Last blog of the decade

WOW - where did THAT decade go.

I had a few things to say yesterday but . . . . GONE.

We're taking Blake in to the vet today for a spa treatment (meaning nail clipping and grooming and a rabies shot) and I'll brew my End of the Decade Stout today. Sorry Aduba - your IPA went belly up - I think it was the last of the evil bugs beer.
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So I'll ask your honest opinions on some photos. I've been playing around with some new software to see if I should purchase it. The problem is I have to remember it's just another tool in the photo tool kit and I should not lean on it.

The 2nd problem is I am now obsessed with Impressionism. More on that later. The new look/feel was applied to some older photos.

Rainy Day in MadisonI went to the library to get the book "Encounter With Tiber" by Buzz Aldren and while there I saw some huge books of Impressionist paintings . I've never taken any art classes and have no formal training so these books were an eye opener. I LOVED it and realized all the art that catches my attention is Impressionist but I had not realized it.

Moonrise

Any art majors just bear with me here if some facts are not 100% correct. it's only been one day.

The whole Impressionists era was actually partially due to the invention of photography. In the 1860's the "rules" for painting was that you must paint Historical subjects, religious themes, and portraits and if it was not of those subjects you were not allowed to show your work. Also the times were that the images were suppose to be life-like . . . like a photograph. with photographers now taking REAL life-like images like snap shots of normal life, this was intriguing to some artists

Radical's like Monet and Renoir felt they wanted to so something else. To NOT take "photo paintigns" but create something that was more "feel" then realism. it's how they felt when looking at something and not an exact copy.

Since their painting were rejected by the art gallery people they decided to have their OWN art show with thier radical paintings. They painted landscapes (oh my god) and went En plein air ("in the open air") to paint which was unheard off. They could do this because of the invention of paint in tubes!

Well - there show had mixed reviews. The public seemed to like the work but critics were offended.

Critic and humorist Louis Leroy wrote a scathing review in the Le Charivari newspaper in which, making fun of the title of Claude Monet's Impression, Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant), he gave the artists the name by which they would become known. Titling his article The Exhibition of the Impressionists, Leroy declared that Monet's painting was at most, a sketch, and could hardly be termed a finished work.

But - I digress . . . .

So I was looking at some photos I had and to be honest not many could be worked into something painterly with this particular process. The QUESTION is, if I made these into canvas products would they be sell-able or does it seem more like a gimmick.

Just a few not, not convert EVERYTHING but another look/feel on certain images.

Comments?

ANYWAY- have a very very safe New Year celebration tonight and get out your winter coats again. Gonna get cold.

Cheers / Peace

Rod

Scumbag Millionaire

How many women does a guy need to beat up before he becomes a scumbag. Sure - Tiger had sex with most of the wait staff at The Bellagio in Las Vegas but at least he does not beat up woman. Charlie Sheen not only plays a womanizing scumbag on TV but in real life also. Beating up not one (Brooke Mueller), not two (Denise Richards) but three woman (former girl friend).

Of course Brooke was legally drunk (Charlie was not) when she made the call and it seems SHE was the original assaulter although she claimed Charlie started it and she has since retreated her accusations saying they were false (is that not a jail-able offense? filing a false police report?).

And what of Elin Nordegren. Why didn't she go to jail?? OH - I'm not saying Tiger didn't deserve a 2 iron to the head but I always thought assault, no matter the circumstances was something police were against (again, not that Tiger didn't deserve it.) She finds out he is cheating and starts beating on him with an iron? What if Mike Tyson found his wife was cheating and hit her with a 2-iron. That would be OK also? (of course he would bite her ear off and call it even).

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Anybody live in Fort Atkinson? This Christmas my brother and I came to the realization that our mom is getting old. I had broached the subject of PERHAPS she could think about moving to senior assisted apartments in Sun Prairie. . . . . didn't go over very well at all. She has lived in her home for 50 years and there is no way she is going to move . . . no matter how many times she has fallen.

So now my brother and I are going to have to step it up and start to make her home more elderly friendly. More rails, fixing broken things and so forth. She has ALWAYS been the fixer but it seems age has caught up to her. However, clearing the driveway of snow and mowing the lawn is a problem.

SO - if anybody knows of a good service or some kid or whatever that would like to earn some extra bucks, let me know.

It's weird when you realize your mom or dad are getting old. When did that happen? My dad died of lung cancer (a very very bad way to die) when he was in his late 60's so he never got old/frail, so watching my mom, who has always been a strong, I'll do it frontier woman turn frail is taking both my brother and I as a surprise. Of course it was going to happen but you always think that somehow your parents would be missed by father time. sigh!

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A few years ago when we lived in Madison our home was butted up against Sandburg Woods. The forecast said snow and I had a chair (it was left from the previous owners of a previous apartment). So I took my chair and walked into the woods.

Our neighbor who already thought I was a little odd REALLY thought I was even odder when he saw me walking into the woods with a chair.

Of course it didn't help when I tried to put up a bat house up. I dug the hole, took a 10 foot 4x4 into the woods, poured quick drying cement into the hole, tried to insert the pole, found the hole was not wide enough for the pole but before I could get the hole wider the cement had dried already so now there is a 3 foot deep cement plug in the ground and a big pole laying next to it. FU stupid pole.

ANYWAY - the snow came and went and I took this shot. Snow does cool things sometimes.

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Great Badger game last night. Fun to watch (except for the last 1:26 but all ended well).

1836 - Bank of Milwaukee Incorporated
On this date the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature passed into law legislation incorporating the Bank of Milwaukee, however, the bank never opened its doors for business due to the panic of 1837 and other events.

A little banker trivia.
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We were watching one of the many "who died this year" tributes and I saw Mark Fidrych had died (along with countless journalists I had never heard of). I looked it up to see what he died of and of course it was strange. Anybody that knows the Mark Fidrych story, Rookie of the Year in 1976, retired in 1978 and always talked to his balls, talked to himself, aimed the ball like a dart, strut around the mound after every out, and threw back balls that "had hits in them," insisting they be removed from the game.

It was a odd dump truck accident (not a normal dump truck accident).

ANYWAY - The Packers.

I feel the Packers are now a serious Superbowl contender. According to Football Outsiders they are the second best overall NFC team in the league and the best if you take only the last 8 games. Minnesota is ranked 14th.

How do you break up a catfight?




Have a wonderful Eve to New years Eve.

RM

WHOA NELLIE

Football

Wow - was that the most entertaining MNF game of the year? Since I had no REAL stake in the game (but wanted Da Bears to win) I could relax and not worry about ME winning or losing so I could relax and just have fun.

Here is a question. If Favre had a concussion would he sit? He got banged pretty hard in OT when he was sacked 3 times in a row. That first time I saw stars and birds circling his head.

