Poker skills (always improving).

As for PBR, I found it incredulous that they compared themselves to the US Army soldiers. I kid you not, in a video prior to the bull riding, the cowboys said bull riding was like being a soldier. I couldn't even begin to follow the analogy. I guess in both cases you stand a chance of dying but I stand a chance of dying driving on I25. Besides, I root for the Bulls in PBR, I don't root for America's enemies.

The PBR also was strange in that they had a full prayer before the National Anthem. I'm not just talking about a quick nod to God, I mean a full fledged 5 minute prayer in which everything under the sun (and the sun too) was asked for ("and please Lord, bless the bulls, the cowboys, the fans of PBR, the leaders of this nation, the leaders of this state, our troops, the clowns, the bull fighters, the announcers, . . . . "). Perhaps these are some reason PBR is not mainstream. Go Bulls!

A Stupid News Item

I saw a headline saying that trophy hunting protected lions. Huh? Killing them actually helps keep them alive. Yes I know about preseving eco-systems through fires but this stretches me a little far. It seems like it came from the current Administration - destroy something to preserve it.


Beat the Broncos, Steelers!

- Russell Weisfield

Happy ChrisKwanzUkahYuleSticeEid
I want to offer my annual message of happy ChrisKwanzUkahYuleSticeEid!



Skiing, article, band music, food for thought, and New Rules

Skiing

Skiing yesterday was kind fo fun. It was icy in spots and I have to say that Christmas Day Skiing is starting to be really crowded. Don't people want to stay with their families? Stopping at Fortune Valley Casino afterward also proved somewhat Fruitful.

Article

Well I've been periodically sending some letters to the big newspaper sin Colorado (The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News). Periodically they even call telling me that they are thinking about printing it (though often do not). This one, however, was printed and I'm sure it will not be remotely shocking to anyone who regularly reads my musings:

http://www.denverpost.com/letters/ci_3335891

Band Music

John Dover gave me some recordings of the garage band. There are moments of real talent within these recordings. I will not talk about the other moments - but who cares, we just kind of dink around and have fun (and try and figure out how to ban Dave M. from singing).

Food For Thought

After reading something recently and having various discussions with people I put together a list of 50 things that at one time I have heard called theft and have heard not called theft. See which ones you think are cases of stealing - this is not to say whether they would be proven in a court of law or that they are ethical but whether you think they are theft: Is it theft?.

New Rules

New Rule - No more crowding into stores for a "sale". There is always a sale - so don't get excited.

New Rule - If you're fat don't sugar coat it. Your not big-boned or any other euphemism your fat - sugar coating is what helped make you that way!

- Russell Weisfield

Torture, Patriot Act, Searches, Lance Armtrong, privacy, lights, Movies, New Rules

Torture

Hallelujah! Sen. John McCain was able to get his Torture bill past this pig headed President. It really was astounding how much that sadistic President (encouraging torture is clearly sadistic) stonewalled to try and get around that bill. Thankfully, enough members in Congress have a sense of honor, duty, and decency to see past the pitiful cries put forth by the White House. Oh, and sorry George, this wasn’t a compromise even though you are trying to save face. Move the Congress up one notch in the good bad list (that’s down a notch on the S*** list).

Patriot Act
Heck move the Senate up another notch on the good/bad list (down another on the S*** list). I’m almost beginning to like the Senate – almost. Their killing of the provisions to be renewed in the Patriot Act was grand. Here is my response to Scott McClellan on his quote of “In the war on terror, we cannot afford to be without these vital tools for a single moment”.

In the war on terror we cannot afford to be without strong leadership and talented people with the skills to win the war. We cannot afford to be driven by fear as this administration would have us. We cannot afford to be without our liberties which should be blatantly emphasized by the President’s endorsement of NSA spying.

Searches

So in the TSA's continued violation of the 4th Amendment they searched my bags outside my presence. To top it all off, they spilled the olives I had carefully packed all over my nice black shoes! They throw in smoething saying that they cannot be sued for any destruction in this "neccessary" search but lets face facts, its really just a deterrent much like the sing on trucks that say "Not responsible for broken windshields". If what had been damaged had been of significant value you can bet I would seek reparations.

