iCannot Stand the iPenetration into the iMarketplace

Ashlie wanted a new mp3 player. First stop, Best Buy. They carry Sansa and crapple. No Creative Zen. Sansas are not too bad but I see them on woot about 2x a week selling refurbs so I assume they have a high rate of defective units. Best Buy has a deal with Sansa and their eMusic site hence the reason they carry them.

We wanted a Creative because we have had several previous Creative models and have liked them alot! Plus, the Zen has an SD slot to expand the size of the storage. This way - we can buy a 4 GB and add an 8 GB SD card for $20 more. She can use that for the thousands of pictures she wants to put on her mp3 player without eating up all of the music space.

Our second stop was Ultimate Electronics. For those of you that are familiar with the Twin Cities, Ultimate Electronics is the new name (for the last 3-4 years) of the old local Audio King stores. They changed the name so people would assume they did not carry just audio products. UE is a nice store - and carries both low and high end. Their high end is better priced and better displayed than Best Buys Magnolia store within the Best Buy stores. All they carry is crapple!! I could not believe it!

This shopping happened on 12/22. Best Buy had an overflowing parking lot. UE had 5 cars. When the salesgeek said they only had crapple, I asked if he was aware that there is a large contingent of people out there that hate crapple. He said yes but they still decided to go with the single brand. Unable to hold back, I said, "And clearly the store is thriving!". His answer was that they had $40K in sales that day. OK....40K a few days before x-mas....in electronics? Best Buy did 40K in the Oakdale store between 5 PM and 7 PM and it was probably the 4th 40K of the day.

As we walked out, Jess reprimanded me for being an asshole to the salesgeek. "Why do you have to do that?"

The answer is....I don't know. I love to harasss salesgeeks. In Best Buy, I purposely go over to the cables area to listen to their pitches on why you need an $80, 6 foot HDMI cable and then tell their customers that the same cable is available online for $10. I get such personal enjoyment from this side of myself....but it is bad, I know. I have always been this way. In college, I'd go to Sam Goody just to ask why their CD prices were $4-6 higher.

In the end, we found the Creative 4 GB unit at Target. We bought two....one for Ashlie and I went back to get one for Jessa. They earned my business by carrying more than just crapple.

Freshly Blown, Flown and Poked!

Stormy sent me an email pointing out that the cruise has been over for a long time and insinuated that I have not posted much. She was right. In thinking about a title for this post, I think I nailed it!

Now before you all jump to conclusions, you better read on!

I had to go to Indiana last week one more time this year. That, believe it or not is NOT the flown part. It does have relevance to the story. Bored out of my mind, I went for a drive since I had a car this time by myself (usually we rent together which ties you down more). I found a casino named Indiana Live! Casino. It is actally more of a circus tent until their new, permanent building is done. Still, it was nice. I played some video poker and somewhere in the second $20, I hit a royal flush for $1000 followed by countless quads (four of a kinds). I left the machine up a ton and went to get a burger. Enroute, I played a dollar slot, something the Orracle rarely does and hit another $720.00.

I did proceed to spend back around $800.00 of my winnings playing dollar video poker which is something I have wanted to do but could not because of the steep $5 per play cost. I felt like a whale! I left up $1200 which was less than I could have but I had a great time so no regrets.

Upon getting back home, I decided to buy a snowblower. I have wanted one for 15 years and somehow end up not getting one. Nothing fancy - 2 stage, 6 HP, MTD brand....nice enough. Needless to say, I love it. I have used it 2 times. I think the neighbors are expecting me to blow the entire yard out eventually! I have a wide path for the mailman (even if he is an old, crotchety bastard), paths around every tree and shrubbery for the dogs to run on, and have blown out a major opening to every sidewalk and fire hydrant. I LOVE....that thing.

Then for Christmas, I received Flight Simulator X. I have not had FS since they still had the program on 3.5" disks and I loved it then. I can tell you that having not flown on FS in a long time, not reading many directions and jumping immediately into a 747, I have flown 4 flights and there have been NO survivors. I made it almost out of the metro on my last flight though- so I must be improving. I really need to buy a good joystick to handle the planes better.

Today, I slept in after staying up with the kids until almost 3. I love watching them have fun with their new games and other presents. I slept until 1, cooked a major breakfast complete with Vennie Sausage, eggs, hashbrowns and the secret onion/portabella concoction for over the egg. WOW! Other than that, I have been playing VP on video poker.com which is really fun and costs NOTHING compared to the real casinos which rarely offer up those beautiful royals like I found in Indianapolis!

That is it! I'd like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. I hope all is well with everyone as we close out the 2008 and move to 2009.

Closed circuit to Al - I ran into Stacy Voracek in the mall last week (she was Kirt's admin that Crazy Roger fired). She said to tell you hello and that she still listens to Charlie Robison!

Until next time,
The Ho Ho Horracle!

I'm Never Flying Air France Again!

Just a quickie from the ship since it is .55 per minute online. I was on checking email and bank accounts and thought I'd drop this quickie in.

So today we are at St. Maarten. Island is half French and half Dutch. The local airport is SXM. Search for it on YouTube and you will find amazing vids of large planes landing right over the little beach. There was no question that I had to see it. The plans are 100-150 feet over the beach as they land.

We hired a taxi for an island tour. Saw everything including some things we'd hoped not to on Orient Beach (partly a nude beach and not Hugh Hefner types either). The kids got to hold live urchins which was cool.

After visiting Marigot, the French side capital, we headed for the beach by the airport. We saw a 757 but knew that Air France had an A340 landing at 3:30 local time. Since we were nearly all the way around the island and only about 5 miles from the cruise port, leaving immediately after should not have been an issue. We watched the A340 skim out heads and blow our hats off and left.

1 mile down the road, we hit a dead stop. We sat there. And sat there. Finally, the cabbie (in a Cadillac Escalade) asked an approaching cab what the delay was.

"Accident on the hill."

We waited some more and then I asked for alternate routes since it was now 4 and "All aboard" was at 5. He decided to go back around the island the opposite way. Not a long way - but there is just one road. That road is two lanes. Bad Bad Bad.

We drove in a manner that if I had eaten anytime recently, it would have been on the floor of the Escalade. I was completely panicked since A) my bank account is getting low and B) our passports were on the ship as an oversight for the day's excursion.

We finally made it back to the ship to the jeering of the 1,000 or so people watching from the starboard side of the ship. We were scolded by the crew awaiting us, the last people to board. Another 5 minutes and we'd have been screwed and finding our own way to St. Thomas without passports.

Needless to say, several people tonight recognized us. The "but there was an accident on the hill" story did nothing to convince them.

I think tomorrow, we'll leave for the ship at about 1:00 for a 5:00 curtain call!

Talk to you all soon!
The Orracle - headed back to stateroom 1392 as we sail the Carribbean blue!

What is the Delta Between NWA and the New NWA?

Today was my first ever flight on Delta. I actually said to the attendant that checked our bags that it was my first flight on the "New NWA". She very quickly scolded me with "NOT EVEN CLOSE!". Apparently Delta employees are convinced they have a far superior product.

So how was my first experience? Not great.

The inbound flight from ATL was late. The pilot told us that there was a major headwind that made the inbound late but I know from watching the flight on www.flightaware.com that it simply left ATL late. Strike 1.

We made up a little time and had plenty of time for our connection. That is until we landed. No gates. We sat for over 1 hour on the tarmac waiting for a gate. I have never had the pilot open the door, shut off the engines and say "feel free to move about the cabin....we're on an active taxiway but we're not going anywhere soon". HOLY SHIT! He was not lying. The issue is that with it being a hub and so many flights terminating there with the holiday, there were no outbounds to open gates. The old addage, "A lack of planning on your part should not constitute an extra hour + on the tarmac for me!". Could someone not have figured this out before today? Strike 2.

We then hiked it through ATL to gate B30 like their website told my blackberry. Nope, that is Chicago bound. We needed gate A30. Long hike again, take a train, long hike again. No moving sidewalks, etc to get from a-z quicker at ATL. Strike 3.

Fortunately, the flight to San Juan also was late getting into the gate so despite the fact that we deplaned our first leg 10 minutes after the scheduled departure of our second, we made the flight. The gate attendant was telling everyone that wanted seats together that the back was oversold. I said I was elite and asked how many seats were open in first. She said 7. I offered our coach seats that were together for her to use for a family if we could get upgraded. She nearly bit my head off! Beeeotch! I am sure she hated life for working on Thanksgiving and having all of the flight issues piling up but I was trying to help. A polite "no" would have done OK. Strike 3 1/2 (1/2 point since we still made our flight).