For those who are wondering. The Packers will play the Vikings in the 1st round of the playoffs if - the Packers lose to Arizona (who now have something to play for), The Eagles beat Dallas AND the Vikings lose to the Giants.
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TV
I just don't understand how something so obvious can slip past people who are suppose to be much smarter and in touch.

The Jay Leno Show, according to the USA Today and obviously proven by ratings is THE WORST SHOW OF ALL TIME. Now of course it's not the WORST show but the WORST heavily promoted show of all time.

I kept reading that The Jay Leno Show was going to change television. WHAT? To ME this seemed like the most bizarre, idiotic, dumb ass, are you smoking crack idea ever! There was no way in hell this show would come close to being a hit. It was going to be a tremendous flop. Of course I was a little wrong because not only was/is the show a tremendous flop, it's like a black hole and is sucking the life out of NBC prime time AND late night. If there was a way to to sell advertisements SHORT, like on Wall Street, I would have sold everything I have to NOT by advertisement seconds.

THEN to top that off they installed Conan O'Brien on the Tonight Show. WHAT? Are you kidding? I've never been a big fan of Conan, too goofy for me and to me, he is a poor poor fit for a time slot that begs a father figure. You are going to bed, not really watching and you want Conan to lull you to sleep?

The Tonight Show is for not really for watching. You don't sit down to WATCH the Tonight show. It's on, people come and go and blah blah blah zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. You don't want to see some 8 foot tall dude sashaying around being quirky and silly. So, now the Tonight Show is bombing. Of course this puts the local NBC news people in a dud sandwich.

Movies
Speaking of movies - It's Complicated - Funniest movie of the decade I have heard, awards by the handful. Yet - no one had actually WATCHED the movie yet. Now after a week we find out that 25% of the people that paid money to see it give it an "F". To be fair overall it is getting a tepid "B-" grade. How about NINE. Same thing, 25% of the paying audience hate the movie plus, nobody is actually paying to watch it. Horrible box office. Sherlock Holmes get's a B. This movie is solid, with only 9% hating while the standard deviation is pretty solid. Most people really enjoy the movie.

Avatar is getting a solid A-. 4% hate it, while 85% LOVE it "A" with 7% "B". It will be close to being the biggest all time box office champ and will go over the world wide billion mark in a week or so. And looking at another Sci-Fi movie District 9 also get's an A- and has only 3% hating with 76% "A" and 17% "B".

If you are wondering about Public Enemies - 4% hate and 88% gave it a B or better with an overall "B" rating.
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Killing Indians

On this date in 1890 the United States finally finished the final chapter of the war on the American Indian. 365 troops with four Hotchkiss guns were sent to round up Miniconjou and Hunkpapa Sioux Indians near Wounded Knee and transport them to Omaha. During the process the the Indians were told to disarm their weapons. One deaf tribesman named Black Coyote could not hear the order and resisted when his rifle was being forced from his hands.

A scuffle broke out and at point blank range the 7th Cavalry opened fire killing 146 unarmed men, woman and children.

Put on the Brakes

On this day in 1908 Otto Zachow and William Besserdich of Clintonville, Wisconsin, received a patent for their four-wheel braking system, the prototype of all modern braking systems.

In 1936 Ray Nitschke was born in Elmwood Park, Illinois. in 1958 he was a 3rd round draft choice by the Packers

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Looking for a VCR. Now that Elweed has a real TV he is getting greedy and is lookign for a recording device. Since I do not think DVRs can record over the airwave (and cost too much) does anyone know where to buy a cheap VCR? Buy More does not carry them. Online? Used ones laying around anywhere? I suppose Craigs List has them.

I was just looking and found a TV that. Works great but does not power on. hmmmmm - that would be one of the main things I would look for in a TV, if it powers on.

Will not power on with remote, either. Could be an easy fix. No remote included. This deal just keeps sounding better and better.

Have a Tuesday - GO BUCKY

Rod

Y2K38 - ANOTHER computer problem.

Wow - sort of empty here at work.

I'm trying to trudge through 200 emails of spam, remember all my passwords (did you know the #1 password people use is PASSWORD?) and trying come to grips on waking up SO EARLY!

The last time I saw sunshine was for more then a brief moment was December 17th, the day I went on vacation. I had an entire vacation without sunshine. For those keeping track, Madison is about 0.7 degrees below average and 19 inches of snow above average (7.2 inches below last year).

I don't really have any valid train of thought this morning so I'll just spew.

Did you know that the U.S. spends, BY FAR, the most on health care per person when compared to all other developed countries. No other country is even CLOSE. And what do we get with all that spending. Squat. The U.S. is also in the bottom 10% when it comes to life expectancy. The reason is that we have so many procedures that do not really increase our health BUT cost a lot.

And the Republicans are against change? (I'm not anti Republicans, just anti their stubborn ways, they seem afraid of change). The language that they are using is exactly the words they used against Harry Truman when he proposed Medicare in 1945 and argued it was "a dangerous move toward Socialized Medicine" and other fear tactics to stop the progression of the health care for the elderly.

Now - Obama, who actually has a plan and has been working on it for 20 years (as opposed to 90% of ALL other Presidents who's main plan was to just get elected) is trying to change things for the better. Just as with Medicare I'm sure there are problems and stumbling points but in the long run things will get worked out. America has one of the worst health care systems in the world.

Of course Fox News (not actually news but entertainment) had a "Prayercast" forgiving the Democrats for wanting to reform Health care (which they believe is working just fine, why change).

All I know is I feel that anybody that is anti Health care reform are completely out of touch with real life OR, listen to FOX news and actually believe their so called "news".

WOW where did THAT come from LOL Show me a graph in National Geographic on the health of health care and I go off!

How about good news - Packers.

Packer fans are so lucky to have Ted Thompson (sorry suz). So, we gave up Favre and go with Rogers who seems to be better then Favre AND we got Clay Matthews (in the form of a draft pick) as a throw in. I'm feeling pretty good about how things went down.

We have the first QB in NFL HISTORY to throw for 4000 yards his 1st two years as a starter. We have a real play maker and one of the best rookies in league and we have zero drama (Minnesota has the drama now).

It'll be interesting next week. Two 10-5 teams not showing the other team anything new, both resting players but both wanting to keep the momentum.

Check this out - pretty good.

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If you are looking for Public Enemies DVD Gift Packs check out The Columbus Visitor Center, you get the DVD, 3 packs of popcorn and Public Enemies postcards. Contact Kim at 623-5235.

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Did you know you can get an external hard drive with a TERABYTE of memory for like $80? After work today I'm going to Buy More and buying a 320 gig External harddrive for my laptop just for photographs! A TERABYTE? man I feel I should buy one just for bragging rights! That is unheard of! Like I need 1000 gig!

The decade is coming to an end!!!!

Remember 10 years ago about this time we were all preparing for the apocalypse as the world would crumble with Y2K. Many people did not give much credit to computer programmers for this non-event. Seriously - it was a lot of work to fix this known problem.

