Wintergreen

Yes.
Ray & I practiced together yesterday. All those not present at the time can only fantasize of the melodies and harmonious resonations emanating from the acoustic instruments and my cherubic voice. Oh yeah... Ray's noise-hole made sounds, too.

We played only about 6-8 songs, but they sounded better than ever.

In order to achieve maximum profitabilty, we will be signing the first 10 CDs at $100 each. Quantities are limited, order now!

Money...

I've decided that I'm going to push myself to make $10,000 by the end of the year doing stuff that isn't my normal job/business. I'm including new customers for my shop into this.
I don't know how I'm going to do it yet, so don't ask. There are a few ideas bopping around in my head.
There's 11 weeks between now and then. Figure a week to figure out how to do it, and then 10 weeks to earn some bucks. Whatever I do, I have to keep my investment costs under say, $500.
We'll see. Anybody want to place some bets?
Maybe I could do some part time telemarketing... just kidding.

Floodwaters in Thine Home

I came home from work at about 7:00 AM. Walking to the kitchen, my shoes made a weird "gorsh" sound. It was my carpet...with about 1000 gallons of water.

Rhonda started a load of laundry before going to sleep and it got stuck on the rinse cycle. It just kept filling the tub, even though it was already filled.

Insurance sent out some company from Muskegon and they proceeded to rip up all my flooring. They still have to take care of the insulation under the house. They put a bunch of high speed fans and dehumidifiers in and under the house to dry it out before any real damage occured. Hopefully, they succeeded. We will be home again tomorrow.

Creation & Evolution: Theories that Conjoin Them

In the Bible, it says God made man. Scientists say "prove it" and propose evolution to be the answer. They point to fossil records and say "proof". Religious folks point to the bible and say "proof".

In my self-righteous opinion, I say both. My "proof".

Only a blind fool would deny the preponderance of evidence that suggests the evolution of animals. The same can be said of the evolution of man. We have fossil records of a variety of "man-like" apes. Before I tick off too many religious zealots, I ask that you consider what separates a man from an animal: intelligence.

In my reading of Genesis, the pattern of creation mimics scientific theory of the advent of the world and life upon it. Life began in the water, according to both the Bible and scientists. From then on, science and Bible agree on the timeline for the Earth, plants and animals up to the 6th day of creation. Then the big argument begins.

God created man. I can agree with that. Science and bible have agreed until this point. Some say evolution, some say creation. Why doesn't anyone look at the world as a car with God being the driver? God became bored with the whole dinosaur thing so he slammed a meteor into the planet. Not so hard to imagine when you consider the floods, plagues and other mishaps that Bible and geology/history agree with. He (She, whatever you want) guided the apes evolution and changes so that their appearance eventually mimicked His own percieved image. God created man. Evolution created man. Same thing. Then during Homo-Habilis' time, Adam (homo-habilis) decided to pick up some rocks and smack them together. Now he is separate from his more ape-like cousins. He has tasted the fobidden fruit of intelligence. His body continues to change over eons looking more and more like the image of God and his compounded intelligence outshines the more unGod-like ancestors. God pushes the ancestors into extinction as He becomes bored with- perhaps even offended by- their presence. Either that, or their lesser intelligence just becomes too inferior to compete with the newer, sleeker, smarter man, and they fall naturally into extinction.

So, have I convinced you that both can be true? Perhaps I have convinced myself that homo-sapien will fall into oblivion in favor of homo-post-hominem.

Texas Vs. Louisiana

Feel free to disagree with this comparison. It was posted in an AOL message board that I frequent. In my opinion, it hits the nail squarely on the head. The commentary at the bottom and the individual observations are copied exactly as I read them. Thanks to Willweasel for an enjoyable read.

Two States, 22 Observations
OBSERVATION #1.
Texas: Productive industrious state run by Republicans.
Louisiana: Government dependent welfare state run by Democrats.

OBSERVATION #2.
Texas: Residents take responsibility to protect and evacuate themselves.
Louisiana: Residents wait for government to protect and evacuate them.

OBSERVATION #3.
Texas: Local and state officials take responsibility for protecting their citizens and property.
Louisiana: Local and state officials blame federal government for not protecting their citizens and property.