Then, I had to force down a Diet Coke. Just a cup too....not a whole can like NWA gives. On a 3 1/2 hour flight, I think I can handle a can. Strike 4 1/2.

Lastly, for everyone in Minneapolis that posts comments about "Northworst" having dirty planes, bad service, etc. Delta was no cleaner. Same peanuts on the floor as NWA. I had rude service at the gate. The flight attendants did seem to work a little harder even after the beverage service. Still, you have to pay for everything extra on Delta which we were forced to do with no chance to eat between flights. The Delta movie was on old TVs that probably would have been more in-focus had I taken my contacts out. All in all, I don't see the angst against NWA. My flights are almost always on time. The planes are good and safe. I might not have a movie but whatever.

I know Al will have some constructive criticism. I don't mind the merger. I just hope I don't have to get routed through ATL for more flights after the merger is done. I don't see it as a happy place to travel through.

From humid San Juan....goodnight!

Catch You Later....

Well, this will be the end of posts for a short while assuming I have no connectivity on vacation. We leave Thursday for Puerto Rico. Staying there for a few days prior to embarking on the Adventure of the Seas. 7 days onboard with stops in Aruba, Curacao, St. Maarten and St. Thomas. We arrive back in PR on 12/7 and will fly home on 12/8.

Hopefully I get some connectivity and can post a picture or 2 from our new camera (Canon Digital SLR - Rebel XS).

Until then, I'll be somewhere on here. The arrow points to our stateroom!

SAT Question of the Day

Alright - time to put your thinking caps on. This is your SAT question of the day. Educational AND informative!! No thanks are necessary, I am just here to serve you.

Here it goes.

Northwest Airlines is to Pepsi as Delta is to _____________.

Maybe that is a little too challenging. Let's add some visuals....

IS TO

As......

IS TO......

Yep! You heard it here first. Well, Al probably KNEW this was coming since he is a "Delta from Salt Lake City" guy. A flight attendant told the guy next to me this when he asked for a Diet Coke. I have to say, I am a Pepsi guy. I am dissapointed that I cannot get a Diet Pepsi for very much longer on NWA (now a part of Delta as the flight attendants say).

There could be an upside to this. Perhaps some of those old, jaded, crusty flight attendants on NWA will have a Coke (and finally) a smile!

Flatline....

All the last week plus, I have had items drifting into my mind that I wanted to post. Sitting in the deer stand (no, Al, I was not a Bambi Killer this year)...driving to and from my dad's....flying today to Richmond. And then....I sit here looking at a blank screen. I cannot remember anything.

What the hell is wrong with me? Certainly something must be bothering me. Something must have sparked my interest enough to post about it.

I KNOW there was something I wanted to post. I am pretty sure it had to do with something Al would relate to. But it is gone. Welcome to old age Lyle....oops, I revealed my true name....take 2....Welcome to old age Orracle.

I guess I will just move on. I will go to my meetings tomorrow. Perhaps then I will have that spark back to come to my room and post the post that everyone has been waiting for. Yep. It's coming. I can feel it.

Living Live! with Smokey!

Driving by myself usually results in diverse music in the CD player once the replays of Howard Stern on Sirius are done. Last week to go up hunting, I found all kinds of music in the player. Robert Earl Keen, Charlie Robison, Disney Theme Park music, Choral and lastly a couple of Rat Pack CDs. One is from the Sands hotel and the other from "The Summit" in Chicago supposedly tied to mob favors and elections.

Here is the least likely Rat Packer to get my nod, Sammy Davis, Jr. I read a book on the crew once that said it best and if I had read it first, I could have skipped the rest of all of the books I have read on the Rat Pack....

"Sammy wanted to be Frank, Frank wanted to be Dean and Dean just did not give a damn!"

Sammy had the most talent in the group hands down. I think this is true vocally as well in dance, performance and overal ability. Sammy could do impersonations, sang beautifully and could dance like few others.

Here is Sammy doing some impersonations in song. Fun stuff!

I Don't Know What To Think...

Throughout the campaign, I have had the feeling like neither candidate was worthy. Today, I made an unpopular choice. Yeah, that means I did not vote for Obama. I still don't know what this guy stands for.

He talks nice. He speaks well. He says the right things. His grandma died. He still told me nothing.

This may seem a little obvious, but I think this. It will either be the best thing to happen to America in a long time or the worst....no gray area here. If he can do what he eludes to in "change" and so many supporters think he can do as proven by the most financially rich campaign ever, it would be great.

As I gaze at the local and national crowds gathered to support, I saw some trends.

Young people. Why? They just want to buck the current status - no matter what it is and by that I mean even if Bush was not a dork and no matter if this country was not in the financial crapper, they would buck that system too.

Black people. Dancing, singing.....for a while, the scene was reminiscient of a House of Blues Gospell Brunch I went to in Vegas once (which sucked by the way).

Old people. (no comment)

Urban centers of people. This includes many of my categories above. I have news for you...America was built in the country - not in urban centers filled with college students and minorities.

The resounding image and theme is one that The Rube might be responsible for making me recognize. Largely....BUT NOT ENTIRELY...this group represents the lowest wages, people with the least to lose type of people. If Obama wants to tax the living hell out of us, it is US not THEM that take it in the shorts.

I found myself at odds with this crew. I am not rich but we do make a nice living. I do not relate myself with that crowd. I don't really want to support those that don't work. There is a resounding difference between don't and can't. If you are disabled as my father is, I will be the first to throw my tax money to you. That is a bit of a misstatement by me though as my dad, although a parapalegic, worked his ass off all of his life until retirement. He did NOT just take was was offered to him. Others, well - I think they see this time in our country as a time for entitlement to them.

I heard comments tonight on TV of groups of african-americans saying how this will change things for their kids. Perhaps. I hope they realize that Obama being president will not suddenly stop the gang bangers from gang banging, drive bys from killing others and illicit activity that plagues that community.

Let's hope these few things. A) Hussein is just bad luck in naming convention (geek speak) for him and not a sign of his true roots. B) the white minority does not really become a white minority C) he really is a true American despite his lack of flags on lapels and airplanes

Tonight was historic. Let's hope the historic is not just based on rhetoric.

My New Favorite Site(s)

Aside from my newfound enjoyment of finding old high school and college friends on Facebook thanks to Sabrina telling me I should try it, I have another new favorite website.


I have always liked aviation. I probably should have gone into it as a career. Even though I used to be scared to death as a child of flying, I love it. I think because of my fear, I immersed myself in it as much as possible. Using a scanner at the airport to watch planes and listen to the communication. Reading a blog of a former United captain. Understanding the elements of flight iteself.


I have long enjoyed looking at pictures on http://www.airliners.net/ When I am at the airport and I see a couple or a small group of people traveling together and they say their connecting gate, i.e. "F12", I find myself guessing where they are going and looking at the monitors to see how close I was. There is logic in this of course...time of day (dictates where remaining flights might be going), age, how they are dressed, etc. Of course, in the MSP terminal where I am so often, I kind of have figured out NWA (read: Delta) has arranged their gate patterns. Indianapolis mostly goes from the low C gates. Omaha, the low F gates (unless it is a CRJ or Embraer). West coast flights from the high Gs.


OK, not done with the story and just reread to this point. My geekiness is even scaring ME a little.


My new favorite site out of all of this is http://www.flightaware.com/ I find myself looking up all kinds of flights to see where they are, how much time they have left, etc. I look at airplanes going to busy places to see if they are doing loops to get in line for landing. On their home page, they have a time lapse quicktime of every flight over the US for 24 hours. I could watch it loop forever I think. The patters of east to west, flights incoming from Europe and then Europe bound is so neat to me. Quite possibly just to me.


Here are some images of my flight from Indy last night and then one from 10/9 from DTW to LGA with some holding circles in it. At least I think it is cool.

Detroit to LaGuardia with 2 loops to await congestion

Nice flight from Indianapolis to Minneapolis - had a great view of Chicago out my window and you can see why! Big turns going into MSP to come in from the west!

NO?

No surgery. How can that be? Is this doc a crackpot? How can the doc in 2002 be so adamant about it and I went AMA only to have it bleed out in September this year but this doc says I do not need surgery? It's not that I want the surgery. Frankly, I am a chicken shit and it really cramps my schedule.



Well, here is the deal. He saw the mastoiditis although he said it is not the whole mastoid. He thinks a little prednisone and more antibiotic (my gut it gonna be eaten away) should take care of it for now. He does want to see me in two weeks to be 100% sure, but at this point, he thinks we stay away from the knife. The best part of the visit was that Jessa got to witness deep ear suctioning for the first time. The look on my face combined with the sound and the fact that I plugged the suction tip 2 times!!! Having it done really sucks, literally, but I am used to it after having it done so many times in my life.

