Be Less Boring

May we all take this day to reflect on the many freedoms we have, those lost that we need to reclaim, and those we have yet to obtain.

May we also remember those who have not yet obtained their independence and who need our help to achieve justice and liberty for their people.

Free Tibet!

Introducing the iHam. Also check out the delicious iLoin and, of course, the new iHam Nano. Simply delicious!

Our very first yard sale was successful. We got rid of a bunch of junk and made enough to pay for dinner tonight.

It's interesting to see who comes to yard sales. There were a few professional dealers looking for bargains on books, antiques, and memorabilia that came around early and didn't linger.

Aside from the dealers there seem to be four kinds of people who frequent yard sales. The first is single old men. Most of them don't say much, look quick, and move on. Then there are lots of obese people in old beater cars who are just looking for bargains on baby clothes, kids games, and the like. After that come the rich people in their BMWs, Mercedes SUVs, and shiny new Saabs. They're looking for bargains on antiques but, since they always come late, all the real deals are gone by then. Finally, there are the drive-bys. These are people who just cruise by slowly looking over what you have from the comfort of their car. They rarely stop unless they see that one item they're looking for, which is almost never, because it's the same thing everyone else wants and nobody ever sells those.

Things I thought sure would sell didn't. Things I thought were unlikely to sell went quick. It goes to show that you never know.

Some of the people were funny. One old guy kept trying to cheap me down on books. Well, I was already selling most of the books for way less than what I could have gotten taking them to a used bookstore. Some of them I'd have negotiated on, but the ones he was looking at were all new hardcover books. When I refused to budge on the price, he threw down the books in his hands and stormed away saying I was two expensive. Yeah, dude, I'm took expensive trying to get $2 for a pair of hardcover books. Go drive off in your pretend cop car with your cop-wannabe kid and get out of my face. There was a woman who had a similar reaction to the clothes we were selling. When she found out we were asking a $5 for a never worn LL Bean sweater, she threw it down, scoffed, and said, "We're used to 25 cents for clothes at yard sales," and then stormed off without looking at anything else.

If you don't want to pay what we're asking and we don't think your counter offer is reasonable, just don't buy it. There's no need to get nasty and you're sure as hell not going to get a better price by insulting me and mistreating my merchandise.

The funniest sales might be one woman who had no idea what she was buying. She bought all of my old Ethernet cards, sound cards, and an old SCSI card because the woman with her mentioned that people make jewelry and stuff out of it. Until her friend told her that, she had no interest in my stuff at all and had stated that she was specifically looking only for jewelry. The next funniest sale was a young fellow in the Navy who saw the half dozen old Japanese text books Wonderful Girlfriend was selling and bought them all. There were a lot of other interesting events throughout the day, but most didn't involve a sale.

I don't know if I'll do another yard sale. It's a lot of time for not very much money. On the other hand, it's better than just throwing stuff away and less hassle than selling on ebay. There's a lot of stuff that isn't worth selling on ebay but is easy enough to put out on a card table in the front yard. I still have a lot of crap left that didn't sell, but I'll

Several families in our neighborhood are having a yard sale saturday. We're one of them. If you're going to be in Dover and want to check for some bargains, drop me a comment with your email and I'll let you know where. I think there will also be an ad in Foster's Daily.

Chase, the cat that lost its face in a car accident.

In Japan you have to kill yourself for losing face.

How many cat's lives do you suppose it costs to lose your face?

...And thanks for all the laughs! George Carlin died.

Classic Carlin: The Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television.

Today is supposed to be the happiest day of the year.

A couple of years ago America got fed up with it's Republican ass-hats in Washington, D.C. and overwhelmingly elected Democrats because they promised to change things. What has changed? Not a god damned thing. The Democrats are supporting all the illegal shit the administration doing.

Do I believe Obama or McCain will bring about any real change? Fuck no!

I love my country but HATE my government.

Last Friday night Wonderful Girlfriend and I went to see Richie Havens at the Stone Church. Richie is one of those legendary performers who has been gigging and putting out records for forty years, yet still manages to fly under most people's radar.

