As you may or may not remember, Wednesday is usually a day of rest from the blog. Today is one of those rare days when TMBWitW is working not from home but in her office in The Dark Tower today (end of an accounting cycle, you know) and I get to play on the computer until MEG wakes up.

First thing out the gate on this auspicious occasion? Gawfer opens up a can and shares a video that he got from Jake. The video has some very good information and connecting of the dots in regards to a certain young presidential candidate (notice the use of the word “young” – that rules out McSame and Clintoon) and should, in my opinion, be required viewing for anyone who thinks this dude is some sort of political messiah.

Video available here.

Second – sometimes, Windows drives me crazy. I try to get logged on and get going on the computer before MEG wakes up, and something needs to be updated. Or, something needs to be restarted. Or, something has magically uninstalled itself and needs attention. Que sera.

When MEG does wake up, she will wander into the office at some time, point to the monitor, and say “Wha wha?”

No, she’s not asking for water. She is asking for this. TMBWitW accidentally showed this to MEG one day while trying to find a certain Dalmatian game on disney.com. Now, it’s all MEG wants to see on the computer. Never mind some of us actually do other things with the computer…

I hear MEG now, so that’s my cue. Have a good hump day, ya’ll.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

First, hop over to Texas Fred’s to answer a few questions. My reply, in part, was thus:

We need leaders who are not afraid of enforcing OUR laws on OUR land. Kowtowing to the vocal minority is what got us to where we are.

The list of conservatives who are qualified to lead this country where it needs to go is short; the list of those qualified and willing even shorter. Certainly, none of the “presumptive” candidates for either of the major parties is going to get the job done when it comes to maintaining the sovereignty of the United States. I certainly don’t know who I am going to vote for. The “candidates” decry the “single issue voter” but fail to realize that this one issue drives 75% of the rest of the issues we as a nation are facing today.

I do, however, know this: You will never find out how well armed I am or how well trained my dogs are unless you stop by the house personally. I would suggest you call first if it’s meant to be a friendly visit.

Leave a comment there to let him know how you answered.

If you recall, last Saturday was not a good day for The Most Beautiful Woman in the World. Her Camry was rear-ended by a lady* who, it turns out, was not insured. In fact, presented an insurance card to the highway patrol officer (DPS) that she knew was not only expired (in January) but had not been valid since she cancelled her insurance in November of 2007. At this point in time, I would like to say that so far, our insurance company has been very good to work with. MetLife, you have my thanks for the way you have handled this claim. On my way to either pick up TMBWitW and MEG and the Momma from the accident site or to make sure they were able to get going under their own power, the air conditioning in the Road Rhino (aka the QX4) died a horrible death. (in unrelated news, we had our first 100° day today) With TMBWitW driving a rental, and the Rhino being repaired by an A/C specialist, flexibility was strained.

Transportation issues (and the patience of MEG) were put to the test today. You see, my lovely wife, the Bride of the Century, The Most Beautiful Woman in the World, participated in her commencement exercises today. The degree of Bachelor of Science, Accounting, was bestowed upon her. This simple action required us (due to a lack of a second vehicle) to arrive at the graduation ceremony site by 1100 hours for the Graduate to take part in the group pictures (Accounting class, Golden Key International Honor Society group) and then wait for the ceremony to begin. There were several other group photos to be taken, but she was not involved in them; this was a typical “hurry up and wait” scenario. MEG and I, meanwhile, got to wander around the grounds of the MArriot where the ceremony was scheduled. Since we left the house about 0930, and MEG’s first nap time is usually around 1000, someone was not in the mood to cooperate very much, although she was a real trooper and didn’t fuss. The ceremony started promptly at 1300, which is about an hour prior to someone’s second nap time, and concluded about 1530. Still, no fussing, and a minimal amount of squirming. I tell you, God has blessed me twice in this lifetime – first, with the wife I didn’t deserve, and then with a daughter that is so darned cute AND loving AND patient with all this adult silly business. We were joined by family and friends, and we all had a good time, with the majority of the group convening to the nearest Islands restaurant for dinner.

Did I mention how proud I am of my wife?

She has worked so hard to get to this point. She is now a degreed accountant, instead of just trained – she has book knowledge and a piece of lambskin to back up what she knows!

Woo HOO!

Honey, if you are reading this, I just want you (and the rest of the blogging community) to know how darned PROUD of you I am. I can’t say enough about you, and even when I do run on at the mouth I can’t cover it all. People think I’m gushing, but I”m barely getting started.

TMBWitW BS/A, you rock.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

*The use of the word “lady” in this instance is a capitulation to the fact that the driver was a female. My testimony prevents me from describing the illegal immigrant other driver in any other term, no matter how accurate that alternate description would be.