This just in....Rube Nation Tries a Honeycrisp....

This one day, The Rube calls me. He is shocked at how much the Honeycrisps were on his grocery bill. At this point, still no word on whether he likes them or not. The offer still stands to buy them from you at 1/2 price.

Looks like there is hope to go to Saskatoon yet!

I was reading a story on Lorrie Morgan having just filed bankruptcy to "reorganize her company". Turns out she is broke. What part of "do not spend more than you have" don't you understand Lorrie? I guess when she sang "Something in Red", she was talking about her bottom line. She says she needs to reorganize her company after her recent divorce from Sammy Kershaw. Don't Go Near The IRS Man, Sammy....don't worry about the water! The best part is that this is ex-hubby #5 for Morgan. Al is only through 2. That means we can have a wedding for Al in Saskatoon, then #4 in Moose Jaw and #5 in Winnipeg just to be different and experience a different province. Of course, all divorce celebrations to be held in Vegas.

Prior to being sidetracked on Al's future weddings, I thought about this a little deeper. Lorrie's "company" needs to be reorganized. Company? Look, your music stopped selling. The reorganization needs to be an effort to find a new line of work! In the sprirt of this though, I had a band once with some friends. I'd like to reorganize and try again. To offset my wage loss while I work on this little project, I will just file bankruptcy to protect my assets. Great plan!

The Cost of a Good Meal

We just returned from a weekend of pheasant hunting. We have enough birds for one meal. So, let's add this trip up.

• $110 non resident SD Small Game license
• $75 in fuel
• $50 Motel (Jake was so happy that we finally got to stay in a "M"otel instead of a "H"otel!)
• $80 for shells and what I will classify as hunting food from Fleet Farm
• $100 for dinner (treated the guy who let me hunt on his land) - at least he bought my 15 captain morgan's after dinner....like I needed THAT!
• $35 breakfast today

That adds up to $450.00! 3 birds makes it $150 a bird. I could have gone to a game farm 10 miles away and bought 56 pheasants all cleaned with no lead in them and frozen for that much money!

Obviously, this is worth so much more. Seeing Dozer (old man Black Lab) possibly on his last hunt. His hips are shot. If not for drugging him with doggie asprin and other hip stuff, he'd not be able to walk. BUT - he did hunt 1/2 of both days. Good for him. He was so happy out there.

Plus, this was Indy's first hunt. By the end of Saturday, he was completely off of the check cord and we never used the shock collar. He totally responded to the whistle which was new for me to try vs. the shock collar. He was completely in his element and instincts took over. For a 6 month old dog, he did wonderfully.

Add in that Jake got to ride in a combine with a 35' head that was picking beans and see how it all works. He was even in there when they did a moving dump into the hopper being pulled next to the combine. Then, later he was able to ride in the other big tractor that pulled the hopper and he got to DRIVE that. He said it was the most awesome thing EVER!

Now as I lick my own wounds from walking through the long grasses, falling over clumps of dirt and running in boots after partially dead pheasants, it is fun to look back on the fun we had as a family this weekend. Very cool. Even if it was $450!

You Have Died of Dysentery

Anyone who played Oregon Trail knows that line. My travel schedule lately has been similar to that of the 49ers on the Oregon Trail. Maybe not QUITE that bad but it has been a busy stretch of travel. It went something like this:

10/5 - 7 AM flight from MSP to SEA. Went early so I could drive the ~2 hours south near Olympia to see my grandma. Went to the Microsoft BI Conference which was really nice!

10/8 and 10/9 - redeye from SEA to DTW for 60 minutes and then DTW to LGA. Cross country.....wow. It is amazing was sudden, violent turbulence at about the 2 1/2 hour point will do to your sleep pattern.

10/10 - LAAAATE flight from LGA to MSP after a meeting in CT with a client.

10/11 - wake up at home, pretty sure it is CST but feel completely hungover.

10/13 - Fly to Omaha

10/14 - Fly back to MSP. Finally done until 10/27.

Fortunately, I experienced an unprecedented run of first class upgrades by going 6 for 6 on this list of flights. As a silver, I had my doubts on a few legs despite the odd hour flights. I was maning hoping for the redeye and obviously got it along with all others.

I really felt like I hit the point of traveling too much when a flight attendant recognized me from a flight last spring on last nights OMA-MSP flight. The scary part is that this leg was on Compass Airlines on a puddle jumper which I fly on very rarely.

How is the ear you ask?

Well, I had a CT Scan on Monday and tonight received a rather frantic call from my local Doc. He is calling in an "urgent" request to the ENT doc to get me in ASAP. So urgent that if I do not hear from them by noon Thursday, I am to call him to let him know.

You see, I have been diagnosed with Mastoiditis and while my cup size has increased, it has nothing to do with my man-boobs. My mastoid bone is fluid and potentially infection filled. Complications range from hearing loss to brain abcess and death. That is some range....

I know they will threaten surgery. I think I will probably comply this time as my ears have been worse than ever this round. I really hope they will postpone it until after my vacation (cruise) from 11/27-12/8 as the recovery is anywhere from 2-4 weeks at home and quite often requires a second surgery soon after the first.

More to come I suppose....

Third Party Travel Sites

Why do people use third party travel sites like Orbitz, Expedia, etc?

Obviously, people use them as their growth and longevity is proven. I use them to research but leave it at that. I generally go to the hotel, airline, car rental company directly once I have completed my research. Only in a few cases have I found the rate on the 3rd party site to be lower. For airfare, when it is, it usually involves one or more stops and usually is more than one airline which sounds like confusion and disaster when "flight A" is late. The second airline really could care less and may not have a need or requirement to help you find your way to the final destination. Furthermore, many of their itineraries involve weird connections with 10 hours between and "arriving the next day".

In the Strib Sunday, they run a column called "Travel Troubleshooter" by Christopher Elliott. He also has this website with many more stories.

My observation when reading these is that the resounding theme is, "I booked with Expedia"...."I booked with Orbitz", etc. They get overcharged. They get unreported fees. The hotel could care less about their reservation specifics such as "King bed", etc because it was a cut-rate, surplus room rate reservation. If you read some of the stories on his site, yes, some were booked direct with the carrier. airline, etc. My observation is that the complaints are heavily weighted to third party sites.

What is the draw to these sites other than to provide one set of options as a form of research? I just do not see it. Maybe YOU can tell me!

Pushing The Lines of Honesty?

Jess and I made a decision to be better shoppers for consumables and groceries. This means planning meals and shopping trips, etc. Through various coupon sites, the Sunday ads and the store specials, it has been amazing watching the savings multiply. Our last 4 grocery trips have yielded savings of $95.00, $48.79, $49.52 and one just over $50 (did not have this one written down).

Add in gas coupons (Cub gives coupons for Holiday gas that are based on your total pre-coupon sales amount so $210 in groceries would give you a 12 gallon coupon for 21 cents off per gallon). The last 4 gas coupons saved us a roughly $11.00 at the pump.

Lastly, the yucky part - mail in rebates (General Mills, etc) have yielded $12.50.

All summed up, it equates to over $266.00 in just about 2 months! That is amazing. It means stocking up on things that are good deals. Combining a store "loss leader" with coupons, etc. For example, we rarely eat Hamburger Helper but bought 6 boxes tonight since combining the $1 per box store loss leader with the coupons brought them to .63 per box**. When we need a quick dinner - now we have it on hand rather than just going out somewhere.

OK, good for us right? The title has to do with honesty. What's that all about?

Well, I have to admit - I squeeze in extra coupons. Not a ton but usually in situations where I am buying a higher quantity of something. See the ** by the Hamburger Helper line? Well, I had 3 coupons for that product. $1.10 off of 3 boxes x 2 and .75 off of 3 boxes. I used three coupons for $2.95 which would have required purchasing 9 boxes but I only bought 6. So - technically, my price per box was .51 at the checkout. I "screwed" them out of .75.

My justification goes like this:

• I will use extra coupons when I buy a ton of something like the HH example above.
• I will sometimes do it when it requires 3 but I only buy 2 or buy 1 instead of 2.
• I will not throw in coupons for things that I do not actually buy.
• If a coupon requires the "21 oz size" I might buy the 15 oz size and still use the coupon.
• If the store has a set of coupons that are activated by "one additional $25 purchase" and "limit one per household", we will get 2 carts and double up on them if those deals are plentiful and exceptional. For example, today- they had about 8 items that were $1 if you spent $25. They all were savings of 50-65% so we did those items 2x and checked out separately.
• Always seek out the youngest checker, preferably a guy. They'll never question you.

