TheraPoochery

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Internet 30 minutes at a time, for now (and using Internet Explorer, of all thangs). Watch for my book in early 2016.  ;)

Made it from Day 0 to Day 8, the latter of which is where my story will start. Gotta go a little Tarintino on ya just to keep things fresh and non-linear.

Can you believe I'm wearing a 34" waist in jeans, today?  I cannot, I tell you now. I haven't been this skinny since senior year of high school, 34 years ago. Even these jeans need a belt if I am to walk (and I will have walked 5-10 miles by day's end, today; I should retrieve Wanda, tomorrow).

Is all well?  Well, no. But they are improving vastly, I must say. Not terribly thrilled with the whole idea of AA meetings seven nights/week to keep a roof overhead, but it beats being eaten by a grue, I suppose. That's how I like to imagine it, anyway. My first meeting was last night, and hey, guess what?  Everyone had to speak to the new guy, telling him how they'd all be running screaming at the evening's topic, which was the Magic Guy in the Sky. Parachutes, open minds... but skepticism, as you know is my natural state.

THANK all of you, and THANK THE FSM that I have friends like you. You especially, Ivy. :) Bob, nashvegasdawg, Sallyh, bluesman and Ed -- damn, I have no words, but I'll find them, soon. I'm going to do better after this reboot, and that's my promise to YOU.

I hope DWD and TV are doing much better, as well as jude9 and any others who I've lost track of in the last couple of weeks. You're all dear to me, and I hope you know that. I'll try to stay in touch here when I can. I can't recall the credentials for CatopiaTN.com just now, but as I have no cats, well... yeah. Progress will be made.
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Yazoo, Too

Many photos, much fun.

Yours, Hoppily, and Sara, Ross' ladyfriend. Ross and the boys were off twisting each others' Italian nuts.

Fine folx, and spent hop vines.

These folks are awesome. They gave us two kegs of beer last year for Blue vs. Grey II.

Yessir. Nossir, I wasn't. Yessir, I was.  :)

Fuck, I'm in Vermont.

Nope. Nashville, baby!

Spent vines.

Van on tap!

 

Linus and J.P.

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Weekend Recap, Succinct w/Lessons Learned

Wink is deceptively simple... for morons, apparently. If I hadn't seen this screen 100 times since Friday evening, I wouldn't have had to viciously cockpunch that old man for innocuously uttering "uh-oh" in my presence, today.  ;)

Eighth and Roast's hipster/quasi-vegan (not) biscuits are small, pricy and delicious.

Landlady felt guilty, gave me this.  :)

There are good people doing good works in Nashville. Click to, well, you know. h/t Ed.

Honda kicks major ass, forever and always, ramen.

Mormons can  be people, despite the majority who present as advanced androids with can opener personalities.

Awww, KITTEH!

Awww, HOPPY BEER!  I want the 12pk/2-flight "Deconstructed" set... brewmaster preparatory classes!

Steve is a fellow Smyrnan, rides a kickass Vespa 300ie Super and knows some awesome backroads in Roofie County. Also?  Hell of a Nice Guy, and newish friend. Here's our ride today, map junkies!

Steve and I are considering a counter-club alternative to Nashville's The Snakes SC. That would be the Volunteer Scooter Cooter Collective of Middle Tennessee. Must be age 40 or over to enter. And if your main ride is Chinese, under 100cc or pink and/or flowery, you must have a visible tattoo.  ;) Face/neck, preferably.

GoodYear is spying on me. I knew I shouldn't have started with the Michelins and the Wink mesh net.
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Dollar Store Dementia

See this?  Yes, of course you do. It's a solar-powered 3-LED lamp I got at Dollar Tree. For... $1. Plus tax. So here, $1.10. Cheap, Chinese crap, right?

Well, sure -- what isn't, these days?  Amazingly, they actually work!  For now. At $1/ea., I splurged, and bought six.

At 5 a.m., they were still providing enough light in the bathroom to at least conduct a necessary transaction in there, if need be. And they were on from ~8:30, last night?  Yeah -- they automagically come on at dark if you leave the switch on (and shut off when there's enough light to charge by), which is a lot to ask from something that cost a buck, I think.

But I want MOAR.

Six more ought to do for the bathroom. I'm going to affix them to a strip of clear acrylic plastic, and put a nylon rope handle on each end, so that I can hang it/them in a window, and then elsewhere where a little illumination could be handy at night.
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Might As Well

... since it may soon be quite a long time before I see this seething nest of Republicans, again.

... unless I win Powerballs, tonight. Then, I'm buying a hi-rise condo in The Gulch, and a sniper rifle.  ;)
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Spectacles

Pair the First. The main pair (bifocals), the frames had to be ordered. Still, these, the far-vision pair... much improved over my 10+ year-old prescription!

I paid $168 out-of-pocket, of which I should get back $138 from the company (I had the optional retinal scan thang done, which is not covered by my insurance, and the company pays $150 towards frames and lenses not covered by the plan).
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All Hail Duffybear!