Lance Armstrong

Lance Armstrong is being tried criminally for defamation. Apparently in Italy there is possible jail sentences for defaming someone. In the United States, of course, you would generally be looking at a criminal trial. That all said, if U.S. citizen were convicted of defamation in Italy and sentenced to jail - would we extradite that person. Since we often want criminals extradited to the United States and threaten sanctions against countries that don't because of a disagreement about the punishment that person is to receive (the death penalty is commonly mentioned), would it not be hypocritical if we did not also extradite someone in this hypothetical situation?

Privacy

EPIC - a privacy group has some very interesting items in the newsletter this week. Of note:

1) The use of RFID chips in Passports. This is detailed more in Katherine Albrecht's book Spychips.

2) An update on Gilmore Vs. Gonzales which challenges the TSA's requirement of showing an ID (in fact it seeks to disclose the law requiring the showing thereof).

3) The impact of John Doe suits and the internet - such a lawsuit would seek the name of a whistleblower. Companies (such as ISPs) would be forced to disclose the person's name whereupon the lawsuit would be dropped so retaliation could occur outside of the legal system.

4) An EU proposal "billed as a crime and terrorism measure, [that] mandates the storage of phone location data, time and duration of calls, details of Internet connections, and the details--but not the content--of email and Internet telephony calls."

Lights

The Rocky Mountain News published a metro guide of houses with an abundance of Christmas lights. This just seems to further drive the insanity of the season as people will try more and more to be in the newspaper or some other such ridiculousness. I have no problem with tasteful decorations but is it really worth the $500 electricity bill to demonstrate how garish you are.

Movies

Now that I subscribe to Netflix I find I am getting to the theater less. I haven't actually seen a whole lot to write home about but there are hopefully some good ones coming. I have to admit that The Polar Express was a little cute and that Ralphie May is still quite funny (his DVD had some very memorable moments including a door to door pimp. I have yet to see the new Harry Potter though as I ahve previously noted - the Potter books all have the same M.O. and do not necessarily offer anything new - though can certainly be decent mindrot. I have also not seen Narnia or Kong which are apparently getting good reviews. Mind you, I do like the 1933 King Kong quite a bit.

New Rules

New Rule: DVDs have to let me skip ads at the beginning! The first time I understand the need to make the money on advertising. Ten years from now, however, when I pop in Back to the Future (afterall 2015 is 30 years from 1985) I do not want to be forced to watch an ad for now defunct Gardenburgers or a cheesy ad with the Energizer Bunny.

New Rule: If you don't have a problem with the NSA's spying, then your phone and internet connections should be tapped and made available through a FOIA request.

And finally New Rule: Ski resorts that charge $10 for a drink and a couple onces of soup should be forced to also provide a free pampering of my tush. Really, it can be quite cold if you bounce off the mountain while skiing and I want a something for my $10. At least when I was at Crazy Horse in Paris the $20 I paid for a martini also had some nice entertainment to go with it.

- Russell Weisfield

Quick Observations and New Rules
Other things still forthcoming

George Bush said that the inappropriately named Patriot Act was necessary because prior to it federal agents could more easily get a wiretaps and files for tax evaders than they could for terrorist because of too many civil rights protections for them. No George, American citizens who were terrorists had the same protections as Tax Evaders - its just the government was more interested in persecuting people who skimped a little on taxes rather than terrorists! Perhaps if your administration actually directed its employees to work toward protecting the country from terrorists rather than seeking personal vendettas the Patriot Act would be a moot point.

----------

A man wrote in recently to a local paper complaining that where he worked (a county government) had told him he could not bring his truck to work because it also advertised his private company which said something to the effect of all American workers and no foreign workers. Apparently this created a hostile work enviornment. No, putting a Swastika on the truck would create a hostile a work environment. Advertising that you employ Americans does not.

-----------

Another man from New Hampshire wrote into the local paper that in the world we now live in the threat of terrorists was too great and that people should be willing to show identifications to the police if they ask (this stemming from a woman who was arrested for not showing her ID while on a bus that drove through the Federal Cetner although she did not get off there). Actually sir, the threat has always been there (Guy Fawkes afterall tried to blow up Parliament in the early 1600s - long before the Constitution was even dreamed). The only difference now is that you're less naive. Still cowardly. Actually, still naive too, but less so.