The problem was with memory and how much it cost - in order to save memory space, computer people dropped the 19 on the years. NOW - we can get a Tarabyte for our computers for $80 LOL

There was another problem with Sept 9 1999 because it was 9/9/99 which a computer would see as 9999 which is also used to signify an unknown date.

The NEXT big computer problem happens in 2038! Known is Y2K38. This problem affects all software and systems that store system time as a signed 32-bit integer. It's a REAL problem.

Programs that deal with dates 20 years in the future will need to be fixed before 2018. The problem is that in a 32bit computer all dates are computed by how many seconds we have used up since 1/1/70. And we are running out of space. As of 2007, hundreds of millions of 32-bit systems are being used and it is far from certain if they will all be replaced by 2038. Also 32-bit applications running on a 64-bit system are likely to be affected by the issue.

WE ARE DOOMED

Merry Christmas

There, I said it MERRY CHRISTMAS. I refuse to be caught up in the war against Christmas. Christmas is both a sacred religious holiday and a worldwide cultural and commercial phenomenon.

I personally know of no one that will be offended if I say Merry Christmas, people know that it is a happy greeting and not a slight on their religion.

SO - BAH HUMBUG to the Happy Holiday people.



When I was young my brother and I would wake up WAY WAY early and wait for my mom and dad to ring a bell, then we would run out and look at a tree full of presents. We were morning Christmas people. My buddy Elweed was a night Christmas person and it was tough because there were only two of us and hid family had 5? So his toy total was always much smaller. I had to learn to be politically correct at an early age.

ANYWAY - to everyone around the world, please be safe and a warm felt happy happy.

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To Columbus WI people. Does anyone know what ALL the sirens were? For almost 2 hours straight ambulances were going up and down Hwy 89 starting about 4ish. So many I was having dream about fires, DJ got up and saw the back and forth parade.

Rain rain rain. We had 1.15 inches of rain in the past 24 hours. The temps will fall this afternoon freezing all the standing water so clear what you can while you can before the freeze.

Have a Merry day.

Rod

I AM ONLY ONE MAN

Merry Christmas or, as they say in Russia, Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva is Novim Godom.

Have a very very safe drive if you are heading out today. Conditions will get better today as the rain will melt the ice. I went out and helped unstress one of our young birch trees, SAVE THE TREES!!

Blake went out for his poop on the driveway and I had to rescue him as he could not make it back up the driveway. I was going to call Josh (since he is a firefighter) so I would not have to put on my shoes but I man-ed it up and skipped the shoes.

As for the great picture controversy. Seems some people did not like the puzzle piece shots so I made a "straight" photo.


I think I might frame one of these and donate it to the Children's Hospital. But . . . . their walls are full so . . . . . would they want it?

HELP - DJ will not stop baking. After baking three pumpkin breads she is sick of them so it's on to chocolate cream pie. I'VE GAINED OVER 30 POUNDS in the last 2 weeks. We also have these great round butter cookie things and I've already gone through a whole batch of beer bread. I AM ONLY ONE MAN - I CAN NOT DO IT . . . .SAVE ME!!!!

She is now rousing through the cupboards looking for more ingredients.

Milo has given up - he hates his life, he hates Wisconsin and he hates us for not turning on the heat outside. However - he does love pumpkin bread and brownies and he has learned if he can knock containers off the counters every so often they come open and then it's a race between him and Blake. Sierra just sits and worries about getting into trouble. Milo and Blake have the "ask for forgiveness AFTER our tummy's are full" theory.

OH - we watched WALL-E last night. Both of us fell asleep! Not enough words. zzzzzzzzzz

That's it.

Seriously - have a wonderful rainy Christmas AND a white Christmas. We don't have both normally. WHEN was the last time we saw sunlight anyway, it's been weeks.

At least we are in the long slow climb to summer, the days are getting longer (can't you tell??).

OH - Caydence is doing great. Her scar is almost completely heal over. She is happy (as happy as a baby can be) and healthy. There was a small problem last Saturday with a record breaking call the Doctor how can one baby have so much poop thing but . . . you know baby's, always surprises.

And . . . .I'll leave you with THAT vision in your head LOL

Cheers
Rod

UP - thumbs up.

First of all to the cell phone conversation. DJ knitted a little yellow cell phone holder that hangs around my neck now so the only way it will get in a snow blower is when I tip the blower over and lean over it to unclog the snow. Once it was close but the blades only touched it a few times.

Oddly this reminds me of golf (the scene of the cell phone #2 mulching indecent). I have to buy a new used putter as mine "broke" on the last 9 holes last year.

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WOW - what a mess coming our way - YUCK. There is a ton of moister coming our way and it all depends on the temps. One sure thing is there will be a lot of ice dams in streets as water will be backing up so if you have a storm drain near you try to clear it now.

My feeling is this is going to be 90% rain event and TODAY will be the ice event (small icing in the the afternoon). A lot of rain, rain rain rain. Rain all day tomorrow, rain Christmas.

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I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this yet but my fingers were cramping up. This would be great in a poster as opposed to canvas (without the frame) I think I'll make a few posters and frame them. And yes - I cut those freaking pieces out by mouse (no software was involved).

Mr. Ed's Magical Midway

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We watched UP last night and it is a wonderful movie and as "M" commented on Facebook, what an amazing first part of the movie, the non-speaking section that makes you cry! WOW. I'm not sure I have ever had a tear in my eye watching animation.

While the movie was amazing there is a 22 minute adventure of the 12 major people that made the movie. They went to the place where the 2nd half of the movie is modeled after. Only 100 people have ever been to this remote area in Venezuela and the movie is almost an exact replica. It is amazing. Two mile cliffs that to straight up (or down). The Tepuis Mountains.

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Good read on the Packer game - 6 chances in the last 11 plays to stop the Steelers but the one thing was that they say Rogers had what they consider his best quarter ever.

I had more but it escapes me at the moment.

Have a GREAT and safe day and if you are away tomorrow Happy Holidays to everybody around the world from little Columbus WI!

Peace.
Rod

Tuesday before the messy storm.

Seems many people are not at work and THUS, not reading the blog. FINE!!!!
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Have you ever gone to a party or a dinner outing or whatever and told your "other' that "we need a sign" for when we want to leave? So you have a code word or a hand signal right? Pulling the ear, rubbing the tummy of the woman next to you, whatever . . . but everybody knows signs and we can't use sign language SO, I have a new BRILLIANT idea.

Morse code!!! Whenever one of us feels the time is right we will break off our conversation and DOT DOT DOT DASH DASH DASH DOT DOT DOT!! No one will suspect a thing. If someone DOES ask we can say it's a new rock group or something. OH MAN I can not wait to be invited to a party so we can leave early!!!!!