Remember I am off today (well, the argument may be that I’m always off, I’m just not around today) and there is no BlogTalkRadio show. TMBWitW and I are enjoying some family time with MEG and just hanging out together. We are all wearing red today to show our support for the troops. Are you?

I love this “delayed publication” feature!

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

So – how do you like that header image?

I really like it. Thanks again to Mr. and Mrs. Bushwack.

I woke up this morning to a wonderful smell – moisture on a desert wind. I opened up the house a bit, and the temperature inside dropped from the overnight 78° to about 71° in less than a half hour. The wind is blowing pretty good, and it’s so darn pleasant that I might just turn this thing off and go sit on the patio.

Well, I just sat here and thought about it. I’m going to do that.

Saturday afternoon, TMBWitW was rear-ended on the freeway. Seems her lane of traffic was slowing, so she slowed, but the person on the cellphone in the vehicle behind her was too absorbed in the conversation. Knocked TMBWitW into the middle lane, and she did get the car back to the right lane and onto the shoulder; the person in vehicle 2 only hung up once the officer showed up. My wifes car (a 2005 Camry) has some rear-end damage. The S-10 Blazer could not be driven away. TMBWitW, MEG, and our Momma are OK, but there are some minor issues that need to be addressed. Turns out, also, that vehicle 2 did not have current insurance. So, along with everything else, we get to pay our deductible and watch as our insurance company tracks down and sues the pants off person 2.

Three guesses as to the ethnicity of the driver of vehicle 2. The first two don’t count. (hint: open borders suck)

I’m also taking a quick survey. Please put your answers in the comments section. Real fast, and I won’t bother you anymore. Two questions: What browser are you using? Does the text on this page appear to be left-justified, centered, or right-justified?

That’s it. (Update – never mind. It’s fixed now.)

One last thing: I’ll be “off the air” for a few days. TMBWitW is working from home tomorrow, and taking Thursday and Friday off (she graduates Sunday with her Bachelors in Accounting). This means no posts here until Monday, most likely, and no BlogTalkRadio show Friday. The regular schedule will resume on Monday.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

I am dealing with two learning curves.

Actually, one of them is just a reminder of things I already knew, but at a higher rate of speed.

The first one is WordPress. It is a wonderfully adaptable and ownable blog software. Finding just what you want and being able to use it is a nice change from blogger. Of course, if you happen to hit this blog while I am trying things out, the appearance may change while you are off reading the comments on another post…

The second one is raising a child. Again. In my first marriage, there were two girls that came with the first wife. I raised them both as my own. (the older one has issues, and I will not be talking about her.) The younger one was six months old when I married her mother, and she only knows me as “daddy” – which is really, really cool. She is 22 now and married, living in Idaho with her husband and dog and cat in a house they just bought.

Now, I have this sixteen month old information sponge that I am raising. I have learned that chores go a lot quicker when a toddler is helping. No, really – they have to. At least, the chores that you can accomplish while watching a small person with eighteen arms and forty two hands. For example, emptying the dishwasher. MEG has figured out how to unlock and open the dishwasher (and also how to lock it and start it, whether it’s ready to go or not) so when the dishes are clean, they need to be put away. I have found that it takes about 3.5 seconds to empty and store the dishes. (when I was a teenager, it would take me about 3.5 days to do the dishes when asked. told. commanded. ordered. threatened.) Otherwise, most of them get to be reloaded and rewashed after MEG shares the flatware with the dogs and the plates with the cats.

While I was in the Marine Corps, two minute showers were the rule. We lived in squad bays from the Korean War era (interesting sidenote – my Dad helped build most of them on Camp Pendleton. he was a Marine Corps meteorologist, which is a perfect MOS for building squad bays, right?) (they are all replaced by BEQ dorms now, two Marines to a room, no comradarie…) Anyway – sixty guys, ten shower heads, reveille was called at 0500, assembly at 0600 and chow at 0630, so there was not a lot of time for you to relax in a long hot shower. That’s history. Now, two minutes to a toddler is forever. My shower lasts ninety seconds on a slow day, so MEG doesn’t start getting upset because I’m out of sight. Unless, of course, I’m up before she is, then I grab a longer shower and get shaved and dressed rather leisurely. On those days, I even get to enjoy shaving with the straight razor, taking my time and having deep thoughts.

Everything else is in a hurry – her hurry. Somethings don’t get done – the floor has little piles in the corner (I’m not going to tell you piles of what, so don’t even bother asking.) and the entertainment center needs to be dusted – again. But, I am not going to take time away from MEG’s learning curve to satisfy someone else’s idea of clean. The house is not going to fall apart, and we can still tell what color the tile is.

Make sure you wish your mother a Happy Mother’s Day tomorrow.

I may even break my own rule about not allowing bitterness to creep into my life and call my own mother. Maybe. Long story for another post.

Have a good weekend.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!