-----------

NEW RULES
(now proudly quoted on other sites)

New Rule: When buying gas with a credit card - I should not feel like I'm playing a complex video game. Today I was asked to enter my zipcode onto the keypad. This was of course after I was asked if I wanted English/Espangol; credit/debit; receipt; carwash; type of gas; and if I wanted a hot cup of coffee (but no fries). I think in the future I might drive off without paying for the gas - not becuase I want to steal the stuff (though the theft fine might actually be less than actually paying)but because I won't be able to get through the darn electronic questionaire.

New Rule: Christmas displays need not light up the whole neighborhood! If you feel the need to give money to terrorists by driving up demand for energy at least have the common decency to not blind me as I turn the corner. In fact if I do drive into your house in the process - don't expect to get paid any damages. This is not becuase I would have loss control of the car, but because I was trying to save the neighborhood from you.

New Rule: No more holiday parties at the Wynkoop. There's actually nothing remotely sarcastic or humorous in this rule - I just want to be able to play pool there on Fridays.

- Russell Weisfield

Reunion, more political fallout, torture, new Rules
Forthcoming: TSA, assorted updates, more concerts, 4th Amendment

Reunion

I recently attended my high school reunion and actually had fun. I like many people there, was trepidatious about going. I wasn't even sure I wanted to go. I half expected a lot of reminiscing or one upmanship on careers and success. That really wasn't there. Additionally, few people changed physically. Some did, but not many. What was really nice, though, was that most people changed mentally. I really didn't see the high school cliques too much. Granted there were some people with whom I avoided saying hello and they did likewise but for the most part it was a genial time aided by an open bar.

More political Fallout

To all my Libertarian friends who razzed me on my stance regarding the new Wal-Mart - there is now proof that the city of Westminster (or at least its agents) signed a deal in spring of 2004 to give Jordan Perlmutter a minimum of $6M. Lets talk about that corporate welfare and how little money the new Wal-Mart will bring to the city!

As for C and D - I'm not sure if it is the best of both worlds or the worst. As many of you know I decided how to vote on those measures very late in the campaign (and still will not reveal how I voted because I believe in secret ballots). Also, Gov. Owens followup has not been real honest. It seems he is set on turning Colorado into Los Angeles with a view no matter what. This is not only evidenced by his recent ideas for spending but based upon his signature for the Tollway in the eastern plains that will displace homeowners.

Torture

Bush continues to take a disgusting stance in this regard. There is no excuse for torture because not only is the information we receive dubious at best, but it lowers us to a level we should not condone and encourages others to do the same onto our soldiers and people. Torture is an abomination that should have been banished long ago and holds no place in our society (and as a caveat, I do not see lethal injection as torture or cruel and unusual - though torture would be cruel and unusual).

As someone noted in the Denver Post this morning, based upon reports of kidnapping Italians to Egypt and secret prisons outside of the U.S., President Bush can honestly claim that we don't torture - like other jobs in America we contract overseas.

New Rules

New Rule: If you bore us publicly with your engagement - you do not need to also bore us with your divorce. Really Nick and Jessica - part, makeup, create a couple of children dumber than you, whatever. Just get it over with - there are so many other worthless couples for the media to fawn over that you're just taking up newsprint.

New Rule: Only two measurements are needed for jeans - waistline and leg length. I don't want jeans that are relaxed fit, or tight fit, or low waist, or high waist or big cuffs, or other ridiculous decisions. If I wanted to make that many decisions when buying clothes - I'd buy a dress.

And finally New Rule: If you say you're going to fund something - fund it! I'll have more on this one later but let's just say a certain group is acting like a cheap magician with "now you see the quarter, now you don't".