BRILLIANT

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Talking to my buddy Elweed who does not own a car, it seems the completion of East Washington is a godsend for walkers. The bridge over hwy 30 was a nightmare for a year. It was called the bridge of death for walkers. When expanding the road they made a very small one lane sidewalk with a very very low railing. If you met another person on the bridge one person would have to sacrifice himself to pass. Step out into traffic on east wash or fall 20 feet to the hwy below and then be run over. It was never shoveled in a timely fashion either so it was always slippery.

It's all about cars and know one thought about the walkers.
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We went shopping yesterday, perhaps 7 different stores. I'm worn out from getting into and out of the car. What I COULD NOT FIND were those little colored flat plastic paper clips. All I could find were round ones that would hurt a photo. Office Max NO, Office Depot NO. Office Depot is your place to go for paper clips but no flat plastic ones. grrrrrr.

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CONGRATS to Josh. A new Columbus firefighter. Maybe now I can be invited to all the good fires. He should get a job as a police officer and an EMT next. He could put out the fire, fix the oven that caused the fire, investigate how the fire started and lastly save the person dieing FROM the fire. An all in one human (I think I have something for a new TV show)

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WE GOT WEATHER COMMIN. going to get messy Thursday and Friday. A warm wet heavy snowstorm is heading our way. Mix on Thursday and rain/snow Friday. Those LOWS in Texas are going to intensfy and head right at Wisconsin. Most will miss us to the east but. Right now it's looking like a lot of rain and wind changing to snow Friday night! Not a lot of accumulation but we're on the edge in the low 30's temp-wise.

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Packers are 14 point favs Sunday. I think there will be some anger coming out and feel sorry for Seattle (not really). Minnesota 7 point fav's over the Bears.

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Sharpies - did you know it is illegal to sell a sharpie to someone under 18? A guy was turned away at Walmart. Something about some chemical in the Sharpie. I had to show I was over 18 when I purchased a grill lighter a while back.
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Have a wonderful Tuesday the 7 guys that are reading this.

Actually this week it is down to about 350ish a day.

OH - I bottled an Indian Brown last night- tasted pretty good. Can't wait for a month to go buy to see how it turns out!

Cheers
Rod

OUCH! That one hurt.

BOYD - you are way too funny.

Did you see the photo in the newspaper Saturday?

The caption basically reads "City administrator Boyd Kraemer presents a MOCK check Mayor Bob Link!"

HA - wait till Bob tries to cash that puppy! Boy will he be in for a shock.

BTW - the check is for repairing the Udey Dam. I have NO IDEA where this damn dam thing lies now. I thought the DNR was going to blow it up and now they are giving faux check to the mayor? Well send me home and call be Buford.

Also - congrats to Curves, Midwest Horse Fair and Secret Garden for the Holiday Window Dressing contest.

Speaking of horses, I would love to have more horses to photographs. If anybody knows of any cool horse situations which would make good photos let me know. A stampede of 1000 horses would be great if you can arrange it.

And lastly congrats to Houston's Antiques for finally getting that dollar that the City Council owed them. It must be real hard to get paid by the Council if everytime you get a dollar you get your photo in the paper. SHEESH!! Kind of a tight ass bunch!


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Small set back for Caydence - she came home Saturday (open heart surgery and 5 days recovery, you expected longer?) and as Josh and Jenny put Caydence in her lamby swing she had a HUGE smile on her face. However, last we knew she was going back to UW Hospital at 9:00 last night. Nothing critical, more of an annoyance with her feeding tube and a stubborn Doctor.
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PACKERS!

OUCH - most Packer fans are licking their wounds today and the Packer forum was going NUTS.

Here are some comments from a Packer forum that pretty much sums up Packer fans feelings.

GOD DAMN YOU CROSBY! YOU LOST US THAT GAME GET HIS STUPID ASS OFF THE TEAM! I WOULD RATHER HAVE MY GRANDMA KICK THE BALL! SHE WOULD DO JUST AS GOOD AND I COULD ALSO SAY MY GRANDMA PLAYS FOR THE PACKERS! SCREW YOU CROSBY! - cody

I HATE YOU MASON CROSBY!!! I HATE YOU!!!!!!!!!! - louis

So after I pull DJ down from the ceiling (she takes Packers losses pretty hard) we watched Survivor which she was not real pleased over (as with MOST of America) so add another lump of coal to the night but then I turn on the Viking game and all is well and to top it off I see Favre and the coach had a "heated discussion" because Favre refused to be taken out of the game (I guess Favre is the coach now).

Well - the Vikings have lost 2 of the last 3 now and are all of a sudden in a battle with the Cowboys for a week BYE week and not all is going smoothly. The one thing that Favre has done that HELPED the Packers is Minnesota is so confident they signed Childress to a long term contract. Even OTHER teams say he is a doofus (which is good for Packers)

The Packers are still in no real trouble for the playoffs. They have the tie breaker with Dallas but who knows. I feel they are solid.

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Saturday I took my buddy Elweed to Best Buy to help him make his most expensive purchase in the last 25 years. A 19 inch LCD TV ($159). He was like a proud parent. We hooked up his rabbit ears and he gets 7 channels.

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Photographically I had a challenging weekend trying to take a certain photo and now I have to make a light box, something with a null background. Any photo people out there looking to make a super simple light tent follow the link.

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Watch the weather this week, we have some LARGE energy moving our way. Most models have it going south but a few have us right smack in the middle. It's still early and it will form in Texas and move north.

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And for any "24" fans.

Here is Jack Bower interrogating Santa Claus - it will make you chuckle.



Have a great Monday.

rod

MILO - SHUUUT UPPPP

OK - so I just woke up - so beer with me here.
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What is up with the sports media. Did I miss it? Roger brings the Packers back from a 4th quarter deficit and I have not heard one person acknowledge it. Sure, last year he would bring the Packers back with 2 minutes to play and the defense would give up a TD and they would blame Rogers and his inability for a comeback. The talking heads on TV are morons!

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I took portraits at The Columbus Family Dental and while my shots came out pretty darn good (I now have lights) I feel I should not post them here (but they are so good).. . . actually I'll put all of arty shots in my gallery on the site in the next week or so - rather proud. HOWEVER - I cannot resist posting this one.

The Columbus Family Dental Family

Caydence is doing GREAT. From what I gather in my sleepy haze is that most tubes are out and she MIGHT be coming home this weekend. Yea - I can't see open heart recovery lasting more then a week! Her little fever is gone and she is rediscovering her little fingers. Check out the Caring for Caydence blog for just the cutest photo of Caydence.

And thank you for all the support from blog-dom. You guys are very special.
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MILO - SHUT UP!!

Milo is one bored cat. He has been pretty good for the most part but lately as soon as the heat comes on in the morning he will lay ON the register if we're getting up. If we are sleeping (like today) he feels that the best thing to do is go into the bathroom where acoustics are the very best, AND SING!!! Unlike humans who sing in the shower Milo will sing at the hot air register and he so does love to sing and the bathroom is so very good for amplifying his voice.

