Politically Incorrect Reading List

"We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm." -- Winston Churchill

This quotation can be found, among other places, on the flyleaf of Vince Flynn's latest blockbuster, "Extreme Measures."

The first edition was issued in October of 2008, which of course means it was written well before that... but it is incredibly timely, in that its plot includes bleeding-heart U.S. Senators who want to prosecute and jail some of those rough men Churchill talked about; one of whom, of course, is Flynn's fictional hero.

And speaking of rough men, if you want a real eye-opener, just read anything by ex-Navy Seal Richard Marcinko. But don't read it if you are sensitive to, um, rather salty language, and you can't stand the thought of terrorists and traitors getting their just desserts, heaven help you.

I first read one of his books several months ago and remembered that it was well-written, with a very distinctive voice, and I enjoyed it a lot.

Fast forward to late last week at the public library. I was rummaging around in the M portion of the fiction section, when a library worker with a cart stopped and asked if I needed any help.

"Well, I read this really good book, and I can't remember the name of the book or the author, but it was somewhere around here."

He wished me luck, and went on to the next shelf; but he was still well within earshot when I continued, "It was one of those chasing-terrorists-around-the-world kind of books, and it was actually pretty funny, and it was written by a guy who used to do that sort of thing."

The library worker came back around the corner, pointed to a book by Marcinko, and said, "Might be somebody like that guy." Sure enough, it was exactly that guy.

When in doubt, ask a library staff person. Talk about good service.

Did You Know...

... I'll bet money you didn't, if you are not closely involved in the medical field.

Your confidential information--medical and otherwise--may very well be going overseas without your knowledge or consent.

Many medical providers in the U.S., in a short-sighted effort to save money, offshore their medical transcription work to India, Pakistan, the Philippines, and other places. (They've been doing it for years, and the wages for medical transcription work in the U.S. have dropped pretty drastically in the same time frame. But that's another gripe.)

Often, in the course of having your medical records transcribed overseas, all of your information that will enable identity theft goes right along with it. And it is, of course, impossible to enforce U.S. privacy laws offshore.

Regular readers might remember the fun I had when I received an order of ::ahem:: male enhancement "vitamins" in the mail, courtesy of an identity thief who was too stupid to change the credit card address to his own. (I am assuming it was a he, because who else would order that stuff?)

The connection I did not make at that time was that less than 3 months earlier, I had been to a medical practice that I know for a fact sends its transcription work to India. (I know this because a friend of mine used to have their account, and she lost it when they decided they wanted to save money.)

Coincidence? I really can't say. But if I, without a larcenous bone in my body, could envision how an unscrupulous medical transcription service operator somewhere in the third world might team up with an identity theft ring and sell them private information (names, social security numbers, etc.)... well. You get the picture.

Here is a site that has more information about a bill currently sitting in Congress that would require Americans to be notified before any of their personal information is sent overseas.

Who Writes These Headlines?

Excuse me? Somebody can honestly, with a straight face, suggest that the Republicans are stepping over the line for going after Nancy "what-did-she-know-and-when-did-she-know-it" Pelosi? Have they been blind and deaf for the past 8 years? Do I have to remind anyone about Bush being Hitler, Cheney being Darth Vader and all that?

Good freaking grief.

I Love This Guy.

Real Men aren't afraid to wear pink boxer shorts.

I mean... what else are you gonna do when the alert sounds and you're in your pajamas? Are you gonna take the time to get dressed and possibly endanger your comrades, or are you gonna go out there and do what needs to be done?

Good for him. Way to go, soldier.

Browsing The Web

Just in case you haven't seen these sites...

... check out the FAIL Blog. But be warned--let's just say it is not entirely G-rated.

And then there's the wonderfully-bizarre Are We Lumberjacks?

Enjoy. But don't say I didn't warn ya.

Strange Allergic Reaction

My sister's friend who is now acting as daddy for the little dog Star just came by to drop off some stuff, and Star was with him.

She remembered me; she gave me a nose-kiss, I told her I missed her, and I held her for a few minutes.

And now there's this funny thing going on with watery eyes and running nose.

Must be an allergy. Yeah. That's right.

In The Headlines

"A Call For Understanding," screams the front-page above-the-fold headline in today's newspaper, complete with picture of the president making a speech.

Oh, but we do understand. We understand all too well that you want to take our country to a place it's never been before, and that place is not a good one.

Well, THAT wasn't supposed to happen....