- Russell Weisfield

Tull, Rock and Roll thoughts, Film Fest Films, Car Reparis

Coming Soon: torture, updates, new Rules

Jethro Tull
So the Jethro Tull concert I saw on Thursday (the second one played in Denver) was quite good! Granted I am a little biased being a huge fan but other people have likewise said as much. The setlist is available at the ministry of infomration (searching on Jethro TUll setlist on Google will easily land it). I have to say that the highlight of the evening was when Lucia Micarelli played with the band especially on a cover of Led Zeppelin's Kashmir! It was phenonmenal. I have never seen such passion behind a violinst before. Now I will grant that saying the highlight of Tull concert was a cover of Zeppelin song in a way that not even Zeppelin would do seems kind of weird. This is not to say that the rest of the set was bad. Its been a long time since some of the songs from the Aqualung album were played live and on this tour they have played all of them!

Mind you, the days of a big screen Tullavision are long gone. Also gone are the days of Ian Anderson twirling the flute and throwing it in the air - I haven't really seen that since the 25th anniversary tour. What one sees now on the tour is a musical tour de force performance with some gags (for example right before playing Boris Dancing Ian explained that it was a tribute to Boris Yeltsin for being so strung out on Vodka that he would never be able to find the button to eliminate us all). Quite a fun show if that's what you want to see in a live rock and roll performance.

"I didn't know anybody still went to see Jethro Tull in 2005" - Fred Bramhall
"Would you go see Bob Dylan if he came around for a concert?" - Mary Clark
"Yes, but that's different" - Fred Bramhall

On an interesting note, I was sitting next to someone who is good friends with guitarist Martin Barre. Apparently the band is making a lot more now than in their days of selling out Madison Square Gardens - and that's inflation adjusted. Something about more efficiency and not wasting money on such things as two first class plane tickets - one for himself and one for his guitar.

Rock and Roll Thoughts

I'v been thinking a bit on Rock and Roll performances, bands, etc. this past week. In fact I've been thinking back to a lot of the concerts I've seen in the past few years and most of the bands (that were the reason for my attendance as opposed to just an opener) were around prior to 1990. Many more were around prior to 1980. The Young Dubliners, Pat McCurdy (his first solo album was right around 1990) and The Offspring tend to be the exclusion. Not that I didn't try and get tickets to other shows - I just didn't get them. I've heard that some of the shows have been really phenonmenal - and I like some with special effects. In fact I think it can enhance a concert and I sometimes feel cheated when a band simply stands on stage and runs through their power songs (Fleetwood Mac comes to mind as a lousy live show these days). Yet at the same time, the bands are musicians and as John Dover believes, they should make their money playing music and not simply living off the royalties of one or two songs. Heck, as musicians they should probably also look to expand their musical talents and not get stuck in a particular sound or just playing the same songs. This may not be as commercially viable but certainly could be indicative of better musicianship. Just some stream of conscious thoughts.

Film Fest Films

This week I have seen "Hidden Blade", "L'Amant", "Homeland: Four Portraits of Native America", "The Matador", and I will soon see "Amongst White Clouds" skipping "Wal-Mart the High Cost of Low Prices". OF these films, Hidden Blade was decent. It had pretty colors, a decent love story, and some nice comic relief. It was not stellar but certainly worthy of watching to see what all is going on in the film world.

"L'Amant" was fairly dreadful. I'm trying to get it out of my mind. I won't bore anyone with details but even though the director (Hiroki) and actress were present I left. Fred said his other film being screened - Girlfriend - was also pretty bad. At one point the person with whom he saw it said he had looked down only to look up and wonder which boring Japanese Actress was now on screen.

Homeland was a fairly standard documentary. Recognize it for something of propaganda about Native American issues. It wasn't as blatant as a Michael Moore film and certainly showed why some of the enviorment issues that tribes on reservations across the country are facing are of more national importance. In fact, most national media have ignored these issues. It is something that should be discussed more - and alas something that the movie did not do. This was especially true on the Uranium mining on the Navajo reservation. There were many issues skipped that I would like to have known more about before feeling like I could form an educated opinion.

"The Matador" is a film funded by and starring Pierce Brosnan. It is quite a performance by him. The movie tells of an assassain whom you kind of like. Oh he's got some reprehensible traits as he swallows Greg Kinnear into his world but he still has a charm. The director afterwards added some nice anecdotes explaining in part that Bronsan pushed back the start of the film so he could star in some other tripe. In fact, Brosnan figured it would be bad but it was paying him enough to lose money on "The Matador". Greg Kinnear also made an interesting quote about being worreid about crime in Mexico City. As the director said, the only people who had to worry about kidnappings were American Business Men. Kinnear's retort - "I'm playing an American Businesseman". Its a worthwhile film for an evening of fun. Catch it when it comes - though I would try and get a cheap ticket and not pay $10.00 or whatever.