Wonderful.

Even Blake will let out a moan when Milo starts singing (not meowing but singing in a cat voice). This morning he got up and crawled under the bed.
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Anybody else getting excited for the Olympics? We love the winter Olys.

hmmmm what else . . .

Check out my website - The Time Machine is on display. I'll have to put some information in the information area but the watch, which the images came from, was made in 1911 by the Elgin National Watch Company. It's a Railroad watch and was one of the first mass produced watch's in the world and while it was not a high end watch it was also not a low end. Upper Middle and the Elgin Nat company was specialty commissioned to make watches after a train accident in 1891.

The accuracy of these watches made them highly desirable but it was their beauty and craftmanship that today can not be repeated.

The simple beauty of the black-on-white Arabic dial, the amazing ingenuity with which they were designed, the jewels and precious metals used in the production of high-quality movements, and a level of labor-intensive craftsmanship that could not be duplicated today at any price all contribute to the making of a truly great American collectible.

I'll have to put regular photos of the watch (it's a beauty even with out my heavy hand) on that page so it's a work in progress. Check back in a week for more.

Got lots of things to do today so have a great weekend and get all of those Christmas things done. remember if you are mailing stuff. Overnight means 2 days, 2 days shipping is a week, express mail is a week and a half and book rate is 4 weeks.

Cheers
Rod

Retirement

I'm sitting here in a sleepy daze and realize that I miss my half hour ride into work. Now I see why the morning drive time on that ancient car radio was/is the most important time slot. I seem to get my best ideas either driving to work or in the shower. If I had a shower in my car I would be a genius.

So bear (bare?) with me as random things pop into my head.

I see Emeril Lagasse is on GMA. Has anybody ever made any of his recipes? I have and they totally suck. I'm not sure that guy can actually cook. OK OK - now I'm telling you whats on TV.

I watched Taken last night (with Lime Nelson), goof flick, large body count.

Speaking of coffee.

After months and months of negotiation I will have another "exhibit" at Starbucks in September 2010 and it is going to knock your socks off. I've had a large print project in the works but no place to show it. It'll be perfect.

This is very boring about me and retirement - I'm almost erasing it but . . so many keystrokes.

I've had a number of people ask me why I'm still working for the State, I should retire. Yea - I could but I've done a lot of research on retiring and I've talked to people after they retired and really it's not that wonderful if you are not prepared.

It's not the money - it's the time. You have so MUCH time. Plus many people feel that after they have retired they screwed up somehow.

Look at it this way, all your life you look towards retiring, traveling the world, living the good life because finally you have time and you can do all of those things you never had time to do.

But once you leave work you find out that while the money is coming in you don't have that extra million you were expecting, you are not as rich as you thought you would sleep to noon anyway. Where did I F* up??? All your life you have had structure and all of a sudden you have zero, you sleep to noon, and get going by 3:00 but by that time it's to late to do anything.

Sure that first few months can be great but after 6 months and it's winter you find yourself watching TV all day.

SO - since my job is not totally a nightmare I'll hang on for a while (at least winter). My LONG TERM plan is to see how the art fair scene is this summer and then start to make plans once I see how those waters are. If I sell a few images each show perhaps it'll be time. I know I'm obsessing over the "art scene" and think I'll hit the ground running by being so freaking prepared it's silly, from marketing, selling and knowing I have 2 seconds to get customers into my booth. Now I have to see if people actually want to fork out $$. There are a lot of things going on in one of those canvas booths to get you to open your wallet. I'm finding it fascinating actually.

Did you know that some of those exhibitioners at Art Fair on the Square can being in $40,000 in one weekend?
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OK - enough about that.

The Arias Casino opens today in Las Vegas, the largest hotel/casino on the strip, and inside? 117 million dollars in chips. 4000 rooms and 14,000 people work there. it only cost EIGHT POINT FIVE BILLION DOLLAR$.

I see their website has music - that is SOOO 2000s (inside joke about a comment a few days ago).

OK - I'm going to make breakfast now and see if I can get going before noon. hmmmm I do have somethings on my DVR I could watch.

Cheers

MORE COFFEE
Rod

Good news bad news

.
I'd like to give my condolence to Ty Helbach (a fellow blogger) and balderdash (a blog reader and a good friend of mine) for the loss of their friend Kathy. She worked at AT&T with balderdash and his wife. I was informed that balderdash was looking for more information on a freak accident and Ty's name came up in google and he recognized the name from this blog. Small world. Seems Kathy (Kathleen "Pete" Meshak) was visiting a friend in Madison fell down some stairs and died.

I'm very sorry guys!
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But the GOOD news is Caydence is doing GREAT. You can get the full story from Jennys blog but here are the cliff notes (am I showing my age with Cliff notes?).

OMG - I just saw this photo on Jennys blog (did I mention that already)- for ME it's very moving - I stole it :-)

I don't know why this is such a powerful photo. So lonely.


The surgeon was able to use tissue from Caydence's own heart to repair her . . . heart. We are told that in a few years a skilled surgeon (unlike non-skilled surgeons??) will not be able to detect there was a heart operation (except for the scar I suppose).

There are only 26 doctors in the world that can perform this operation and one is in Madison and one in Milwaukee. She is doing awesome and is called a dancer by the nurses because they keep trying to sedate her to keep her calm she keeps wanting to dance. Breathing tube comes out this morning and if all continues to go well she will be coming home on Monday.

MONDAY?? Open heart operation and it's a week?? I stay home from work with a broken finger for a week!! All vital signs are at the top of the charts and she is the buzz of the ICU. Mom and dad are doing fine and getting some sleep now.
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I was doing a little photo manipulation practice (yes, I actually practice) and started to feel guilty that I had not worked on Todd's Colonial Carriage Works photos so here is one from his place. This is actually the backroom sort of where the "works not yet in progress" are stored. Now remember that I'm using a CRT that is very dark so I have to make the photo very very dark and am hoping it'll turned out OK on a REAL computer. (same with yesterdays slush photo, way way too bright on a real computer and I'm fixing it (for some unexplained reason)).

What got me started on the Columbus Carriage Classic shots is that I'm working on (and have yet to create what's in my minds eye) a new look/feel style photo but here is a totally different style.

That kid's body language is screaming "I Hate this I hate this"!

I'm actually working on a darker, more mid evil look which I'm not sure "darker, more mid evil" really applies to that shot.

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WE GOT OUR LAMP!!!

I was doing some research on Mitsubishi Lamps and found some interesting information.

They are GUARANTEED to last UP TO 2000 hours. What? To me that means they are GUARANTEED NOT to last longer then 2000 hours. 2000 hours is like 40 hours a week. Also the site said we should budget ourselves for buying a new lamp every year! AWESOME!