The way I see it, for every guy like me that cheats a little, 10 other customers don't use a single coupon. If you combine my order with the next guy, we comply with the coupon's requirement PLUS the store gets reimbursed for the coupons anyway. I guess that logic works for everything except the loss leaders.

Am I wrong? Is this just shades of gray? I don't think so but maybe someone else does.

Why Pawlenty Would Not Have Been a Good VP Either

Again, with the pre-post disclaimer - I don't think Obama or McCain are decent choices for prez. Certainly, aside from her looks, Palin was not a good VP choice. As a quasi-Minnesotan, I would have though Pawlenty (MN-GOV) would have been a better choice. Then again, maybe not. Here is why...

T-Paw is forcing the whole ethanol/corn BS down our throats in MN. I know it starts at the Fed level but it is his baby here locally.

I sat next to a guy on a flight from DC to MSP once and he enlightened me to some facts that I looked into and he is exactly right.

Why make corn into ethanol instead of sugar beets? Anyone who has been in a biology class knows that sugars convert to alcohol. Starches must first be converted to a sugar to become an alcohol.

VS

Which would be more efficient? A one step process or two? Hmmmmmm.

Then I see a story like today's in the Strib. Sugar beet farmers may have to plow under 10 percent of their crop?

If we had plants that converted a sugar beet to ethanol instead of the 2 step corn process, we could make these beets into GAS GAS GAS with LESS LESS LESS! Here I thought the sugar beet lobby in DC was big and strong like corn. I guessed wrong again.

These are the things in government that so many people don't see but are so clearly wrong. We can raise so much more of a sugar beet crop than corn in this state if we had a reason. Think about it, any storm will destroy a corn field but a sugar beet field will be far less impacted because of it being under ground for the most part. They grow these things in the Moorhead and western MN areas - ANYTHING that can grow there is like a cockroach and will survive anything!

Bottom line, I think this whole initiative of ethanol, at least as it exists today is a waste especially with the extra $$$$$ the subsidies pour into it. We need to be smarter. I would change my mind on ethanol if we truly could do it without the extra subsidized cost and/or use a different renewable source such as sugar beets. Corn is clearly not the answer. With so many ears.....how come nobody is listening?

Wrong Place, Wrong Time...

I think this is the story of my life. Now, this is not a situation where I am just whining ... ok, maybe a little - because I am pretty happy with my life. Just when I sit back and look at what bugs me, it is because the place I live, the job I do, etc etc etc are impacting what I have.

I'll say it again, I am very fortunate - but look at a few of these things.

• If gas goes up, it goes up in my neighborhood when others don't.
• If gas is cheap somewhere like now in the north metro ($3.28), my area is still $3.49 or more
• When the hailstorm hit New Richmond in May - everyone got a free roof in my neighborhood. Mine only has "marginal" damage which means it will not need replacing until after this winter's snow and ice when it is not covered by the hail event (and my roof is roughly 48 square a.k.a. big and expensive)
• At the casino, the guy next to me wins the Royal Flush
• At the liquor store in MPLS (years ago) - my truck was the one sprayed with bullets in the drive by shooting.
• When other people's friends get married, it is across town or maybe Jamaica. When my friends get married, it is in Regina or Saskatoon.

Yeah, its all minor. After enough of these things you start to feel like John Candy in Summer Rental - where you'd like to win just once.

Oh well, life is good anyway.

On The Day You Were Born....Living Live!

I rarely find a website so neat that I have a desire to share it. Today, Karissa sent me one that I really like. This site tells you the #1 song the day you were born, married, etc. It is simple and fun. Then again, I am the type of guy that likes to look through the Billboard Top 100 book as comfort reading. I might be a little different.

I am curious to know what the songs for your birthdays, etc are. My songs of note...

• Birthday: Tears of a Clown by Smokey Robinson - somewhat fitting for me I think.
• 21st Birthday (What we did shots to....): Black or White by Michael Jackson (cool video)
• Wedding Day: Take a Bow by Madonna....I don't even know this song.
• Day I started at LTCG: Everything You Want by Vertical Horizon....again, I don't know this song and LTCG is NOT everything I want....not yet anyway.

Here is Smokey doing the LIVE cut of my song!

It Is Drug Season

I would like to post my disclaimer up front to this post - the parallel I will be drawing to actual drugs is meant in no way to diminish the severity of true, hard drug abuse.

Last night, I bought my first bag of Honeycrisp apples. They are as close to a drug or addiction that I have. They will practically put me in the poor house every fall. I just ate my first one. I think I saw the face of God. These gems were bred at the University of MN and are now starting to show up with "Washington" and "Michigan" stickers on them. We need more. Every orchard needs to plant Honeycrisp trees. They can saw down all of the Delicious Red and Gala trees and plant Honeycrisp trees. I saw that there is a grower in Blackfoot, ID. How close to Pocatello is that Al? I can say that even though I can attend a Pocatello funeral online, I'd pay the airfare to go to that orchard. (NOTE: Due to past concern and comments, The Orracle will not speculate as to WHOSE funeral may or may not be attended in Pocatello)

Last night, I bought 6. $12.45 was the total cost. Still cheaper than a gallon of gas.

Normally, I will censor myself and only buy items, even if seasonal when they are finally plentiful and available for much less. Not these babies. If they made them $6 a pound, I'd still buy them. They are far too good to not eat. Fortunately, Jessica cannot eat them because of her TMJ. Jake and Ashlie like them too much too. It gets to be an expensive addiction.

The sad part is that it is already mid September and they will be gone soon. I will be left with withdrawl and sadness and the yearning for next year's crop of Honeycrisps. Heavenly.....

In Sickness and in Health

No, this is not the announcement that I will be traveling to Saskatoon to see Al venture into marriage again. Sorry.

This is about my sickness and my daughter's health.

WORST FIRST!

I have always had bad ears. As a youngster, they were bad. Tubes helped until I had a SCUBA accident and had to come to the surface without breathing. In 2002, I was diagnosed with a Cholesteatoma. Initially I assumed that meant I had 6 months to live. Technically - it should have had surgery but I was not into the idea. Furthermore, I was told that avoiding infections would prolong the growth of the cystic area. Good enough for me.

Well, I have had a couple of small infections but nothing noteworthy. Until now....it started late August and into my Disney vacation. I came back and noticed some blood in my ear canal every AM. No pain and none of the tell-tale signs of an infection. Logically, I ignored it. I flew to Indy this week and then I felt it coming. By the time I descended into MSP on Wednesday, it was full blown. Thursday AM left me with the most blood coming from my ear that I can ever remember. Doc on Thursday to get my regular regiment of meds including drops, antibiotic and a steriod dosepack to reduce inflamation in the ear canal which is now swelled shut.

It is now 2 days into the meds and draining is high but I am not confident we are nailing the thing. Kind of scary....

ON TO BETTER THINGS!

New Richmond has a rich history of marching bands. Currently, the middle school is perceived as better than the high school for a variety of reasons. The MS director is the former director of the HS bands that won national awards.

Ashlie has a dream of pursuing music. Her piano and guitar abilities are great. Her sax is second nature. She felt she needed something to boost her resume and when they announced tryouts for the future Major/Majorette, she wanted it. As a ninth grader, this was a lofty goal. This would mean she would begin learning it yet this year as the current Major is a Sr. She as been in this band just since June.

Of course, the reason for the post is that Ashlie was selected Majorette of the NR Tigers Marching Band beginning her learning from Andy this year and taking over next summer. This is huge and he competition was tough. She will have 3 years to help refine this band to the quality it once was. I could not be more proud of her. This is a great achievement.

CONGRATS ASHLIE!

Change is Everywhere

In a time when all we hear is "CHANGE!" from our prezzy hopefuls, I bring you several items of change for me.

1) The biggest, most important. Boxers. No, not Mike Tyson like - but underwear type. You see, I tried them once when I was very young and I could not handle the looseness. That is to say that I was flippin and floppin....too much excitement for a young stud like I once was. You see, in Disney last week, I had a bad chafing problem. I know, TMI - but in the interest of full disclosure, I feel compelled to tell you all. Knowing I could not go 7 days at Disney in 95 degree weather, I had to try them and I LOVE THEM! So for all of you that ever asked me, "Boxers or Briefs?" well, it used to be briefs (boxer-briefs actually) and now is full blown boxers.

2) Change #2 is to formally announce that since we are "back to school", I will be changing my blogging pattern to something more than once a month.

3) #3 - ah, hell....there is no #3. This was really about #1. All about the freedom in my pants. OK, enough, I know.

