An Advocate Kind Of Day.......

I find myself really torn when tempted to pounce on the folks at the Victoria Advocate for their almost Laurel and Hardy slapstick approach to reporting, editing, and managing a daily newspaper. On the one hand, I try to tell myself to consider the caliber of the management, and the size of the market, and cut Cobler's Kids some slack for what they have allowed it to become. On the other hand, I recall what a once respectable, and professionally presented daily it was to fetch from the driveway, and read the likes of Jim Bishop, Henry Wolf and Pat Hathcock, and see the type of feature stories, national, state and local news stories, columns, and serious editorial issues that one expects from a real newspaper.

Of late it has taken on the appearance of a tabloid rag, and the reporting, editing, and layout are simply down the dumper. Each edition is expected to be loaded with spelling and grammatical gaffes, and week old local news, and riveting stories of things like two cars that didn't crash into one another, or a hijacked order of McNuggets on the hoof from an outlying suburb's Mickey D's.......and that is just in the print edition. And as further proof of their cluelessness, their "medical reporter" is online, appealing to his (legions of) followers, to drop him a line and give him the names of friends who are struggling with AIDS or are HIV positive. How is that for both inconsiderate and ballsy? That's called coffeeshop and or cubicle based begging for a story reporting folks. Dare I tackle the issues with their online circus? You know, the one area that their esteemed editor is supposed to be a whiz kid in?

That is debatable at best. He seems to be obsessed lately, despite claims to the contrary, with getting in the LAST WORD, and micromanaging the online content and those who offer any input to HIS FORUMS. I am learning just how powerful a Blackberry can be.......
But then, seeing what gets posted there, is becoming more comical by the day, regardless of how long it is allowed to stay, before it gets nuked by the BOSS.

While it is obvious that Cobler is personally riding herd on the online Vicad, and has his underlings armed with hatchets as well, there are a number of folks just rubbing his nose in his you know what, and he doesn't even realize it. Take the new guy, "BigolJay, going crazy today......just being a pain, and using an obvious name referenced to the late littlej. Then there is Gay4matt, and g4further, and who knows how many more. These folks slipping back in and using multiple ambiguous screennames to wreak havoc on the forums has become commonplace there. My friend Furthur tried to toe the line, but apparently went one toke over........with his copy of my Christmas rant......

On top of all of that, I was "permanently" banned from commenting on the Vicad webcast this morning........funny thing was Gabe apparently did it. I could see Cobler when it happened(my banishment in mid sentence), and he was across the room from Gabe who was moderating. Now I wasn't watching his hands that closely, so maybe Cobler was doing his Palladin "Have Blackberry, will travel", impersonation.......
And as a parting shot, the moderator cleared the comments at the end of the meeting, rather than leaving them up until they start the meeting again tomorrow. As the photo above indicates, I saved a copy........

The Kid In Me............

........got me busted again at the Advocate today...twice, but that I will save for the next post.
I just heard the weather folks on the local TV stations allude to the possibility of a little snow here at weeks end. I will confess to being a weather junkie, and a bit of a storm chaser as well. But there is something about the slightest hint that it may snow, that makes me revert to a wide eyed ten year old. I think it's just the novelty of it, being from the south, and seeing it so rarely down here that makes my pulse speed up at the prospect, and that will have me outside when the day arrives, peering into the night sky, praying for some flakes to appear in the glow of the porch light. I guess the phenomenon with me is just like with real estate value - location, location, location.....It is so rare we see snow here, that it is a treat for all us kids, young and old. I am sure that when I mention the forecast to my boys, they will begin praying for a snow day off from school. Myself, I will be wishing for the freak occurrence of a big dump like the lower coast got a few years ago so I can break out my snow chains and find the closest steep freeway off ramp that is closed to press into service as a ski run. Might as well try for the news at six and ten, huh? like I said.......The kid in me.......

Christmas, Schristmas, Oy Gevalt!....KnowwhutI'mSayin'?

First and foremost, let's be realistic here. While I know when it is in my best interests to attempt political correctness, more often that not, I am getting my peepee whacked for being brutally frank, and calling a spade a spade(no, not yet.....I'll cover Kwanzaa in a minute).
Christmas is just that. Christmas......allegedly a celebration of Christ's birthday, as practiced by Christians the world over, and in particular, by the majority of the folks who founded this country. The origins of the holiday, despite the fact that it has become a symbol of the wretched excess that is strangling our country, are not in question. Granted, there are a lot of guys named Murray Katz, and Harv Levin, reaping the benefits reaping the rewards of marketing an event that they don't believe happened, but the fact remains that Christmas is just that. I will out of force of habit, tell you Merry Christmas. Regardless of my religious beliefs, wen I tell you that, know that I am wishing you goodwill, prosperity, and a joyous holiday season. But unless you are looking for a fight, do not try to correct me, or ram Kwanzaa( a manufactured, throwdown ACLU holiday), or Hanukkah down my throat, because while I respect your celebration of your own religious holidays, and wish you the best, they have nothing to do with Christmas, save for the aforementioned Murray and Harv, and their need for all of them to be lumped into a "season" for profit's sake. I don't even know what the Muslim equivalent, is, or whether they are pushing for equal time in the Toys-R-Us sweepstakes, but no matter what, they have nothing to do with "Christmas". I will say as another blogger I read did: If I wish you a Merry Christmas, and you reply with a Happy Hanukkah, I will say "thank you and to you as well", and I will sincerely mean it, but shame on you if you attempt to P.C. me, and if you take issue with what I an my kids, and my grandparents and their grandparents have come to accept as tradition, because you and Lawanda or Mustafa and Nabila, or Murray and Harv are offended because I don't defer to your homeland's traditions in my holiday festivities. If you have a problem with hearing a warm "Merry Christmas" from my countrymen and women and myself, then I suggest you pack your bags, and embrace another of my country's slogans......"Delta is ready when you are".