I'm looking for cheaper places and I can save a nickel at a few places online sites, in 3580 years that nickle will pay for a new lamp! Maybe I'll buy two and have emergency lamps.

WAIT A MINUTE - I see one of my google ad's is no advertising MY lamp for $114 - I must click on it and go there.!!

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For anyone that watches Amazing Race AND Big Brother. Last years winners Jordon and her boyfriend (whatever his name is) will be on the Amazing Race in the Spring.

Also Russell will be on the next All-Star Survivor which is TRULY an All-Star edition with Rupert and all sorts of names I can not remember.

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198 years ago today the greatest American earthquake happened near New Madrid Missouri. Measuring 8.6 magnitude on the Richter scale Mississippi momentarily reversed its direction, giving rise to Reelfoot Lake in northwest Tennessee. There were no human casualties because . . . . there were no humans in the area. And don''t ask me how they know all of this! Where is earthquake dude when you want him.

65 years ago The Battle of the Bulge started although it was called Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein by the Germans. And don't get me started on the Malmedy massacre because the U.S. forces did the same exact thing. It's just that we won the war so we don't report the bad things the Allies did.
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and last - a darker version of Slush.

This is my last day of work before Christmas. I'll still be blogging though!

Rod

NO NO - NOT THE LAMP!!

.
Just like "Oh, the humanity!" and "Houston we have a problem" the words "Lamp no longer illuminates and has reached the end of the lamp life" is enough to make your blood curdle.

Luckily we had a clue that "the end of the lamp life" was nye and ordered a new lamp Saturday (for $179). The odd thing is that the lamp on our Mitsubishi WD-52631 is so easy to replace it's ALMOST like they designed it that way and when you call Customer Support the very first thing the recording says is "If you need a new lamp . . . . ." wow - I guess they know of this problem. I believe they are not in the TV business but the lamp selling business as $179 + shipping every YEAR is a sweet deal for them.

This lamp lasted LESS THEN ONE YEAR. I still have the receipt for the 1st lamp 12/30/2008 is the date. So our TV is costing us $200 a year.
------------------------------

In other news:

Caydence is doing well. They were able to use her own tissue for her heart and it started right up on it's own. Doctors are happy and everything is running smoothly last I heard. The OP was suppose to start at 7:30 but it was more like 10:00 and lasted until . . .3:45ish??

I tell ya - next time I get sick I want to go to the the UW Childrens Hospital. Here are some snapshots of their lobby.





And while we were up in one of the waiting rooms I took a few shots from the 3rd floor.

And a worthless piece of art but once I got started I had to finish!



=======================

Public Enemies - Have not seen the DVD yet (see above lamp problems) but I thought I'd let you in on the final numbers (as I remember them from 3 hours ago). Final domestic box office was $97 million with $207 million world wide. Exit polls gave 51% "A" 32% B and the movie ended as a solid "B". It's the 6th highest rated "R" movie of 2009 and 448 ALL TIME domestic box office. It's ranked 3rd all time for True Crime movies (behind "Catch Me if you Can" and "American Gangster".

Speaking of movies, "Gone With The Wind" opened today in 1939 and was an instant hit. Although the origional title of Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel was going to be "Pansy" named after Scarlett O'Hara who was going to be named Pansy O"Hara (seriously, you can't make this stuff up). They changed the name of the book to "Tote the Weary Load" which is also not a winner in my book and then they did not like THAT title so it became "Tomorrow is Another Day," but James Bond had that one already, or is that Die Another Day? whatever. And finally "Gone with the Wind".

Oddly Margaret Mitchell was a one hit wonder when it came to books and her and Steven King are not alike at all (King has 48 books).

So that is my story!

Be looking for the postcard of the month coming soon to a drugstore near you (if you live in Columbus and don't go to Walgreens). New limited edition postcards on a monthly basis. Collect them all and people 30 years from now will admire you for it.

Rod

Shorty

Shorty today - drink coffee and head to the hospital for Caydence watch. The open heart operation started at 7:30 and should take on average about 5 hours. We're hoping she will be home for Christmas and Josh and Jenny (who is a puddle of goo) will be staying at a Ronald McDonald house in Madison. Make sure you always give your spare change to that little Mcbox in McDonalds. I feel it is one of the best donations in the world.
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Packers - WOW - what a weekend. Unless there is a complete meltdown and they lose their next 3 games the Packers are in the playoffs and will face eithe the Eagles or Arizona (can they play 2 weeks in a row against the same team?).

Packers own the tie breaker with slumping Dallas who play New Orleans next week (LOL) and slumping Giants are just hanging on so basically with 3 games to go we're two games ahead of the wild card loser.

I knew when the hand wringers were turning off the Packers at 4-4 that the Pack would still make the playoffs but I didn't think they would make it so easily. "We" could even be resting players that last game.

OH CRAP - I'm having a bad coffee day. First batch I forgot to add water. 2nd batch I forgot to put the coffee urn thingy under the little spout where teh coffee comes out! grrrr

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Remember when the outside was not so white? I've been playing with some Columbus Carriage Classic photos
Doesn't that horse need a unicorn horn on it's head??

Also - if anyone out there does Arts and raft shows contact me. I'm looking into this venue with seriousness.

OK - gotta run.

OH - the party Friday night was great! I'll have more on that at some point!

Cheers
Rod

Big Whooptee Doo

Tiger Babe Count = 13. I think Tiger is gunning for Wilt Chamberlain's record. But Wilt was not married with kids.

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Tonight DJ and I were invited to attend a fancy party and the invitation said "Dramatic attire is encouraged" So DJ is going as a French Maid and I'm going as Spock! I hope we fit right in, it'll be interesting.

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If you go to my weather station you will see some sad words. It's sounding like hard drive #2 is about to go FUBR! It's sort of moaning and sounding scary, sort of ghost-like. So if you see the station as been not updating it's FUBR and I'll be working on putting another old computer in play. Might take a while though.

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We watched Julie & Julia the other day and enjoyed it. It gave me hope for Meryl Streep and perhaps one day she will turn out to be a fine actor. I still can not forgive her for Mamma Mia! but perhaps I still have nightmares over Pierce Brosnan signing SOS.

Here is a recreation of SOS brought to you by The SIMS.



The odd thing about Julie & Julia is that it's about a blogger that wrote a book about her blog and then it became a movie. So that got me thinking, why not write a blog about writing a book about a blog. It's BRILLIANT! After all people have already put this blog onto CD's during the 6 month Public Enemies frenzy. HELL, I was mentioned in Vanity Fair!! I'm halfway there!! Rolling Stone, bring it on!

OH - did you notice the blog went of 450,000 pages read?

AND - in case I was not famous ENOUGH!! You can now say you know someone who played a prominate roll in Public Enemies. Here is one scene where I am featured as the watchful cafe patron. You can see that dude is pointing a gun right at me (reminds me of when I was held up at a liqueur store).