... in light of television history, that is.

First, Joss Whedon's fantastic show Firefly gets canceled after half a season, among other things allegedly being unable to find an audience (which is kind of hard to do with a show that is moved, pre-empted, and the episodes shown out of order).

Then Tim Minear's Drive (starring Captain Tightpants himself, Nathan Fillion) gets canceled after exactly 8 days, again because it couldn't find an audience. Huh?

So what are we to make of the most recent news?

Just announced, Joss's latest show Dollhouse has been . . . wait for it . . . RENEWED for a second season.

And if that weren't enough, the new show Castle, starring Nathan, has been . . . RENEWED.

Plus, rumor has it that Chuck, with the hero of Canton, the man they call Jayne (otherwise known as Adam Baldwin) in a supporting role, is also to be renewed.

I don't know how to act.

You Just Can't Get Good Help Anymore.

And it's even scarier when the good help you can't get is your own employer, not your minions.

It seems nobody bothered to tell me, after a month and a half, that my health insurance enrollment forms (which went in along with all my other employee forms) mysteriously never got there, even though they were in the same batch with all the forms that did arrive safely.

I knew I should have stayed in bed this morning.

Ouch.

Did the 10.6 mile marathon walk again 2 days ago, with very little training, and am suffering the consequences thereof. Somebody please remind me, next year, to do some actual training??

Worthy of comment is that while milling about the parking lot of Rocky Point Restaurant, before the walk began, I saw a familiar face, checked the name tag, and accosted the wearer. He was my first college band director from 35 years ago, and when I told him my name, he professed to remember me, though I couldn't swear to it. I asked how he was doing, and he said, "No better than I deserve!" with a great big cheerful grin. He was doing the walk with his wife and one of his daughters (and the last time I saw the daughter, she was in junior high, I think).

At least two regular readers of this blog will know who I am talking about. He's in his upper 70s now, and must be in pretty good shape if he was going to attempt the walk.

And Furthermore...

... I wonder how many of the same people who are screaming nowadays that gays MUST be allowed to marry, it's their RIGHT, don't you know...

... were the same people screaming 35 and 40 years ago that marriage meant nothing, it was just a piece of paper....

Just curious.

Happy Day

Today, according to my calendar, is Earth Day.

(Somehow I don't believe the earth actually cares.)

One of my calendars also says that today is Administrative Professionals Day.

(I liked it better when it was Secretaries' Day and the boss sent flowers.)

And last but not least... if my memory has not completely abandoned me (and that's not outside the realm of possibility)...

... today is also faithful reader and frequent commenter Bum's birthday. Happy birthday, old friend.

Speaking Of Glowsticks...

... I was, wasn't I?

Here is what it looked like from the 9th row in Reno during the traditional glowstick-waving portion of the show. (It's for the song "The Other Side Of Life" for those of you uninitiated out there.)



Unrelated to glowsticks, here is a shot of flutician/tambourine player/backup singer/harmonica player/rhythm guitar player Norda spanking Graeme as he begins his infamous dance to "Higher and Higher."

THIS Is What Is Wrong With Healthcare In America.

Read it and weep.

I Never Knew.

That cheetahs have rounded pupils, not slits like other cats.



(Image shamelessly hotlinked from Cheetah Days. Go check out this blog if you haven't already.)

I Wasn't Kidding.

During the standing ovation for "Nights in White Satin," right at 7 minutes 14 seconds you can see a whitish object fly briefly into the lower right part of the frame. At 7:30 John kicks it away. Check out his facial expression right about 7:17. (Video courtesy of Melani.) Not caught on video is the part where the owner of the questionably-laundered undergarment hollered at John, "Well, if you don't want it, can I have it back?" He ignored her; and after the concert, she boosted herself up onto the stage and retrieved it.

Not to be outdone, according to the folks who attended the last concert of the brief tour, in Santa Rosa, 4 nights after the Oakland concert, another woman paraded down the aisle to the front, lifted her top, and flashed the band. Then she did a slow pirouette and flashed the entire audience. According to one witness, she had quite substantial, um, headlights. It happened during "I Know You're Out There Somewhere," and according to what I have been told, it took some time for the security guard to come and escort the woman back to her seat. After the song, Justin announced that that sort of thing used to happen all the time back in the 60s and 70s.

An Interesting Thought...

In my copious spare time (the last five minutes or so) I researched the topic of miscegenation. (Yes, that's a ten-dollar word. So sue me. And look it up yourself. Do I look like a dictionary?)