Here is to change, wherever you are.....whoever you support or whatever supports you!

Die Online

Before we hit the morbid subject today, I just realized that I launched this blog on 8/4/07 so happy birthday to The Orracle ten days ago. Now the subject of the post....

I was just watching videos on CNN.com because the data analysis I have on my plate is absolutley boring me not to mention that I have 1 program manager and 2 project managers asking me for status on it (nothing makes me want to work slower than repeated PM "what's the status on this?" email)....but I digress.

Back to the video on CNN.com. Downard Funeral Home in Pocatello, ID, has a new service. If you cannot make it to the funeral, you can watch it online. This can happen real time or after once it is archived.

Genius. Let's talk about Al. He is a great guy. I love him like a brother or something like that. We always have hit it off and there is nothing I would want remotely close to Al's funeral. Since he lives in Pocatello, I am compelled to use him as an example (plus it ups his reference count on my blog).

Given my need to save 14 grand for my first class trip to Dubai on the A380-800, I will not be able to make it to Pocatello for Al's funeral. I now can watch it from work and can legitimately track my time to that activity as "bereavment". Ultimately, the "kicker" here is that everyone wins (except Al because he is no longer with us hypothetically).

I think weddings should go this route too. Imagine you have hit your capacity at the wedding but still have people that you want to invite. You can send them a coupon to Chic-fil-a or McDonald's for some McNuggets (all weddings have chicken) and a bottle of beer with the link to the ceremony and reception video. Problem solved!

A Call For Help!

No, despite your concerns, the call for help is not to locate The Orracle. I'm OK. Busy at work - new CIO (again) and therefore the usual changes and new order that creates a little extra work...and we were busy before all of that!

A while ago, I asked for help. Financial help. I wanted to go to Disney yet this summer (free dining plan) along with the cruise in November still. Well, depspite all better financial judgement and 2 fortune cookies advising me to save my money, we are booked and pretty much paid up on both trips. Now, my dead van is in the driveway since I cannot afford the new tranny it needs (not that kind of tranny, Al). More to come on the van's fate...

Now I am pressed one more time to ask my faithful readers, both of you, for help. I love to travel. I love airplanes. I REALLY love first class.

I was reading on usatoday about the first ever A380-800 flight to JFK on Emirates. So, I did a little research on the booking. This is what it looks like to leave a day after my birthday (can't leave on the 8th since we get back from our cruise on the 8th).

Seriously, if you plan to fly 12-14 hours being a bigger guy, you need some space. I figure with the extra amenities of first class on this plane, I should be OK.

Well, you have your orders. Let me know if you need my Paypal account to deposit your donation to the "Send The Orracle To Dubai In First Class" fund. I'll let you know when I reach the $14,635.47 goal.

Living Live Swimming In Tears!

I liked matching a living live song up to something on my mind so much last time with the (non) global warming theme that I decided to do it again.

I am a Minnesotan. I bleed purple. I just happen to live in Wisconsin. That changes nothing.

There's this guy...named Brett Favre. He is an OK QB that has retired twice. (Al might argue that he is starting to look like Garth Brooks). Editor's note: The Orracle likes to imagine what Al might think.

Anyway, this clown, whom I have never liked cannot make up his mind. He wants to retire, he wants to play. He cries when he retires. He cries when he decides to come back. He needs therapy.

Commuting to the cities, I see so many Cheesehead Rubes (not to be mistaken for "The Rube") with the "G" license plates. I think they need a new plate for Packer fans with a tear on it next to a number 4. Honestly Brett, grow a pair and stop the sniveling.

So, for the crybaby Brett, here is Roy Orbison singing Crying. P.S., I looked for an old 80's one hit wonder song called CRY but could not find it because I do not know who sings it. Oh well, Orbison is the bomb.

FATE! It Wins Every Time!

In past posts, a story developed where a friend in the USMC from high school reached out to me. I talked about it in this post. Then a friend of his tried to find him and reached to me and I helped them get together as a friend of theirs was killed in Afghanistan. I posted about Buzz in this post.

Well, Parke was at the funeral in DC last week. His flight from DC to MSP was delayed by weather and he missed the last option to San Diego by 10 minutes.

After all of that storyline and because of this blog ultimately, things came together ended with a stranded Major Parke Paulson in MSP. How fitting that he get a chance to come out to New Richmond and stay a night catching up with me?!

It was great to see Parke (even though he is still ugly as sin). We looked at pictures of Jim's wake which despite the sad occasion, seemed to be a good celebration of Jim's life. We checked out 100's of pictures of his Iraq trips. It put some non-media pictures and stories with the war that have given me a different feel. I still don't think we should be in Iraq but I have a different perspective now. These guys (and gals) are doing good things for the Iraqi people and seem to enjoy making a difference.

The other good thing is that we realized that we are not getting any younger. We have to get the old crew together. 10-20 years is too long. I call out to Joel Kosman (said to be in Alaska), Don Ellis, Chris Schlagel and Dan Marquardsen. More Aitkinites from 89 are welcome! EMAIL me. Leave me a comment. Tell me where you are. We need a reuinion of our own. I don't care if it is in New Richmond, San Diego, Alaska or McGregor. It's time.

Living Live Going Cold!!

Today, Newsweek (A Pillar of Journalism Excellence as stated by The Rube) released THE REPORT. Which one? The one that makes it official that global warming has caused the nasty floods, etc this summer.

Newsweek, just a couple of days ago (practically in "earth" time) reported widespread GLOBAL COOLING. That artical was published on April 28, 1975. 33 years ago. WOW! You can read that article by clicking HERE.

Hey ORRACLE - this is not a Living Live post! YES IT IS! In honor of the 1975 article, here is Foreigner with Cold as Ice LIVE! I will post the Newsweek article below the youtube box as well.

Over and out....the Brrrrrracle.



NEWSWEEK ARTICLE FULL:

There are ominous signs that the Earth’s weather patterns have begun to change dramatically and that these changes may portend a drastic decline in food production – with serious political implications for just about every nation on Earth. The drop in food output could begin quite soon, perhaps only 10 years from now. The regions destined to feel its impact are the great wheat-producing lands of Canada and the U.S.S.R. in the North, along with a number of marginally self-sufficient tropical areas – parts of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indochina and Indonesia – where the growing season is dependent upon the rains brought by the monsoon.

The evidence in support of these predictions has now begun to accumulate so massively that meteorologists are hard-pressed to keep up with it. In England, farmers have seen their growing season decline by about two weeks since 1950, with a resultant overall loss in grain production estimated at up to 100,000 tons annually. During the same time, the average temperature around the equator has risen by a fraction of a degree – a fraction that in some areas can mean drought and desolation. Last April, in the most devastating outbreak of tornadoes ever recorded, 148 twisters killed more than 300 people and caused half a billion dollars’ worth of damage in 13 U.S. states.

To scientists, these seemingly disparate incidents represent the advance signs of fundamental changes in the world’s weather. The central fact is that after three quarters of a century of extraordinarily mild conditions, the earth’s climate seems to be cooling down. Meteorologists disagree about the cause and extent of the cooling trend, as well as over its specific impact on local weather conditions. But they are almost unanimous in the view that the trend will reduce agricultural productivity for the rest of the century. If the climatic change is as profound as some of the pessimists fear, the resulting famines could be catastrophic. “A major climatic change would force economic and social adjustments on a worldwide scale,” warns a recent report by the National Academy of Sciences, “because the global patterns of food production and population that have evolved are implicitly dependent on the climate of the present century.”

A survey completed last year by Dr. Murray Mitchell of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reveals a drop of half a degree in average ground temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere between 1945 and 1968. According to George Kukla of Columbia University, satellite photos indicated a sudden, large increase in Northern Hemisphere snow cover in the winter of 1971-72. And a study released last month by two NOAA scientists notes that the amount of sunshine reaching the ground in the continental U.S. diminished by 1.3% between 1964 and 1972.

To the layman, the relatively small changes in temperature and sunshine can be highly misleading. Reid Bryson of the University of Wisconsin points out that the Earth’s average temperature during the great Ice Ages was only about seven degrees lower than during its warmest eras – and that the present decline has taken the planet about a sixth of the way toward the Ice Age average. Others regard the cooling as a reversion to the “little ice age” conditions that brought bitter winters to much of Europe and northern America between 1600 and 1900 – years when the Thames used to freeze so solidly that Londoners roasted oxen on the ice and when iceboats sailed the Hudson River almost as far south as New York City.

Just what causes the onset of major and minor ice ages remains a mystery. “Our knowledge of the mechanisms of climatic change is at least as fragmentary as our data,” concedes the National Academy of Sciences report. “Not only are the basic scientific questions largely unanswered, but in many cases we do not yet know enough to pose the key questions.”