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But on the other side of the camera is where I have more fun (and it takes less then 16 hours a day to take one photo).

And finally I've started to wade into The Columbus Carriage Works photos. Here is just one that I took. I seem to be entering my desaturation stage of my photo career. While it's not the most artistic shot, if you have ever been inside the Columbus Carriage Works you will understand that there is not a lot of room for getting the perfect angle. At one point I was going to yell HELP to Ryanne because I had gotten into a position and was cramping up. I was afraid she would turn off the lights and leave for the weekend and I would starve only to be found in the spring.

ANYWAY - I have to get busy on getting these ears on for tonight. It's going to be so cool.

Of course everyone has seen Taylor Swifts new hair style.


Cheers
Rod

Sittin’ on the Bottom of the Bay

It took 25 minutes to get from Columbus to Madison and 55 minutes to go the last 4 miles once we hit Madison! On the way the roads were pretty good, they looked slippery but not really. Had to switch lanes every so often from drifting and smoothness but nothing to get your heart going . . . until . . . .

We're traveling south on 151 through Sun Prairie and the Danger Zone is approaching. There is a stretch just south of Sun Prairie that is always very very slippery. I don't know what it is with that pavement but it is a skating rink and is ALWAYS the worst.

So we're approaching and DJ mentions "here comes the danger zone" and I agree and as were just getting onto the final bridge the person in front of us, for no reason at all with no one in front of her, SLAMS on the breaks! SHIT LADY!! I close very fast but have control and for the next 10 minutes I'm behind someone that is constantly riding their breaks and it is just irritating the CRAP out of me.

There is no one ahead of her and she keeps touching the breaks so I'm not sure if she is serious about slowing down or WHAT! I can understand going slow but every time you see ice on the horizon do you really have to break? grrrrrr!

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

So we all know that I had a little skin procedure the other day and all went well. Dr Cutandslash and Nurse Sliceanddice and a student, Guido Where'dthatspongego (he is a foreigner) were all talking about how we all love nitrous in the Dentist office and I was saying I wish we had some now and Cutandslash was drawing on my shoulder what he was going to cut. A tiny thumb nail size hole. No problem. Well they stick 15 needles in me to numb me up and all is well but as they start to cut away it SEEMS that they are doing a lot of cutting.

4 inside and 8 outsides stitches later I'm good to go. hmmmm seems like a lot of stitches for a tinyhole. I did hear him saying they had to "loosen up the skin" but I was not sure what that meant.

So last night I take off my bandage and HOLY CRAP!! My incisions is like 3 inches long! I could fit a small dog in there (not that I would want too) Did he sneeze?? sigh.

but - enough of that.
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Did my snow blowing yesterday and then drove around a little to look at the views.

This will be #2 in my new set of 3 postcards. I'm thinking of making a Merry Christmas postcard but then it sort of makes it ONLY a Christmas postcard. Maybe two versions. Merry Christmas for next year.

Funny thing about this photo is that it was snowing but other photographers are commenting about all the dust on my sensor.

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A year ago today we had 8.7 inches of snow. And then we had about 33.7 inches in the next 20 days.

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42 years ago today and 200 yards from where I'm sitting Otis Redding and members of the Bar-Kays crashed into Lake Monona. Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay was the last song Otis recorded.

And speaking of deaths. If you are 30 years or younger John Lennon has always been dead!

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Packers - Football Outsiders who take luck out of the equation and only look at how teams perform on the field AND then factor in opponents now have the Packers as the best team in the NFL! #2 is New Orleans #3 New England Their Defense is way way better the then #2 defense. They also are giving the Packers a 92% chance to make the playoffs.

that's it. I have 200 emails to read. Most are about how we are are closed yesterday.

Cheers!
Rod

Home Run!

WELL - mother nature hit a home run didn't it. I was out last night with lightning flashing,wind howling and driving snow.

Columbus, as of 7:00 Wednesday morning had received 13.5 inches of very very wet heavy snow. It's going to take a while for my core sample to melt to see the water content.

This is what it looks like out our front door this morning.

Our back deck is nothing but country so you can not really see anything special.

I had a horrible nights sleep last night because not only was there a blizzard growling the house but also 10 stitches on my sleeping side as Doctor Cutandstitch took out a chunk of skin the size of a large thumb nail because of a Basal cell carcinoma, a non-melanoma skin cancer, the most common form of skin cancer. Nothing to worry about. They are the results of sunburns.

So now I'm drinking my coffee (wish it was an oatmeal breakfast stout) and putting off going outside and attacking a 4 foot rock/ice/snow dam where the plows, who took 3/4 of the road and deposited the crap in front of my driveway. I can't get out and take MORE photos until I get completely exhausted on that. I'm thinking explosives are in order.

The following photo was taken Monday at the Danville Mill as I hovered over the water.


This will become another postcard as I HAVE A PLAN with post Public enemies postcard plan.
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The State Gov closed down for the first time I can ever remember. They closed in 1990 but only at like 2:00 or something.

OK - nuff - need more coffee and gotta get out and work my blower to death.

Stretch before you shovel. I can't, I would rip my stitches out. I'll let DJ do the heavy work. NOOOOO I would not do that. I do wish I had a hernia though!

Rod

THAR SHE BLOWS!!

Here is the scoop from my point of view. We will start to get snow later today but the REAL event will start early Wednesday morning, lets say 4 or 5 o'clock with Blizzard or near Blizzard conditions about 8:00am. So I'm calling this a Wednesday snow event. Don't even bother going anywhere as the cranked up Low Pressure will be right over your head and spinning like a top blowing the new 12 inches of snow with 40mph winds.

It should STOP snowing about midnight Wednesday. Winds will start to calm down Thursday morning. OH BTW - the high Thursday will be . . . .about 5.

On an interesting note, NOAA has been right on this storm prediction, no wavering or hesitation.

If you look at the map it looks like a lot of snow is ahead of the storm but that is just incidental snow. The LOW is the main event.



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

The Tiger Woods woman count is up to 7 now.

In the news - it looks like Tigers wife's mom came to live with them and had a heart attack (just my take on things)? and was rushed to the emergency room this morning - I pray for her health. Tiger is such an ass.
---------------------------------------------


PE notes - the DVDs come out today in five different forms and DJ and I will be looking for the Public Enemy Steelbook Blu-ray version. When I saw the movie in the theater I was rather unimpressed with the quality but one review said the blu-ray version is OUTSTANDING.

The only quibble was in the first part of the movie. I had noticed this also in the theater. The comment is "The dialog does a few moments close to the beginning of the film where it seems a bit muffled".

The one thing I LOVE is the U-control feature "an interactive timeline paired up with picture-in-picture features, giving you real-time video commentary on the scenes you're watching. Like the director's commentary, it's worth re-watching the film with these features if you're looking to gain the most insight into the events that transpired and how Mann and co. went about filming them.