And I got to wondering whether the same people (or rather, the same political party) who agitated most in favor of anti-miscegenation laws in our nation's history could possibly be of the same political party or persuasion that agitates the most in favor of same-sex marriage?

Well... the three or so US legislators mentioned in the above Wikipedia article, who proposed very tough anti-miscegenation laws in generations past, were all. . . .

Wait for it . . .

Democrats.

We report, you decide.

2 Days, 2 Concerts, 700 Miles

Drove to Half Moon Bay Friday afternoon, picked up Denise at her friend's house, and we headed on up to Emeryville and checked into the hotel. Found our way to the downtown restaurant where we met up with Carol and Peter for dinner. Then, over to the newly-restored Fox Theater in downtown Oakland.

Fantastic concert, with a couple of glitches, which is unusual. Gordy started the countdown for "Tuesday Afternoon" before Justin was ready, so the first bar of the mellotron (computerized, of course) tune is minus the guitar. Then, in the second half, about halfway into the first verse of "Nights in White Satin," Justin's amplifier box just died, so he stopped cold, unplugged it, said something into the microphone about how you can do it without a tambourine, but.... Meanwhile a roadie was scrambling around plugging in a new box, which Justin stuffed into his back pocket, stepped back up to the microphone and said, "Might as well do it right," and restarted the song. Also in the second half, one woman started the traditional "stage rush" a little too early--and tossed her bra onstage at John. John got an extremely dubious look on his face, gingerly hooked the bra on his toe, and kicked it away. After the concert the woman climbed up on the stage and retrieved it.

Saturday morning after breakfast, we took off for Reno. Originally Denise had not planned to go, but due to a whole series of complicated events (and the fact that I had an extra ticket to that show because my sister wasn't able to come with me after all) she decided to come with me. We stopped at an overlook near Donner Lake to take pictures. At the summit, there was still some old snow by the side of the road, but the freeway was perfectly clear.

In Reno, we got checked into our hotel and kicked back to relax for a bit. I decided to head on over to the casino for the fan gathering organized by Cheryl, and met up with those folks for a bit. Then Pam and I headed to the food court in search of a bowl of soup, which we were fortunate enough to find. As soon as we sat down, Janet called from Texas just to say hello and wish us a happy concert.

We headed downstairs to the showroom, found our seats, and started passing out glowsticks. Casino shows often run straight through without an intermission, so it's necessary to pass out the glowsticks before the show, instead of at intermission. We had a pretty good showing with the sticks for "The Other Side Of Life." Another fantastic show, except somewhere fairly early on, something apparently went wrong with Justin's red Gibson guitar, and he played the rest of the show with a different one that I hadn't seen before. Good thing he carries a backup....

After the show, Denise put a dollar in a slot machine on the way out. Let's just say she didn't come away from that encounter any richer.

This morning, we headed back down the mountain, and got across the valley and through the bay area without running into any traffic jams at all. After depositing her safely back at her friend's house in Half Moon Bay, I blew the rest of the way down the coast, got home about 4:00, and crashed.

And now I'm going right back to bed.

As you were.

Was There Any Doubt?

Those of you who haven't been hiding under a rock will know that the best band in the world, the Moody Blues, are in the midst of a brief spring tour right now.

I am headed out tomorrow to catch a couple of the shows; back Sunday night, assuming all goes according to plan.



Image compiled by Summerfields, shamelessly borrowed/stolen from the best Moody Blues fan site on the net, but since one of the images in the montage is one of mine, I feel justified. :)

Last Laughs?

In the midst of this paperwork blizzard, not to mention this little thing called "work," as in trying to do it along with everything else... I went back and looked at my job-search records.

Turns out that the very last place I applied to before applying to current-and-soon-to-be-ex employer ("Old Company"), was the very place that is swallowing us up tomorrow ("New Company.") And at that time, they responded to my application with the notification that they were only testing for acute care, thankyouverymuch. According to their website, 5 years of recent acute care experience (5 years! Most places only ask for 2!) is REQUIRED.

Regular readers will recall that acute care is the job description in which I could not even get arrested, until Old Company offered not only to hire me, but to up-train me.

And now New Company has me coming aboard with my --what, less than 3 months of acute care under my belt? Plus they've got my co-worker who was hired the same day I was, right out of school. She too had applied to New Company and was told they did not hire newbies.

There's got to be some kind of irony in this....