Gnarly

It's Friday night and I'm feeling a bit gnarly. Whatever that means. My intent is to convey that I'm not feeling good, positive, and comfortable. Just the opposite. But not to an intense degree.

Mad at Hillary
I got mad at the Hillary Clinton campaign today, after getting an email asking me to fund a counterattack ad against Obama in response to his staff member who called Clinton a "monster." You know, the staff member who got fired. But that doesn't matter, does it? This is politics. Let's attack Obama. And, of course, let's ask yesterday's donors to pony up again. I got mad and told them to fuck themselves. I suggested that, if they don't cut that shit out, I'll switch my allegience. In a fucking heartbeat. I won't put up with either of them doing that. I'll sit out the November election and vote in a South American country later. Assholes.

Ethiopian Lunch
My wife and I met a former colleague of mine for lunch today at an Ethiopian restaurant. This colleague and I try to have lunch occasionally, but I think it's been well over 2 years since I last saw her. Anyway, she loved the Ethiopian food, even the gored-gored, raw cubesf of beef marinated in a wonderfully spicy Ethiopian sauce. My colleague voted for Obama. She drives an almost-new Lexus. I don't understand how that works.

Skull Fracture
A blogger acquaintance from Austin posted some very disturbing news recently. He and his partner had been at a friend's party and they both got smashed. As his partner walked home, something happened...fell, pushed, whatever...and broke his skull, doing bad damage to his ability to speak. Very nasty, unpleasant scene. It sounded godawful, exacerbated by the fact that the blogger didn't even know it until much later because he got hammered and stayed at a friend's place until he was sober enough to walk.

Fat and Getting Fatter
I'm appalled at my gut. Bigger than it's ever been. I've decided that, after my brother and his wife come to visit next week, I'm going to go on a "change my life" adventure. I'll eat much more healthy foods, eat less, and get exercise. And to give myself and incentive, I'll have my wife take two photos of me every morning, one front view, one side view. I'll print those photos and will put them on the wall in my house. I'll take them to my office and post them in plain view if I don't lose at least 10 pounds a month for the next six months.

Some Days are Just Sad Days
I don't know why, but some days just seem so, so sad. This is almost one of them. I just wanted to stay in bed and keep as far away from the world as I could. But, I got up and eventually it got better. But some days are just sad days. They make my eyes leak for no apparent reason.

Leprechuans in Control of the Weather

It's Thursday night. Lots..I mean LOTS...of snow today. Miserable, slushy, wet, cold, and otherwise nasty describes our after-work experience today. What the hell is happening to the weather? I think drunk leprechauns have taken charge of meteorological controls. Dammit. I should have kept them in the box. Didn't I tell you? I have a box full of leprechauns. At least it used to be full. Dammit.

Listen to Scott Ritter--Don't Let It Happen Again

I recommend viewing and listening to Scott Ritter, before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, expressing his views of the Bush administration's policies and actions. This one speech sufficiently explains why Bush and all who support him are very, very dangerous to the future of the United States. We cannot afford to let another Bush take office. It cannot be permitted, under any conditions.

Blog Writing

I've never mentioned it on this blog before...at least I don't think so...but I have several other blogs. They're all related to my busines and my clients' businesses, but they do require time, thought, and energy. Well, not all of them. I started one of them about 2 or 3 years ago and have done little with it since. Another one started about the same time, but I've been doing a bit of writing for it off and on every since. A couple of others are a little more recent and they are the ones to which I tend to pay the most attention.

I sometimes wish I could put some of my posts from those blogs here, just to show the people who "know" me what my business writing style is like. It's very, very different from my casual writing style. It's radically different from my fiction style...ifI actually have a fiction style.

But my political views and my rants and vent-a-posts here could get connected with my business life and the "wrong" people might be reading this blog and learn the real-world identity of the Geezer. That could cause a major shift in the direction of the universe and the wheels could come ripping off.

I'm in the Political Process Now

We voted this morning, then participated in the precinct caucus this evening. I was astounded and delighted at the incredibly large number of people who attended the caucuses.

Three or four precincts voted in an elementary school near our house. This evening's caucuses were located at the same place. I was expecting a handful of people in our precinct because...we live in a deeply Republican area. When we got there at just after 7:00 pm, there were well over 500 people crowded into the school cafeteria...it was pandemonium.

Our precinct, by far the smallest of the three, left this cafeteria and went into the gymnasium. Our precinct had 165 plus people present, which I am absolutely certain was a record...I've never been to one before, but I'm sure the turnout was crazy.

The Democratic caucus process is utterly ridiculous...convoluted beyond belief and ideally suited to be manupulated by damn near anyone who wants to manipulate it. I'd like to see it drastically overhauled. That having been said, I'm deeply into it now. I was one of twelve people elected as Hillary Clinton delegates for the Senate District convention on March 29; nine people were elected to serve as Barack Obama delegates. In our precinct, at least, Clinton won with 55% of the popular vote to Obama's 45%.