"Amongst White Clouds" has been selling out. I am not sure why though the scenery of Tibet should be pretty striking. I will find out soon enough.

Car Repairs

I wanted to thank BR&D Landscaping. The driver who hit my car while it was parked left all the information I needed (insurance agent, policy number, company contact information, etc.). The company then worked with me to make sure that my car was fully fixed the way I wanted, by the mechanic I wanted, and that I had a car in the interim. B,R, and D Landscaping paid for everything and was pretty easy to work with. While such actions should be occuring, so many places are dishonest. BR&D Landscaping gave me no problems about any of hte costs or repairs. This, for example, is a striking discrepancy from that piece of drivel cable company I have known as Comcast which STILL has not apologized for the installation man who urinated on my house - even after I called and wrote them again (including other issues I needed to deal with them about).

- Russell Weisfield

Veterans Day post - quick tribute, CIA and torture, Comcast, Film Fest, Halloween songs, Carrie's book, stupid comments, and . . . New Rules


Tribute

On Veterans Day I find it only appropriate to take a quick moment and thank our soldiers. In fact, I will take a little extra time to honor my favorite soldier, Mr. Julius Sfarti a WWII veteran who died on April 26th this year and whose flag I am proud to have. Love You Grandpa!

THANKS TO ALL TO VETS

CIA

Dave wrote, appropriately on Guy Fawkes Day (Nov 5), about his outrage regarding CIA prisons outside of the U.S. I couldn't agree with his statements more. The Washington Post should indeed publish where they are. It has been said that national security would be compromised if they publish where, is that not the classic answer from the government when telling a "free press" what to publish and what not to publish? The fact is these prisons should not be secretive. Its not as if they are a military unit planning an assault (at least I hope not). Remember, in WWII the Red Cross visisted prison camps (ok some were kept hidden by various forces because of the utmost cruelty being done to prisoners - and I am referring to concentration camps as well as POW camps). Why should we not let the Red Cross visit prison camps? Why do we have any outside of the U.S. without the foreign country's oversight? More intestingly, as the Libertarian Party is asking why the Republicans are more concerened with who leaked the information rather than why these prisons exist.

Torture

As Reggie Rivers notes in his column today, how can the President say we are abiding by laws when some of these allegations are going on - well as Reggie points out the "we" is subjective. Bush probably is not torturing the prisonser (he might be torturing the rest of us but he is not torturing the prisoners). Why would the first thing he vetoes be a bill banning torture? There have been so many things he could veto and now he wants to veto a humane measure? I think you really have to wonder if he has that kind of mentatlity.

Comcast
Comcast is on my list of companies to disparage. When they first installed my high speed internet access the tech urinated on my house. No seriously. To date, Comcast has YET TO APOLOGIZE to me. Now, just a week ago they deleted some of my subaccounts. How does that happen. They continue to blame me. I'm sorry guys, but you all flubbed this one. One day they were working and the next they were not - they didn't even exist. While it may be possible someone got the password and deleted them, why would that unscrupulous person do more interesting things like send spam and steal my other email. Comcast, you're a bloated uncaring conglomerate that excels in annoying the customer. To that end, any high speed internet providers who wish to spam me feel free to do so for the next month - I will probably buy your product.

Film Fest

The Denver International Film Fest has started and I will be sitting in front of many movies. Last year CSA was one of my favorites. The current site offers an eSlave auction site and insight about where this fantastic movie will be showing. This year I intend to see a new Samurai movie (Japanese film is being highlighted this year), The Matador, a movie from a Native American Perspective, and a potentially a handful of others including one that interviews some fugitive perpetrators of bombings in Lebanon in the 80s. Not showing at the film fest but one that ought to be interesting and is coming out soon involves Wal-Mart

Halloween Songs

I knew someone who once said that he was sick of The Monster Mash and Purple People Eater being the only songs played around Halloween. I therefore have compiled this list (in no particular order) to help in your Halloween listening next year:


1. Werewolves of London (Warren Zevon)
2. The Number of the Beast (Iron Maiden)
3. Purple People Eater
4. Night of the Vampire (Grim Reaper)
5. This is Halloween (from Nightmare before Christmas)
6. The Monster Mash
7. Sympathy For the Devil (Originally by The Rolling Stones)
8. Casper The Friendly Ghost (hey I was brainstorming and not Googling)
9. Auntie Purple's House (Pat McCurdy - mentions many Halloween creatures)
10. Medusa (Anthrax)
11. The Thing That Should Not Be (Metallica - about Cthulu)
12. Beastie (Jethro Tull)
13. Little Shop of Horrors
14. Slime Creatures From Outer Space ("Weird" Al Yankovic)
15. Until It Sleeps (Metallica - about the monsters at night)
16. Enter Sandman (Metallica - about the beasts under the bed)
17. Misery Loves Company (Anthrax - about Stephen King's Misery)
18. Ghost Riders in the Sky (I like Johnny Cash's version)
19. Feed Me Seymour (from "Little Shop of Horrors")
20. Battle of Evermore (Led Zeppelin's song from the Lord of the Rings)
21. Science Fiction (from Rocky Horror Picture Show)
22. Among the Living (Anthrax - about Stephen King's The Stand)

And for a really scary song: "Can I Move In With You" - Pat McCurdy

Carrie's book

A friend of mine named Carrie Vaughn has written a book published on November 1st called "Kitty and the Midnight Hour". I've started reading it and its not bad. Its a werewolf book that reminds me a lot of Kelley Armstrong's books. The protagonist has been likened to Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake. Thankfully Carrie has promised not to go down Hamilton's path which was to start with a good series and just let it decay into nonsensical, irrelevant, sexual misadventures.


Stupid and Amusing Comments

From my Daily Calendar: "There is one word that can sum up the Vice President's responsibility and that is to be prepared" - Dan Quayle

A commercial I recently heard advertising to guys that buying an engagement ring should be an extremely fun experience. Why do I think that most guys are just thinking about the big investment on the ring, the commitment, and all that money for a small item he'll never wear.

Its Federal Employee's Open Season - that means its legal to hunt them.

New Rules

I just finished reading Bill Maher's book "New Rules". This is mostly a compilation of his previous New Rules read on the show but they're still funny - especially if you remember the original context. The Taxatana line is still classic! Regardless here are my new rules:



New Rule: You can't criticize tax increases if you screwed up spending when you were in the legislature. John Andrews, former Speaker of the House in Colorado and current Denver Post columnist has continued to attack the passage of Referendum C. Oh please, the last time Republicans couldn't get over the oncoming of a Bill they disliked was when Monica was on her knees in the Oval Office. Really John, during the campaign you attacked Ref C. simply so you could cuddle up with your still in the closet Republican buddies. You didn't mind distancing them when you were in office but now that you were term limited you're looking for new ways to induldge in self promotion. I have an idea, why don't you just buy a forehead ad from some yutz on Ebay instead.


New Rule: Free press is not generated for antagonizing your teammates. The amount of air time and press coverage given to Terrell Owens almost makes the time given to Baby Jessica miniscule. We get it T.O., your a loud mouth egomaniac. Now can everyone just shut up about him and write the important things like how many cathes he's made, how many touchdowns he's dropped, and how many minutes in a 3.25 hour football game is really comprised of commercials?


And finally, New Rule: Former backup NFL quarterbacks need to stay retired. First we had Tommy Maddux lose a game for the Steelers and now there is a former backup on CBS's survivor. He was a backup years ago and he'll be a backup in this competition too. Americans really need to get their T.V. watching straight and watch important shows like "Celebrity Blackjack."


- Russell Weisfield

Quick Highlights - World Series of Poker, Election

Its late and I haven't written in a while so I just want to put in a few quick updates. First, I'll Be going to the WORLD SERIES OF POKER! After entering a tournament sponsored by IRSA, an organization endorsed by Juila Roberts that works towards finding a cure for Retts Syndrome (Not Turretts) I won a 5K seat at the World Series of Poker in Vegas in the summer. I'm stoked.