... who contacted me about a week ago, and basically said that she had a Win7 netbook that she wasn't making much use of, and that she'd happily send it to me if I could help her figure out how to get all her personal data off of it. Well, we kinda figured all that out, and today, I received from her a dang-near new HP Mini 100. I mean, it's still got protective film all over it. It's a lovely machine, and I am already quickly learning some Windows 7 stuff that may very well be helpful to me in a support environment. This is amazing, and I just want to give thanks again in public to Duffybear, who made this wonderful gift to me.
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I Will Have

... some of your burned bird meat.

UPDATE: The quote is, "I will try some of your burned replicated bird meat."
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Five One Dolla Footlongs

Any-Anytober!

Now it's too late for you to play any of these numbers, and dilute my sure winnings!  Mwahahahah!

The story: No, I don't spend $5 on a lotto drawing. I sometimes spend $1, as I did this time. The ditz working at Mapco just happened to give me this ticket. I guess she had four already dialed in, or something, but neither of us caught it.

Now, someone at Baby Blue said a recent Big Winnar asked for a MegaMillions ticket, and got a Powerball, instead... and it was the winner. So maybe accidental tickets are the extra mojo.

Anyway, it would be nice. I only yesterday paid the last half of the rent for last month, and it is due again this Wednesday. I have $40, and a little food. I know this is unrealistic -- the realism is here. At least Scooter Family has an unheated basement garage I can live in, if and when...

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Thank You, Griffin Technologies!

I've won two tickets to Music City Roots @ Loveless Cafe's Barn, tomorrow night (some "barn"!), thanks to Griffin Technologies, whose case I really wanted to buy for my HTC Incredible 2 after seeing this video. Alas, they do not yet make a case for it. When they do, I will probably get one. Good Nashville company.

Now, I'm glad they've had her at Music City Roots, but I'm kinda glad she won't be there tomorrow night, as I'm not sure I would want to blubber like an idiot in public. Here's an awesome recording of an awesome tune (I still like this version better... it's more ethereal, but the video and audio quality are pretty poor).


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Internship (Paid)

For those who didn't know and were interested, I got the internship. I start tomorrow!

More later. Ross wants to take me out for a beer.

UPDATE: So, the firm is an internet marketing/SEO/site optimization shop... small firm. The gig is nothing to get too worked up over just yet, but I see some potential for this leading to better things down the road a-ways.

If you are looking to further your education and career as well, check out
a degree in accounting.
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Sheenish

I gotta say, I studiously avoided any news of Charlie Sheen all this year. Then, I happened across this, and I now feel fully informed!
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Worry Wart

My Verizon guy e-mailed me back from the hockey game tonight (on his kick-ass Android phone) to say my actual usage of network resources was about half what the client software was telling me. He did say that the tracking is as much as 24 hours off, but that the client software overestimates usage by a good amount. So, if I watch the usage figures, there's no reason I should exceed my "quota."

The image above shows a reload of A-man's homepage in the first shaded section, left; the second shaded area shows a reload of an Echo comments page that has more than 200 comments.

I think this is gonna work. I've not even come close to what the daily "quota" should be (~100MB) on any day, so far. I just have to remember what to shut off in what order to not freak out the various devices, as both the PC and the netbook get upset if you do this wrong.
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Best Gift This Season

Sallyh reunited with her granddaughter. So, so happy.
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Drunken Sailor

Went on a ride, today, and ended up spending money like a Republican on illegal wars.

... including the much-needed new mousepad @ Big Lots (a whole $0.80 + tax). Also bought a pair of handguards for the scooter (for cold weather riding), and a set of electric clippers for giving myself haircuts. All told, ~$40.

Yours Truly standing on the Ashland City bridge, overlooking the Cumberland River.

UPDATE: I neglected to mention... you can't see how horrendously long my hair is in that photo, under the Fulmer AF-655 helmet, but I assure you, the new clippers will be used, tonight!
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Where The Girls Are

Publix!  Yes -- West Meade has a new Publix!  Oh, shit!

I swear, at 1:00 p.m. today, it was as if the Stones were playing the Grand Opening. Wall-to-wall peoples. White peoples.

Anyway, this is how they do. I missed getting a snap of the gal in the tanktop, shorts and flip-flops.

At least this one's got the winter FM Condi boots goin' awn.

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Mr. President

Godspeed, and God Bless.

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gwbfarewell@gmail.com

Dear President Bush,

I want to sincerely thank you for ceding your office in a peaceful manner. I'd like to think that perhaps the waning influence of Mr. Cheney. Mr. Rove, Mr. Rumsfeld, Mr. Addington and Mr. Feith made this all the more likely outcome.

I also want to express my opinion that the biggest mistake of your presidency was your utter ineptitude in uniting this great nation at a moment when even a mediocre leader would have been able to do so. Given how you ascended to the presidency, humility and bipartisanship would have served all of us better.

Thankfully, those days are behind us, and now I, like millions of other Americans, will roll up our sleeves and start to deal with the aftermath you have left us.

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It's No Protein Wisdom Link...

... but it sure doesn't hurt the stats. :)

Also, there's a lot less repressed talk about "cock-slapping."
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