How much will all this set us back? Whatever it takes baby!! But it's pretty cheap! The Blu-ray is $22 and includes and normal DVD (anyone want ot buy the normal DVD from us?)
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Saturday night we went to see the Christmas train come to Columbus. I figured it would be a train with 6 or 7 cars all decorated but in reality it was a train with 30 or 40 cars.

We positioned ourselves where we thought the train would stop and waited. Then from the other direction we see 3 bright lights way way in the distance. They are FREAKISHLY BRIGHT as then grow bigger. DJ and I both feel like we are in Close Encounters, that scene with all the the people waiting for the space ship lights.

No sound at all - dead silence as the orbs grow and grow blinding us and all of a sudden they are right on us and HOLY MOTHER OF GOD the freight train rushes past us at 70 mph and DJ and I are literally 3 yards from the rail.

SHIT!! I feel we're about to get sucked into the train as the wind gets strong!! I can now see how people get hit by trains. There is no sound in front of fast moving fright trains. DJ and I give nervous giggles as we step back a little. (I did pace it off, 3 yards). Do you know how BIG those trains are at 3 yards when they are zooming by at 70mph?. WOW. Put down the Viagra!

After that bit of excitement all calmed down for a while and we watched people pressing their ears to the rail like Indians and I wanted to tell them to put their tongues to the rail because you tongue is more sensitive but DJ told me not to (not that I have ever done that . . .well . . . maybe when I was a kid as I lived near a railroad . . but I'm sure only once).

The Christmas train comes in (more slowly) and I'm ready for some engine shots but I soon see the error in my ways. The engine keeps going past us maybe a half mile past actually. WHO KNEW it was so long (that's what she said).

I'll have to talk to the Rod that is not me at the train station as he knows the best place for photos. Like watching Public Enemies, we were too close. This would be an outstanding train to photograph from a distance.


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

Yesterday I took some outstanding shots and I can't wait to share them in the next few days. I also spent more time at the Columbus Dental Center taking more photos and changing light bulbs (hey - I was on the ladder any way). Check a few out at my website - look under Gallery's, Cbus Dental Center.

I also went to Todd's Carriage place and I'll have some photos later when I get to them (I'm a little inundated at the moment with photos). You do realize that Columbus has one of the largest collections of carriages in the world, some really really beautiful antiques. Very impressive.

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

That's it for Tuesday.

BE CAREFUL OUT THERE

OH - Packers - almost forgot. Rogers has now done something Favre has never done. 10 games in a row with 2 or more TD passes. Packers are looking way good and I feel there will be another meeting with the Vikings coming. Unlike many people I never got off the Packer bandwagon. I can not see why they can not get to the Superbowl. BUT, they will have to go through a dome to get there.

Cheers
Rod

Mr. Wizard, It's a Blizzard

Let's get the bad news out of the way first. We had a little warm-up snow system traveling through today giving Columbus about 1.5 inches of now. However - look out there in the west (on the map). That is the engine and to the south is gas for a major winter storm that is heading our way. There is a Winter Storm Watch out for Tuesday late afternoon and it WILL be upgraded to a Winter Storm Warning at some point and . . . if everything comes together perfectly that will be upgraded to Blizzard Warnings.


The Low will head straight east until it meets the warm Gulf moister and then the system will get bumped north. The BIG energy will be south in Tennessee but we will have the northern tier of the storm. At this moment they are saying 8-12 inches, 12 hours ago it was 9-13 so it's diminishing . . . a little (big deal). The kicker is the wind on Wednesday which will have gusts to 40mph and with a fresh 10+ inches of snow . . . . .

Many many schools will be closed and I doubt I will make it to work on Wednesday, can someone put my name on the white board?
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With all that said - here is a pretty shot from the Danville Mill bridge looking the other direction.

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A year ago this past weekend Bret Favre's arm started to fall off. I mention that because that was certainly a MOST enjoyable game last night, that is until E.J. Henderson's leg basically fell off in that gruesome injury. STILL, the only winning team the Vikings have beaten are the Packers. grrrrrrr

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We put up our Christmas tree this weekend. The best place we have found for tree's is Tate's which is next to the Truck Driving School on Hwy 151. Very nice cut your own place.

Cutting your own Christmas Tree is the environmentally smart way to go. The reason is that Christmas Trees are a renewable resource and give cover for birds. If you go with a plastic (oil) tree it hurts the Christmas Tree growers and they will plant less trees and provide less cover for birds. So basically buying a plastic tree you are killing birds. :-)

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That's it for today - I gotta get my butt in gear for some work.

Talk to you tomorrow.

Rod

A lobottom-what? Me?

TIGER!!

sorry - just had to say something.

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HEY - I had GREAT coffee today. DJ and I jumped out of the percolator and purchased a Cuisinart DCC-1400 (insert echo effect) and had some awesome coffee today. Finally the packing oil has diminished and we can actually taste the coffee now.
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SPACE BEER!!! YEA BABY!!

The Japenese are so far advanced then the Americans. They know what will drive people to outer space. Americans go to space and pretend not to experiment with sex or pretend to try to find water in the moon buy crashing things into it but the Japanese? The grow barley and then make beer out of it! BRILLIANT!! They have 250 6-packs of Space Beer $115 BUT - you need to get in a lottery.
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But the BIG news is that the Sun Maid Raison girl has changed from a "early 20th-century girl" to a Raison Babe. Are those breasts?? OH MY!! We can't have THAT!! Although she does have amazingly skinny arms and I doubt she could hold up those graphically enhanced grapes which curiously, are shaped like Africa! What does it all mean!!!

Of course this is causeing quit a stir from organizations that have nothing else to do. The Weekly Standard, a conservative magazine is all a twitter and is worried that the Land O Lakes Indian Girl will soon also have breasts.

While feminists websites are saying that the new girl must have implants (I'm not sure they realize this is not a real person but a drawing). One woman said she would never buy Sun Maid products again!

What next - will the De Decco girl need to have a reduction? Do you know how much that costs? Whoa baby, don't lean over!

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In Columbus we had a trace of snow - Madison was in the 2-3 inch range. 19 years ago today we had 17 inches. It fell at a rate of a little over 2 inches an hour for 8 hours. I remember working that day. Buses stopped at noon and I left for home on the East side of Madison about 4:00. Almost made it. My car got to within 1/2 block and I would have been closer but I had to slow for a stuck pick-up and then I was dead in the middle of the road.

At this point last year Columbus had 5.8 inches of snow and in the next 2 weeks we had 23 more inches!

Pray for us! We are still on track for a warmer then normal winter.
----------------------------

Working on photos - here is one you might not have seen.


Have a great weekend. Lots of days off coming up for me. Monday more photos at the Cbus Dental, Tuesday UW Clinic for a minor procedure (something about a lobot-thing, they said don't worry I won't feel a thing).

Peace
Out
Rod