It looks like the Wal-Mart measures will fail so the store will be built. Having just come from the election party, the group is a little distraught but not completely morbid. C is passing and D is failing - a most interesting situation. Doug Anderson looks like he'll be the first Libertarian elected to a council seat in metro Denver. Congrats to him. Congrats also to Mark Kaiser on getting the nod for Westminster city council.

I'm tired so not a whole lot else coming out now though I will mention my Guy Fawkes party seems to be falling through. Oh well. So much to do so little time.

- Russell Weisfield

Quotes, elections, CFC, iPodius, etc.

Think I'll start off with some various qutoes:

"Only one thing would be worse than the status quo and that would be for the status quo to become the norm"
- Elizabeth Dole

Paraphrased from the Rocky Mountain News on a pending measure that would decrimalize possesion of 1oz or less of Marijuana in Denver:

"If people are too stoned to find their car then there will be less people on the road."

"If stoners only say 'far oouut' then they will be not only cutting down on worthless chatter, but using less oxygen so the rest of us can breathe easier"


"Now adays First base is now groping, second base is oral sex, third base is intercourse, and hitting a homerun is being introduced"

- paraphrased from Tom Wolfe on Bill Maher

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Elections are around the corner but I promised not to rant for a while (that ends in November which coinicdentally, is the month with elections). As an update, millions have been spent on Referendum C and D (some people have spent more than they would otherwise receive from Tabor refunds), referendum 2a and 2b in Westminster definitely tastes nasty, signs are regularly stolen everywhere (although some are placed illegally), and airwaves are chock full of lies on all sides. At least the advertisers are making money. I am actually still somewhat undecided on some things. I see points on all sides:). As I am wont to do, I will probably not tell how I vote on some issues - that's the joy of secret ballots (though these darn mail in ones I ahve seem wrong).

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BTW, speaking of Elections, with all the hot air being blown about, wouldn't it be usefult to trap some of it so we could cut down on heating costs this winter.

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Its charity time! With all the natural disasters, end of year crunch to make charitable donations, CFC, elections, there is no end for peole who want my money. That's why I always turn to the Combined Federal Campaign. For instance this year, in addition to notable charities like the Red Cross and politically opposite charities like Planned Parenthood and Focus on the Family, we have organization for headaches, and my personal favorite, one for people who have been divorced by spouses who decided to spend their life with a member of the same sex. I currenlty am not finding the name but they promise to promote issues faced by their audience. I'm glad there is such an organziation . . . (ooohhh, I am getting close to ranting right now. I call it borderline. I'm making fun)

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I'm thinking about emptying iPodius (my iPod's name). That is I will kill all the play count information and start anew. In part, it will be hard for new songs ever to eclipse songs like Empire (even though a new addition of Alice Cooper's Poison made a valiant attempt). Mind you Tull will probably climb as the concert nears. Regardless, it may have to be returned soon to ahve the battery fixed. Oh well. This is mostly an irrelevant topic so if you're reading this - thanks. Heck if you want the play count let me know. The top 10 (albeit with a few errors when the iPod erased a week) are:

Empire (Queensryche)
Be That Way (Pat McCurdy) // This would actually be # one without the missing weeks
Behind My Back (The Clarks)
The Clansman live (Iron Maiden)
Wild Thing (Sam Kinison)
***hole (Dennis Leary)
Leaving on a Jet Plane (Me First and the Gimme Gimmes)
Never Did No Wanderin' (The New Main Street Singers)
I Flipped a Coin/Television Ruined My Life (Pat McCurdy)
Scott Bakula (Sunspot)


- Russell Weisfield

Quick Quotes, new shows

"God has been lashing out lately. I think its because of all his lovers. All these people saying they love God . . . If they were my lovers, I would lash out too." - - Salaman Rushdie on Late Night With Bill Mahrer

"They're putting all the high schoolers near the elementary school"
"Well, at least they'll be close to their children" - Me

On a seperate note - the new snow has mostly melted. As the old saying goes in Colorado if you don't like the weather, wait fifteen minutes.

On another seperate note, I've been watching a couple new shows this season - "Rome" and "Commander in Chief". There are interesting things about both as well as multiple flaws. Reviews possibly to come.