My wife was elected an alternate delegate for Clinton. Both "elections" were more a matter of being among the few who were willing to serve.

Despite my vote for Hillary Clinton, I have been extremely impressed with Obama's organization, up to and including tonight's process. No one in the room was particularly well-versed in the caucus process, but the Obama voters had the benefit of having had an incredibly well-organized political machine in Texas. I was impressed with the way they did things. Clinton's political "machine" was non-existent; it was as if her supporters were much less sophisticated about the election process.

We'll see how it turns out. I'm guessing Obama will squeek out a win in Texas, but maybe not. I'm afraid this race will get nastier and bloodier, on the Democratic side, which might play right into McCain's hands...and deliver the White House to him in November.

If Democrats would just force the issue and insist on a quick decision if there is insufficient movement toward nomination with these races, we might be OK. Otherwise, we'll have done it to ourselves.

A Cold Day in the Neighborhood

I was concerned this weekend that I had missed the opportunity to plant some more trees before the arrival of Spring. It has been so warm that the leaves have begun budding and bulbs are already growing and in flower. Tulips are beginning to be visible all over. And I thought, "damn, you missed it again."

Last night, a string of ferocious bands of thunderstorms began moving through, preludes to some truly rambunctious weather. It rained today as the temperatures continued on their nosedives. It was 77 degrees yesterday afternoon about this time, a scorcher. It's 37 degrees now. Let me tell you, 40 degrees makes a huge difference.

And the meteorologists are forecasting snow tonight, claiming there may be accumulations of 1-3 inches. I do not buy that; flurries, maybe, but not 1-3 inch accumulations

Tomorrow, my wife and I will get up early and go vote for Hillary Clinton...unless I change my mind between now and then. As I've said, I'm not thrilled with either of them, but I'll be deliriously happy if either of them take the White House this November.

Out in the Country

My wife and I made an almost spontaneous decision to invite ourselves to see my brother in Falba over the weekend. I spoke to him by phone on Friday night and, out of the blue, asked if we could come visit on Saturday...he had told me he was planning a barbeque on Sunday evening, but I suggested a Saturday visit. He agreed, my wife agreed (though she had already planned to work half the day on Saturday, so it would have to be later in the day), and it was a done deal.

Yesterday (Saturday), after my wife spent her half-day doing what I should have been doing, we had lunch, then hit the road for Falba. About 4/5 of the way there, she suggested we get off the Interstate to take some more leisurely back roads the rest of the way. Alongthe back roads, we saw redbud trees in blossom (an absolutely positive sign that Spring is about to visit east Texas), along with an amazing variety of other less obvious but no less attractive flowering trees and bushes. Brillian red cardinals flew across the road many times and zipped along the side of the highway, looking almost like streaks of red paper trying to keep up with the car.

When we got to my brother's house, it was locked. After looking for, and finally finding, the extra set of keys, we still could not get in, so we drove down the road to his friends place, where we saw his truck far aross the pasture next to his friend's daughter's place. He had seen us coming and just about the time we started making our way across the pasture on a not-so-obvious path across the grass, he came wheeling toward us, then saw that we already knew where to find him, so he turned back and we followed him over.

Shortly after we arrived, his friend got there (he had been getting cleaned up over at his place), then a while later another friend, a woman both my brother and his buddy know, showed up. And then my niece and her husband got there. It was really a party!

As we were waiting for the whole brisket and the two slabs of baby back ribs to finish smoking in my brother's monstrous cast-iron wood smoker (it's on wheels and fitted out with a trailer hitch, which is the only way to move it around), we chatted, sitting on the open-air 12-foot-deep covered porch that surrounds the house on three sides. The other three males decided to go down to the "bottom" of the 150 acres to see a horse that had, a few weeks earlier, thrown my brother's friend's daughter, resulting in a bone-through-the-flesh broken ankle. She's on crutches and will be for some time. I figured if the horse was that ornery, I did not want to give it an opportunity to express its disdain for humans by doing some damage to me. I stayed back and chatted.

It wasn't too long before dinner was ready and we had some spectacularly good brisket and baby back ribs, along with accompaniments like potato salad, macaroni salad, ranch style beans, and jalapeños. It was worth the trip.

My niece and her husband had to leave early and head back to Houston, a good hour and a half trip, but the rest of us sat around on the massive porch, listening to stories and just enjoying ourselves immensely,

At one point in the evening, I asked my wife to step out with me into the pasture, away from all the lights of the house, and look up into the sky. It was a magnificent night and the stars were bright and just filled the sky. It was a beautiful sight. We got a pair of binoculars and saw a much closer view of several constellations, including Orion and the Little Dipper. We can never see those sights in or near Dallas.

We finally headed back to my brother's place about ten o'clock and my wife went to bed, but my brother and I stayed up for quite some time talking. It was a great time! I hated leaving this morning, but business calls. I need to make more opportunities to get away like that. It was a blast.