Meteorologists think that they can forecast the short-term results of the return to the norm of the last century. They begin by noting the slight drop in overall temperature that produces large numbers of pressure centers in the upper atmosphere. These break up the smooth flow of westerly winds over temperate areas. The stagnant air produced in this way causes an increase in extremes of local weather such as droughts, floods, extended dry spells, long freezes, delayed monsoons and even local temperature increases – all of which have a direct impact on food supplies.

“The world’s food-producing system,” warns Dr. James D. McQuigg of NOAA’s Center for Climatic and Environmental Assessment, “is much more sensitive to the weather variable than it was even five years ago.” Furthermore, the growth of world population and creation of new national boundaries make it impossible for starving peoples to migrate from their devastated fields, as they did during past famines.

Climatologists are pessimistic that political leaders will take any positive action to compensate for the climatic change, or even to allay its effects. They concede that some of the more spectacular solutions proposed, such as melting the Arctic ice cap by covering it with black soot or diverting arctic rivers, might create problems far greater than those they solve. But the scientists see few signs that government leaders anywhere are even prepared to take the simple measures of stockpiling food or of introducing the variables of climatic uncertainty into economic projections of future food supplies. The longer the planners delay, the more difficult will they find it to cope with climatic change once the results become grim reality.

—PETER GWYNNE with bureau reports

Living Live! On DRUGS!

It is sad that I have had only one post since my last Living Live but face it, it is summer and I am a busy boy. Grandma is here this week from Seattle so I have been pretty occupied trying to work and still find time to visit with her.

Today's Living Live! takes us to one of my first concerts. My official first was the Del Fuegos, Georgia Sattelites and Tom Petty at the Met Center in Bloomington. Shortly after that, I wanted to see Huey Lewis. Who didn't? (Probably Al). Anyway - the Fore! tour was on and I bought tickets. This video is circa 1985 so very similar to what I saw then. I remembered Delbert McClinton opened for him. Amazing that he still has a career even though he was a nobody then and to many still is.

Here is Huey doing I Want A New Drug....BTW, is that Michael J Fox on Sax?

Jottings...

So many things on my mind and not one of them worthy of their own post!!

NUMBER 1: Basketball. Finally KG gets a ring. He deserves it after all of the years in MN and how hard he played night after night. He is a class act, stays out of trouble and was good for our community here. He even thanked "'Sota" last night in his interview with Tafoya. That brings me to Kobe. He sucks. Anyone can get 30 points if they don't pass the ball and take 50 shots. He is nothing but a big crybaby. Good for him to taste total anihilation last night! The Celtics winning is just more proof that Kevin McHale should have been let go of years ago. Thinking about it more, Boston should praise Minnesota. They got Randy Moss (indirectly) and a great football team, David Ortiz (another rockstar we did not need) and a world series win and now KG. Add that to the gifts we've given Dallas (the Dallas Stars and 3 super bowls courtesy of The Jeff Diamond trade for Herschel Walker). If there was a hall of shame for bad trades, the main building should be named "The Minnesota Wing".

NUMBER 2: Grandma Jensen. We flew grandma in from Seattle. All I can say is that I hope I can remember half the life stories she remembers not only of herself but of every one of her 5 kids and their grandkids, etc. She is 87 and while she is moving a little slower, she she can remember stories. I should be recording them. Hindsight wins again.

NUMBER 3: Small victories. Life is better with them. I have been fighting a battle with a VP at work over a fundamental decision. I have won. It feels good but I always feel bad for having dragged that person's style and bad decisions in front of the world. After 8 years here and not always standing up against those that were making yet another mess, I am glad I did this time. I just hope too many work relationships were not completely ruined in the process.

That's it. Nothing big here. Just small news. But at least small news lets you know that I am still alive and kickin. Until next time.....

Living Live!

Today's Living Live is a twist. Everyone knows my love of Garth Brooks. I have another side that loves a good cover. I would love to see a greatest covers collection come out some day. Me First and the Gimme Gimmes are the ultimate cover band. In fact, their fame is predicated solely on covering other guys songs.

This recording is not very good but has them covering the greatest Garth song ever, Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old) (even Al agrees with that).

This one time, at band camp....

Well, we are back from our week at band camp. Technically, not band camp but close enough. Jess, Jake and I played chapparone to the 103 middle schoolers of the New Richmond Middle School Marching Tigers on the 9 day journey. The itinerary looked like this:

Day 1: Depart NR, drive all night to Cleveland.
Day 2: Perform field show and march in 3 mile parade. Visit Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Drive all night to Jacksonville, FL.
Day 3: Perform for Mandarin Middle School (1568 students) in Jacksonville, FL. Bring kids to Blizzard Beach where I am certain we left an oil slick. We all were starting to stink!
Day 4: Drive to St. Petersburg. Do a field show and perform again on the field for the Tampa Bay Rays. Awesome! Head back to Orlando to get to the Magic Kingdom. March in Spectromagic Parade for 55,000.
Day 5: Magic Kingdom all day with another parade, the daytime Share a Dream Come True with roughly 38,000 onlookers.
Day 6: Drive East to Kennedy Space Center. Perform field show and tour center. Go to Cocoa Beach for fun, sun and a BBQ.
Day 7: Load busses at 6:30 AM. Character breakfast at Animal Kingdom. Leave AK for EPCOT at noon. Stay remainder of day at EPCOT with the 1 mile+ parade around Showcase Lagoon. Approximate viewers was 45,000. Load busses at 11 and leave for Memphis.
Day 8: Memphis - with performance for Elvis and tour of Graceland. See Mud Island in the Mississippi River. Head to Interstate BBQ (Best in Memphis and has been on every food TV show) for BBQ and peach cobbler. YUM! Drive all night to Madison.
Day 9: Perform at Wisconny State Capitol in Madison and tour. Head for New Richmond

I have to say, despite the smelly people, 4 nights on busses and very little sleep, it was a fantastic trip. Here are 2 of my favorite photos. The first is a lucky chance that I saw Ashlie on the big screen at Tropicana Field as the jumbo screen was behind us. The other is the band at Kennedy Space Center. This was a once in a lifetime trip for many of the kids. It showed on their faces and I am so proud to have been a part of it. GREAT JOB New Richmond Tigers!!

Living Live! Take 2!

Today's living live is one of my favorite Billy Joel songs. I finally heard it live for the first time in April of 2007. Yes, that means it is not one of his mainstream "must play" songs.

My overall favorite will always be New York State of Mind which will undoubtedly get its day in the Living Live spotlight. As a piano player, NY State of Mind is great but not too hard to play. This piece is a different story and really shows Billy's depth of writing and playing ability. The Saint Paul show's video is also on YouTube but the Dallas bootleg is much clearer.

Presenting....the one and only Billy Joel performing Root Beer Rag!

Sabrina Sucks!

How can it be that she wins our American Idol pool again. Is this 3 or 4 years consecutively? It is not like she had the first pick every year. Nor did she have any special insight - no matter what BS she gives you.

We pick when there are 20 or 24 players left (usually 24). The draft order is random. To actually score the winner is a guess at that point since the show is obviously rigged and every knows Chekezie was the best this year. OK, I'll conceed that maybe he was not #1 but....Carli was the best - but did they win? NOOOO! It came down to "Diapers" and "Swirly".

I guess since it was down to them and that made my $10 bill go to either The Rube or Sabrina, I'd have to pick her just on looks alone. Although, if Diapers would have won, we would not have had to endure the upcoming right-wing-conspiracy-its-the-liberals-fault crap that The Rube is about to spill all over us.

I don't see Sabs as being the type to gloat, but this might change her. I mean, she really is the undisputed AI Champ at LTCG. I think minimally, drinks on her are in order. Oh, and you might want to buy a lottery ticket.

An Inconvenient Truth

Now if you thought I was going to waste good ink on that stupid movie on the myth of global warming, you are wrong. That makes me think of the 12 year old girl in the grocery store today with a "Stop global warming" T-shirt. Here's an idea....stop making your kids that cannot form an opinion on things from spreading stupid propaganda on things they don't understand.

deep breath....in through the nose, out through the mouth....

What I am writing, er, ranting about here is the apparent difficulty of checking IDs. Do people really hate to have their ID checked that badly? Do they throw tantrums because they had to prove they were not committing a fraudulent act?

I primarily use my check card visa which drafts from my primary checking account. On the back it says in big black letters:

SEE WI ID!!!