- Russell Weisfield

Mama Loves Funions! Happy New Year!


Pat McCurdy offerred the opening statement. Not really sure I follow all the thinking behind the statement but it sounded fun at one of his recent concerts (setlist below).



Happy Jewish New Year to all those celebrating. Eat some apples and honey for a sweet and healthy New Year.


Speaking of which, I'm a little annoyed I'll be unable to get to see my family this upcoming weekend due to some foulups at work. Even worked this weekend (which I might add is a more pleasant time to work - perhaps that's because no one is wearing anything remotely resembling a suit).



Sudoku is taking over where I work. I've been playing it for a little while since I first saw it take over the Wuzzles space in the Rocky Mountain News. I didn't realize what a craze Sudoku is. The nice thing about this game though, is the board can be randomly generated meaning unlike a crossword puzzle, no human intervention is needed (though I guess with some standard clues you coudl randomly generate a crosssword puzzle).


- Russell Weisfield

Pat's setlist for 10/1 in no particular order:

1) I should never Have come to this Party
2) House on the Rocks
3) I Have My Moments
4) Camping with Lesbians
5) Oh Well What the Hell
Some other ones I forget



Set two:
1) Ruin My Life
2) Imagine a Picture
3) I'd Pay to Have Sex with you
4) Jesus
5) Choking the Gopher
6) Big Porno Hair
7) Knock Things Over
8) Tribute to the 80s
9) Tribute to the 90s
10) Sex and Beer

Quick Events, Songs to play, quotes

So since I last wrote a gorram long time ago I've done quite a few things. As I said, I am also going to try and reign in some of my rants and maybe even pop in a couple extra amusing quotes such as Otto Von Bismarck's famous quote of "Never believe anything until it has been officially denied" (I''ll work on some other ones)




Shows
In the past two weeks I have seen the musical "Wicked" and the movie "Serenity" (last night - private midnight showing). They were both OK - I think I expected a little more out of each. Serenity of course, is the movie from the sci-fi TV show "Firefly" - a mighty fine show. There are some things in the movie that didn't fully jive with me - a couple of predictagble thigns, a couple of changes from the series (most notably how River escaped here military imprisonment), some of the characters being brought on just for the ride, and some major events that I won't mention here as they are spoilers



As for "Wicked", it was definitely decent. Not as good as teh hype made it up and it was kind of missing that flaw of being a good musical - the audience wasn't humming any tune as they exited. I liked the first Act more when it was more character building than simply following the Wizard of Oz. Like I said, enjoyable, but not what the hype has made it.




Baseball
Well the Rockies stunk again this year. Did catch one game - getting $76 worth of tickets for $35 from a ticket broker on the street. Hey, they even won that game with the pitcher getting a CG! Perhaps the Bosox can bang out back to back World Series! Comedy Central did do a wonderful parody of a Mastercard ad following the Sox win last year that included getting part of Dennis Leary's anatomy.




Beer Fest
My annual attendance at the Great American Beer fest included the requisite New Glarus Raspberry tart and beers from Hoppy Brewing Company. Avery brewing company, though, shined quite well this year (as they often do) and the owner had some wonderful pointers for me. Interestingly, the IPAs this year weren't as good as in past years with Michigan Brewing Company not even bringing their delightful High Seas IPA. A new brewery in Aurora, though, had an excellent Vanilla porter. Additional notes go to a brewery out of Colorado Springs that had a sour beer known as a Cuvee which was quite high in the alcohol and quite tasty. Finally, many breweries come up with clever names for their beers but often fail in the execution thereof. The Insanity beer though, did all right in both facets.



Podding
I am thinking that I will have to start podcasting soon with links from this site. More info to come. In the meantime, I will give you this list of tunes that I'm sure you've been thinking about in recent weeks.


Hurricaine (Bob Dylan)
Lovely Rita (The Beatles)
Run To the Hills (Iron Maiden - not storm related but the title is good)
Rock YOu Like a Hurricaine (Scorpions)
When the Levee Breaks (Led Zeppelin)
Riding the Storm Out (REO Speedwagon)
Old Ghosts (Jethro Tull - key phrase in the chorus)

- Russell Weisfield