OBSERVATION #4.
Texas: Command and control remains in place to preserve order.
Louisiana: Command and control collapses allowing lawlessness.

OBSERVATION #5.
Texas: Law enforcement officers remain on duty to protect city.
Louisiana: Law enforcement officers desert their posts to protect themselves.

OBSERVATION #6.
Texas: Local police watch for looting.
Louisiana: Local police participate in looting.

OBSERVATION #7.
Texas: Law and order remains in control, 8 looters tried it, 8 looters arrested.
Louisiana: Anarchy and lawlessness breaks out, looters take over city, no arrests, criminals with guns have to be shot by federal troops.

OBSERVATION #8.
Texas: Considerable damage caused by hurricane.
Louisiana: Considerable damage caused by looters.

OBSERVATION #9.
Texas: Flood barriers hold preventing cities from flooding.
Louisiana: Flood barriers fail due to lack of maintenance allowing city to flood.

OBSERVATION #10.
Texas: Orderly evacuation away from threatened areas, few remain.
Louisiana: 25,000 fail to evacuate, are relocated to another flooded area.

OBSERVATION #11.
Texas: Citizens evacuate with personal 3 day supply of food and water.
Louisiana: Citizens fail to evacuate with 3 day supply of food and water, do without it for the next 4 days.

OBSERVATION #12.
Texas: FEMA brings in tons of food and water for evacuees. State officials provide accessible distribution points.
Louisiana: FEMA brings in tons of food and water for evacuees. State officials prevent citizens from reaching distribution points and vice versa.

OBSERVATION #13.
Texas: Media can't find poor blacks in need of assistance, looking for something else to blame on Bush.
Louisiana: Media focuses on poor blacks in need of assistance, blames Bush.

OBSERVATION #14.
Louisiana: New Orleans is destroyed, Mayor asks residents to return home as another hurricane approaches, has to be overruled by federal officials.
Texas: Coastal cities suffer some infrastructure damage, Mayors tell residents to stay away until ready for repopulation, no interference from federal officials

OBSERVATION #15.
Louisiana: Over 400 killed by storm, flooding and crime.
Texas: 24 killed in bus accident on highway during evacuation, no storm related deaths.

OBSERVATION #16.
Louisiana: Jailed prisoners are set free to prey on city shops, residents, and homes.
Texas: Jailed prisoners are relocated to other detention facilities outside the storm area.

OBSERVATION #17.
Louisiana: Local and state officials obstruct FEMA and Red Cross from aiding in recovery operations.
Texas: Local and state officials work with FEMA and Red Cross in recovery operations.

OBSERVATION #18.
Louisiana: Local and state officials fail to demonstrate leadership, require federal government to manage disaster areas.
Texas: Local and state officials demonstrate leadership in managing disaster areas.

OBSERVATION #19.
Louisiana: Motorists wait till storm hits and electrical power fails. Cars run out of gas at gas stations that can't pump gas. Gas in underground tanks mixes with flood waters.
Texas: Fuel deliveries can't keep up with demand, some run out of gas on highway, need help from fuel tankers before storm arrives.

OBSERVATION #20.
Louisiana: Mayor moves himself and family to Dallas.
Texas: Mayors move citizens out of danger.

OBSERVATION #21.
Louisiana: Mayor cusses, governor cries, senator threatens President with violence on television; none of them have a clue what went wrong or who's responsible.
Texas: Mayors continue public service announcements and updates on television with Governor's backing and support.

OBSERVATION #22.
Louisiana: Democratic Senator says FEMA was slow in responding to 911 calls from Louisiana citizens.
Texas: Republican Senator says "when you call 911, the phone doesn't ring in Washington, it rings here at the local responders".

* * * * * *
What if state and local elected officials were forced to depend on themselves and their own resources instead of calling for help from the federal government? Texas cities would be back up and running in a few days. Louisiana cities would still be under water next month.

Bowhunting Season

Well, Bowhunting Season starts today. I have a bow, but no place to hunt. I need to find a place nearby.

Anybody else have plans to whack a deer this year?