My success rate? About 18.296% and then it is usually the Dairy Queen or something that cost me $3.95. Go to Dick's Sporting Goods for shoes....$90, don't question the card or look for ID. Go to Best Buy EVER and you won't get it checked. They even insist it is illegal for them to check. Apparently (and this is from some 16 year old geek cashier), but apparently some tranny came in and they questioned for ID. The picture of him/her did not match the makeup job of him/her and therefore he/she sued. So, 1 tranny gets upset for completely deviating from their picture and now Best Buy will allow you to use anybody's card for anything - NO QUESTIONS ASKED! I've even signed "SHIT" and "CRAP" and "X" and they just laugh at me. The best part is that if you write a check, the MUST see ID. Apparently transvestites don't write checks.

I can tell you right now. Next time I buy something of any value at Best Buy, I'm using someone else's card.

Here's the bottom line. Theft is rampant. You can trust NOBODY! Hell, I just had $450 stolen from my house presumably by my dog walker while we were out of town. They of course deny it. Crap....I get sidetracked so easily.....

What I was saying is that theft is everywhere. A quick check of the ID and we are on our way. At least make the crooks a little timid before they use your card.

LIVING LIVE! James Taylor and Joe Walsh - Steamroller

Back on Feburay 18th, I mentioned that I wanted to emulate (a.k.a. "copy") a them used by another blogger. He posts a theme called "Way Back Wednesday" which shows a YouTube video of some older song. I liked the idea but wanted to share live songs. I think I want to call this "Living Live" since no days of the week start with "L". Plus, to even begin to think I could do this with any sense of schedule is simply a joke.

Here is my first one. I know Al would assume Garth might be my first post but it is not. I am hitting 2 great musicians here. Joe Walsh and James Taylor. Steamroller live is a great song. I have one recording where James even scats a "MFer" in the end which is classic. Add in the great blues riffs by Joe and you have a hell of a live performance.

One more note to this song (and any others), I have a sincere love for the sound of a Hammond B-3 organ. When played right, it will instantly pulsate chills up and down my spine. There is a nice B riff at about 2 minutes into this song. I have always wanted to compile a CD with the best B-3 solos.

EDIT: When I added my tags, etc - I lost the inserted YOUTUBE view. Until I figure out how to do that on my own, here is a link to the video.

JAMES TAYLOR and JOE WALSH - STEAMROLLER LIVE!

A Good Fish Story

Everyone likes a good fish story. Hell, I grew up on Mille Lacs Lake (Note to all you media types....note it is NOT LAKE Mille Lacs....it is Mille Lacs Lake....yes, that bugs me and now I feel just a little better about getting it off of my chest.)

Ahem....stack to my bory. (Capital Steps Improv Group reference there....sorry)

So this local guy, Tim Pawlenty (MN Gov Guy) hereafter known as T-Paw....tells a story about the big fishing opener on the radio.

He said, "I have a wife who genuinely loves to fish. I mean, she will take the lead and ask me to go out fishing, and joyfully comes here," the governor said before adding, "She loves football, she'll go to hockey games and, I jokingly say, 'Now, if I could only get her to have sex with me.'"

This just in. He's human. Who gives a rat's cahoony? I am not all that much of a T-Paw guy and really don't care if he gets the VeeP nod from McCain or not as I really do not care for McCain.

Why in this country do we have to make a big deal about people just being people?

Now at the risk of getting in my own personal trouble with the other half, I won't draw any parallels between my wife, her love of hockey and/or fishing or.....

Nope. Not gonna do it. Wouldn't be prudent. Besides, the couch is cold!

I Need The Powerball...

OK, I don't really need to win the Poweball, but tonight I was helping one of Robyn's exchange students with information on Chicago and New York since I have been to both for pleasure and business. She is from Brazil and her father is flying to Chicago to meet her at the end of May. Robyn was in Vegas with us and knows that I find good deals and like to research stuff like this so he had me email ideas to her.

Since I was in the travel planning mindset, I looked for some other ideas to save money on our cruise that I just booked for November. Primarily, airfare. We really wanted to cruise the Southern Caribbean so that means embarkation from San Juan, PR. Simply put, there are no good ways to get from MSP to SJU. NWA flies there but only from Detroit (DTW). Hmmm - what if I fly on NWA to Atlanta or DTW or Orlando and then catch a cheapo airline to SJU like Sprirt? Still, no good deals. The best is on NWA via DTW for $344. The catch is that even though our cruise is 11/30-12/7 (Sun-Sun), it is right after Thanksgiving so fares are crazy if I don't fly on Thanksgiving Day and return on Monday 12/8 (Happy Birthday to me...). I guess we need to start Turkey Day damage control soon. Cruise is just 206 days away. The neat thing of flying to PR on the 27th is that we'll have 2 solid days to explore more or PR than Jess and I did on the Destination Excellence trip there 2 years ago. I think on the 28th, we want to take the $2.50 ferry to Culebra and see Flamenco Beach. Saturday - either a drive somewhere remote on PR or go out snorkeling with the Salty Dog again.

OK, Orracle, you seem to have this figured out....what is the concern?

I'm getting to it....have a beer and calm your ass down.

I saw a link from the Spirit Airlines page offering the "free dining" at Disney (WDW). We did that plan back 2 years ago and it is great. This year, New Richmond does not go back to school until well into September so it would be a great time to take advantage of this deal. For those of you unaware, check this out...

Book your WDW vacation by June 22 for travel between 8/24 and 9/20 and receive their dining plan totally free. This is MORE food than you can eat and the choices are endless. Each night of your stay you get 1 snack, 1 counter service meal (includes entree, drink and dessert) and 1 table service meal per person. WDW has so many options including dinner shows and ethnic foods at EPCOT and Animal Kingdom that choosing is a challenge. Add in the free bus service to and from the airport and it is hard to beat a vacation like Disney. I priced 7 nights/8 days at a moderate resort for 2 adults, 1 Jr and 1 child with the unlimited park hopper, free dining and transports and it was only $2700. Pretty tough to beat that. Downgrade to a Value Resort and it would probably be around $2000.

I want to do both. Why can't I? Oh yeah, the 60 year old couple from Waconia won the 180 million. I don't need that much. 2 or 3 million will get me by for now. OK, gas is high...better make it 4.

Back to our cruise though....we are booked on Royal Caribbean Adventure of the Seas. 3100 passengers at double occupancy. Average cruise has around 3600 plus the 1200 crew. The ship features rock climbing, pools galore, in-line skating, ice skating, mini golf and great food. We are booked way up on deck 10 in the rear of the ship. Balcony cabin 1392. This guy has a great review and pics on his website and was next door in 1390. The view from the back should be extraordinary. FYI, the Jr. Suites next to us are available if you wanna book. We'd love the company!

Ports of call for this itinerary are:

• Oranjestad, Aruba
• Willemstad, Curacao (actually pronounced cha-ra-sa)
• St. Maarten (1/2 Dutch, 1/2 French)
• St. Thomas

So, if you can help out at all with my Disney Quest donations, let me know.

Catching Up

I had some annonymous comments that I was SURE came from The Rube. I accused him and he declined involvement. I really did not believe him. All along it was an old friend of mine from high school that I had lost contact with. Major Parke Paulson, USMC. I should have figured it out by the "setting your ankle on fire" comment. OK, I was drunk that night....those brain cells are dead.

Since the comments, we have exchanged some email and a phone call. How great it is to catch up with someone. For those of you that do not know, Parke is the reason I now know to ask where a wedding is before agreeing to be the Best Man. Our conversation on that went like this....

Parke: Will you be my best man?

Lyle: SURE - I'd be honored.

Parke: Great the wedding is in June....in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Lyle: Ra-what?

We were virtuously penniless at the time but made the 17 hour drive in 100 degree weather to the plains of Saskatchewan. All in all, it was a great time and as a gift, Parke gave me a baseball signed by every player and coach of the World Champion 1987 Minnesota Twins which I still cherish today.

So to Mr. Paulson, thanks for reaching out. You made my day! Now if we could just find Kosman, Marquardsen, Ellis and Schlagel, we'd be in business!

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Today, Eddy Arnold died. No, I am not a huge fan. Most people have heard "Cattle Call". Why do I post this useless information? Because my grandpa LOVED that song. Made me think of him today.

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Lastly, I promised some pics from The Boneyard...here are a few of my favorites.

The House of Lords Steakhouse was a Rat Pack hangout. If I could go back in time, seeing or better yet, hanging with the Rat Pack would be at the top of my list.

An old Lady Luck sign. Not just any sign though....this is the sign that Marisol Nichols (hottie) danced on in Vegas Vacation. The rails on the other side that you can see were added for her safety.