He became a legend by accident. As the opening act at the famed 1969 Woodstock Music and Arts Festival, he wowed the crowd with a two hour set of acoustic music. The crowd was screaming for more but Richie had already performed all the songs he knew. On the spur of the moment he started playing a riff and chanting "Freedom!" From there he added the words he could remember form an old spiritual song his mother used to sing to him when he was a kid. The impromptu song, now titled "Freedom," became a hit and was featured in the documentary movie of Woodstock.

Richie's playing style is unusual. As a self-taught guitarist, he tunes to a chord and uses his thumb to barre chords while strumming with a very strong, percussive style. Combined with his rich, baritone voice, this gives him a completely unique sound. Add to this his own original songs, as well as his unique interpretations of other people's songs, and he's a stand out musician.

His stage presence is commanding and a venue like the Stone Church provides an ideal atmosphere for this type of entertainer. In between songs, Havens told stories of how it was in the old days in Greenwich Village, where musicians would pass a hat between songs to raise enough money to keep on having fun, as he put it. He alluded to the time another young Greenwich Village regular heard him play a Bob Dylan song and asked if Havens could write down the words for him. Havens did, and that musician, Jimi Hendrix, went on to record what many consider to be the definitive version of the song, namely "All Along the Watchtower." Havens opened the set with his own version of that song.

Throughout the night he played a mix of original songs and covers, but all in the unique style that made them all Richie Havens songs. One memorable song that he made his own was the beautiful George Harrison composition originally recorded by the Beatles, "Here Comes The Sun." In between songs, the stores an jokes, often of the self-deprecating variety, continued while he tuned his guitar. He was accompanied by an electric guitar player and, for the last half of the show, a cellist; the cello especially added a lot of depth to the music.

Having been to a Heavy Metal concert the previous night where one less than spectacular band played what seemed like a never ending set, I found Havens' set flew by and was over much too soon. When it was done and he'd had time to change clothes and clean up, Richie came out and sat near the door of the Stone Church to chat with fans and sign autographs. We got him to sign a poster and a couple of CDs and I got to chatting with him a little bit. While watching how fast his right arm moves while strumming his guitar, I realized my own arm would cramp up wicked bad if I tried to emulate that, so I asked him if his ever did. He said that arm is the one thing he never thinks about. His mouth is the most important part, but then joked that it doesn't work unless everything else is working. Then he said his left hand fretting and his left foot tapping are the next most important parts.

Despite his legendary status as a musician, Havens at 67 years old still puts on an amazing show. His hair may be gone and his beard turned gray, but his voice has gotten richer and his tone has gotten stronger. Many of his contemporaries from the sixties are dead. Others, like Bob Dylan, don't have much of a voice left. Richie Havens, however, is a fantastic performer who will leave you wanting more every time. If you ever get the chance to see him perform, by all means do so.

First, there's Britney Spears and all the bullshit surrounding her. (Only one link, but you can Google for millions more, if you aren't already sick to death of hearing about her.)

Then there's Jamie Lynn Spears, the 17 year old unwed mother. Then there's a baby boom amongst 16 year old girls. Related? Probably. Maybe we shouldn't let girls watch TV, surf the Internet, or read those silly teen magazines anymore. Their role models have gone downhill in recent decades.

Then there's the all the steroid and drug abuse in sports. Yeah, there are the pro sports players who keep getting hauled before Congress, others who end up in jail and/or rehab, but it doesn't end there. It seems horse racing is rampant with steroids, pain killers, and cocaine abuse. It's one thing if a horse wanders into the back pasture and gets drunk on fermented apples that have fallen off the tree, but they don't have a choice about using steroids or cocaine.

If you're not disgusted enough yet, here's one more item that has my head spinning and my stomach churning. Burger King has produced a Burger that sells for about $200. It's only available in England, but that's irrelevant. Does the World really need a $200 hamburger?

Some days this fucked up world is just too much to take.