Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.

About that technology ...
Potential GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann says she is worried that the new airport screening technology could lead to nude pictures of her being leaked out, the Minneapolis Post reports. Where do they find these so called "candidates"?

I sat today in the front yard, slow burning a stogie and hanging out inside my head. I like to just sit. The neighborhood was pretty quiet, the air was anticipatory. There was a storm off in the gulf and it was rolling this way. The air was warm and sultry, but with that cool, tinny feel that the rain...is...almost...here. So yeah, anticipatory.

I see a lot of things that I see all the time without. Seeing. Like Nancy's yard. She has a small orange grove in her back yard. Today I realized there were literally hundreds of oranges on the ground. Looked like the water around a sinking ship as they jettisoned everything to get lighter. It was just amazing, the number. OK, amazing to me.

Pat's yard looked perfectly orderly. All the plants where they belonged. Uniform in size, straight in their borders. Now this is Florida and in the time it takes you to run inside and get a glass of water plants will jump their borders and wild vines will swallow your fence. At least all of our weeds have flowers, so when you finally give up on trying to control nature it's still pretty. What struck me as pretty amazing is that no one ever works in the yard. Ever. It just kind of stays this static perfect on its own.

Been working on this post about 5 weeks now. Type a couple of sentences, then either delete them or move on. you know why, too. Shivagitter's broken. Been visiting with my friend, Ben Gonna. Almost did a lot of things...but didn't. Anyway, I am here today because the wife has gone to that crazy place women go and I am just trying to make myself small. I don't know why God would ingrain so deeply the need to constantly re-arrange the furniture in the house without also endowing them with the upper body strength to satisfy those urges. Those urges which peak at the same time the best ball games are airing. And for some reason are requiring of male assistance all-dang-DAY!

Speaking of inspiring ball games, it's a great time to be an NC State basketball fan. Oh, wait. No, it isn't. I keep waiting for Sidney Lowe to turn them around, but he just ain't getting the same quality of folks that Duke, Carolina, Ga Tech and them are getting.

Been working mightily on my Spanish. I understand a lot more than I did before. In my mind I can speak pretty well on a couple of subjects. It'll take a while to really grow my vocabulary into anything useful. But I can do directions, introductions, and simple descriptions. I know my numbers, days of the week, and colors. I know right from left from straight ahead. So I am getting there. My accent, however, is a bit of an impediment to being understood. I practiced what I could with the Colombians who were here last week. My reply to the first "Como esta?" thrown my way was, "No bien. Necessito un poco cerveza," which caused smiles all around. Partly because it was a humorous answer, but mostly because I butchered most of the pronounciation. Oh well. It is what it is.

On tap for a two week trip to London. This one is firm. Every previous trip to Europe has fell through or been rescheduled. Ought to be downright freezing there, at the end of February. Here,it has been nice. I guess it was around 70 today. I shed the shirt and read the paper outside under the orange tree. Of course, I went in every now and then to help with the great furniture migration. If I don't show at least a token interest in what's going on, well...

Loving American Idol. Who knew Steven Tyler would be such a positive influence on the show? I think it is better than it's been for some time. And, while most of you don't know and couldn't really care less, Nigel Lithgow is back to producing the show. Trust me, that is a good thing. So, I'm a fan.


"Sooooo, Tomo. Tell me 'bout this Godzilla fellow". "Well, actury, Noah-san, it's Godzira. And he's a real bad ass. OH NO! There goes Tokyo..."






I grabbed both the Japanese class and the Colombian class and took them out for a little bit of St. Petersburg culture. I am not sure why I appear so less than enthused, though.

As I attempt to get my kindling going (it rained hard the day before, which always makes for a smokey start to things), Noah supervises the group working on the other fire pit. Noah is a good supervisor as a) he likes to help carry the wood and b) he likes to put wood on the fire. He's not particularly long in the patience department though and he would, without oversight, build a 30 foot wall of flame. Dang 4 year olds!


See, I am NOT driving. I asked him if he could keep it in a straight line and he said "Yep". He was delusional. The dog, by the way, was both delusonal and quite circular. He circled the tractor the whole time we were on it. DRE calls him Circle Jerk cuz he runs in circles and is none too bright.

We've certianly had a freeze warning here and there, I won't lie. But I have been so very thankful that I don't live and haven't traveled in the NorthEast or New England this year. From what NBC nightly news (with Brian Williams or Lester Holt) has shown me, ya'll have got the smack down from old man winter. And every time you try to get back up you get another smack down.

I'm sorry, but I still don't know why anybody is against the health care bill. I mean in principle.

I am glad to see the Middle East in a political revoloution. Seriously. A few democracies in the area would be good. Or at least a secular government or two. I hope that what the one protester said comes to pass, "No longer will religion be politics."

And seriously, could you ask for a classier military? They have kept their hands clean, run tanks up between the factions when things got too heated, and laid out smoke screens to give whichever side was getting whooped at the time cover to get out of there. I have been quite impressed with their restraint.

I am pretty sure that our economy is getting much better. You can't tell it from reading the newspapers, though. However, using my unscientific "Jerkometrics" methodology, I have seen a marked increase in both cars and aggressive driving in my morning commute. It had dropped down to a sane number of cars and a unharried drive, but now it has once again turned into an every man for himself scramble. Luckily, we here in this area are steadfastly against mass transit in any way, shape, or form.

To that, I say, build the mass transit. Despite the ignorant chorus that anything not the status quo is a "job killer" (new buzzword, same lack of factitude seeing as how we massacred tens of thousands of jobs with the status quo). Somebody will have to build it (jobs), administer it (jobs), and will inevitably begin to develop businesses to cater to the riders along the route (dare I say it? Construction and retail jobs). I saw a trolley built is San Diego, with very limited routes. 25 years later the routes are expanded and entertainment areas, retail shopping, and dining line its routes. Bankok was considered a bad bet for the elevated train due to it's cheap and plentiful taxis. Now that sucker goes all over town with full cars and its success convinced them to also build a subway system, also very successful. Boston. Portland. Chicago. Commuter trains make sense.

Just build them. And if you'd prefer, YOU can play rockem-sockem bumper cars on the way to work each morning and I'll ride them.

And back to Idol. Lay off Steven Tyler. He's a trip. And we can only dream to be that cool when we're 65.

A little John Hiatt to get us on out of here.

Buddha was not a Christian, but Jesus would have made a good Buddhist, out

Ramblin' Ed