Lastly (for now) an old Golden Nugget sign. This is one of the originals and was the sign in most of the old "Fremont Street Pics". It had the big gold chunk on it with 1905 which was not the start of the Nugget but rather the year Vegas became a city. There were 3 or 4 Nugget signs from the years in The Boneyard. Very cool!

Hey Jude by New Richmond Middle School Jazz Band

I have been planning to buy some video software so I could extract some of Ashlie's band stuff. Here was my first shot at it going to YouTube and now posting to my blog. Ashlie has 2 nice solos here in Hey Jude.

Where the Hell is the Vegas Post?

People are waiting apparently.

I posted a trip report on tripadvisor.com but never made it over here.

Vegas was good. I am a little upset with myself for not doing a few of the "I'm alone" things I had planned. No, that does not include a hooker or happy ending.

I found that I did less this trip than any other. This was partly because I was the guy with the car and the guy that knows vegas. Still, it is hard to get so many people moved at the same time let alone agree on what they want to do. Face it, Vegas just is not for everyone. Having said that, we all had a good time despite some coordination issues.

Monday was a long day. With just 3-4 hours of sleep, I was up for 26+. Dinner was at Mr. Lucky's (Hard Rock) for either the $7.77 steak & shrimp or $9.99 AYCE prime rib. Prime was delicious! Thanks for buying supper, Dano!! Once I was on my own, I made it back to Terrible's and played video poker into the wee hours of the morning downing countless beers and bloody marys. Yum. Finally, dozing off at the poker machine, throwing away pairs from time to time, I decided sleep must not be delayed any longer!

Tuesday was wedding day. Shuttle service began before noon. Lindsay and Kelsey were slow. There was some excuse in play but I don't remember what it was. Needless to say, we were late for the shuttle to the wedding. Wedding was nice. Typical, 10 minute Vegas wedding. Dinner at Dan Marino's. Good ribs - not as good as Ellis Island though. Back to Terrible's, stayed up way too late again.

Wednesday - up way too early to drive out to Mesquite. Dan has relatives out there so made the ~90 mile trip to there. Casinos were just average. Scenery was neat, especially at the golf courses. I will post pics of them tomorrow from my laptop. Back to LV and dropping Robyn and Cindy off at the airport. Dan and Cindy and I went to EI for free drinks and dinner. Rib place was closed for the night so we ate in the dining room. Dan had shrimp, I had the $6.95 steak and Cindy had breakfast. Service sucked but food was good. With the coupon, total bill was around $13.00. Cindy LOVED the karaoke bar. Always voted best in LV. I think she said it best...."what a great little dive". Exactly. Did I mention how good their wheat beer is?

Thursday - finally slept in. Waited at Terrible's for my host to comp my rooms. Choked down Terrible's buffet. HIGHLIGHT of my trip....went downtown for the Boneyard Tour. This is the museum that is by appointment only and has the old Vegas signs awaiting restoration. VERY VERY VERY COOL! Best $15 I spent in Vegas. Great pics...I'll post some tomorrow.

Headed to The Orleans with 2 drunk neices, drunk Dano and Cindy. Instead of using the child care, we used three 2-4-1 coupons for their buffet and let the girls soak up some of the booze since we had to fly out that night. Cindy treated us all to tickets to go see Terry Fator. Look him up on YouTube if you don't know who he is. Very talented ventrilloquist that sings impressions...but through his dummies. Unbelieveable show. From there, straight to the airport. Nice first class upgrade for the redeye. Flight felt like 10 minutes I slept so hard.

So, I missed the Atomic Museum & Pinball Museum. 2 new casinos away from the strip I wanted to visit too. Oh well. Incentive to go back. Vegas needs me. Per this article by VegasRex, Vegas is hurting. I like his thoughts and analogies. Vegas is not dying, but the strip is killing itself. The first call I got from Dan and family was, "Come pick us up and take us where the beer is cheaper. We cannot afford $7.50 here at Mandalay Bay anymore!". Nuff said. Sinatra would roll over is his grave if he heard $7.50 for a beer on the strip. Are they making this stuff from crude oil now?

I had a good time with Cindy and Dan but more than that and it was a few too many to keep everyone happy. Eventually someone complained or just sat there waiting for others. I think that is a lesson learned. Even though my Mancation was fun and I was free to do what I wanted, I think I'll just go back to hitting that city with Jess. My odds are better there.

Bush is Bush-League

Headline today.

Oil hits record high as dollar hits record low.

$115 a barrel.

Stupid ass bush league, texas tea money making, loser of a president. At one point, I felt NONE of the presidential canidates were any good. Now, I realize that we cannot do any worse.

Yesterday Bush said of the Pope's visit:

"On his visit to America, the Pope will find that we are a country of prayer."

No shit Dick Tracy. We pray because our country is folding underneath us because of the single worst loser of a no-brained, facsimile of a president this country has ever had.

That's all I have to say about that.

Delta-NWA

In Minnesota, this IS the news today. Delta and NWA are going to merge assuming the DOJ investigation which is estimated to take 6-8 months finds it to not be a monopoly. That makes me wonder how THIS could be approved but the Sirius/XM merger has been waiting for more than a year. We'll get to that on another day I suppose.

Maybe the hard times for NWA will finally be over. This means no more need for baggage porters to panhandle everyone they service.

Ah, you say. This is not about the merger. This is about a personal issue The Orracle has with the Panhandlers - oops I mean Porters.

Right you are.

I was sure I had blogged about this in the past but could not find any evidence of it.

Let me set the story right. I travel quite a bit. When I am forced to check a bag, I use the outside porters to do so. I always tip them a couple of bucks. But man, if you do not have those greenbacks in your hand, they start to hint. OK, they don't hint. They come right out and tell you.

"This is a tipping service" I have even heard them grumble out loud when they do not get a tip... "You think we stand our here for nothing?"

Do waitresses come to your table and as they take your order remind you of the tip they expect? NO!

Like I said, I always tip them. When I get panhandled for the tip, it really turns me off. I imagine in my head that a no-tip service will reroute my bags somewhere else. I never give the tip until my bag is on the belt and out of their reach though.

Let's look at the NWA porters at MSP specifically. Since this is a hub (at least for now), they have a belt behind them that they drop the bag on. This is NO different than the ladies inside at the counters which do not beg for money nor do they expect it. They put the sticky tag on the bag and drop it on the conveyor belt. If these guys had to put the bags on a cart and haul them inside like at some of the airports with a smaller NWA presence - then the tip is GREATLY deserved. Simply doing the same service as the people inside - not so much. But I still tip them.

Maybe with the merger, these poor souls standing under heat lamps will get the compensation they need to do their job such that they don't feel the need to panhandle me.

I'm In A Funk!

Hey everyone,

I don't know what my problem is but I have been in a funk. That translates to not being a nice guy at home sometimes. Not wanting to blog. Not wanting to do much of anything. There must be a reason. It could be this never-ending jackass version of winter or spring. It might be that I am a little short on ca$hola. Let's look at them individually...

WEATHER: It needs to warm up. Plain and simple. I feel like a fat (OK, yes I know that I am) but I feel more lazy than ever. I cannot get motivated to do anything because of the weather. Jess hints that she worries about depression. If I am depressed (don't think I am), I think some weather above 35 and no more snow will help.

CASH FLOW: It's one of those things. Timing. Everything due at once. Taxes ($1800 owed to Federal) and the fact that I never sent my state taxes which have a $1300 refund to help offset the $1800. That is pissing me off big time and I am the only one to blame. Then, the housepayment is due. I guess that is automatic - but what if I could skip one? (more on that later). As you may know, I am headed to Vegas on the 21st. I am very happy about that and it could help my funk about the weather. BUT - Vegas needs cash. DAMN!

The stupid part is that in May, I have just the opposite situation. See this: In May, we have 3 paydays. In May, I will probably get the "Stimulus" check (is that like a "happy ending"?) and also in May, I have no house payment. WTF? Yep - you heard right. I called the mortgage company because I am getting concerned about my ARM coming due next January and my 5.5% interest rate going buh-bye. I said that I might have a hard time making a higher payment (which is not totally true). But with the mortgage crisis, they felt like helping and I received a letter saying that they are restructuring the note to lock in at the 5.5% for the duration of the loan. Say what? In that process, I have no May payment. 3 checks. No house payment. Gov't stimulus check. Holy....need to start planning a vacation or something.

So....May will bring the cash and weather I need in April. Figures.

Oh well, I think I have it figured out and I will still make my obligations and have some money to spend in Vegas. Maybe I can turn over a new leaf and do something besides sit on my ass on the couch too.

See now. Don't you feel better?