Censorship

Happily? Or Happily Ever After?.........

Without an in depth discussion on same sex unions and relationships, which for anyone who has read my writing, it should be evident that I think that that decision is or should be between two individuals, without any remote government meddling or legislation, I felt motivated to make a comment on an article in the Victoria Advocate, which based on my past experiences commenting and blogging there, will surely be summarily deleted, given the G Rated story. There is a slight hint at a child's obviously coached opinion on the aforementioned subject here at the article's close. I applaud Robert Earl Keen and Jimmy (Bubba) Buffet, for over the years, using the word gay in their songwriting, as it was taught to mean - happy. I think the double meaning of the word was incorporated here by an innocent....So in the form of a blog, based on a sweet story of elementary school science fair projects which can be read here , the following is my likely short lived comment on the story.....

Okay, realizing that I am probably going to hell for making comments on such a story, I suppose they all had a snack of poached goldfish after the judging was completed.
Many years ago, my son had a class guinea pig, also black and white, named Oreo, and at years end, rather than put him out to pasture, they had a drawing to see who got to adopt him. My son won, and he came to live with us that summer. Unfortunately he did a high dive from their fort in the back yard and broke his back, (guinea pigs, unlike cats, do NOT land on their feet, or have nine lives)immobilizing his back legs. He actually lived a normal life afterward, thanks to the little trailer we built for his aft section. But due to his injury, he was never in the position of having to make the choice of happily(well put, by the way), or happily ever after.

The Need For Speed, and Other Small Town Observations

"The Need For Speed" - I recall that line from "Top Gun", however, I think Maverick was referring to the speed that is a catalyst for a totally different sort of rush than I will be covering lightly here. Meth. Yes. I have tried it. Let's put that into perspective. I am almost sixty. That little mistake was forty years ago for me. As much as I yet enjoy a good buzz, these days, and yes for decades now, I am quite content for that buzz to come from a bottle of Chilean wine, or a snifter of brandy, while in the company of my mate or a quite small circle of good friends. The closest I ever come these days to substance abuse, is after one of my periodic episodes with dental damnation, or my occasional miscalculation of my age and ability when it comes to sports, motorcycles, and the like, and have trouble believing that I no longer need to try to fill that friendly bottle of Vicodin, just one more time..........As far as quitting the meth, I had sense enough to know, even at twenty, that it would kill me, so I stopped. Also, the fact that Peruvian flake was readily available, and actually quite socially accepted among the lawyers, architects, doctors, and professors I hung around with at the time, made it a bit more justifiable, at least in my eyes, to try that little diversion instead.......and speaking strictly for myself now, when I opted to stop that little habit, it was simply a matter of economics and desiring to seek gainful employment, and I have never looked back. Case closed. And yes, I do realize that is not the case for most everyone else who has dabbled in drugs, and I do consider myself fortunate, and I will rain merciless hell on anyone that I discover attempting to involve my children in even the most "innocent" of drug use. You may call that hypocrisy - I choose to consider it a well informed decision.......

Now as for the story that prompted this, I must defer to the Advocate's coverage of the meth lab bust in this morning's paper. While it has some points to chuckle at, is is a serious issue, and I for one, am happy those folks are out of business, and would like to see all the rest of them shut down as well.

The story was actually fairly well reported, I thought, though as is frequently the case at the Advocate, apparently the copy editor who came up with the headline for it, just plopped down the first thing that came to mind. In retrospect, they might have used the word"suspected", or "alleged", in place of the word "possible", don't you think? But then, anything's possible. I like the fact that the raid was a collaborative effort among the agencies involved, and in particular, the fact that the press was invited, and chose to accompany them.

Now for the "small town" part. I find some humor in some of the comments by readers to the story. Cop hater Zorro's(zero?) was totally out of line, but not in the least surprising, based on his track record of commenting.
Wh1t3f0x's little comment "I just watched the report on fox and in the video was the Rock 'N' Blues truck parked in front of the building. Did anyone else see that? I'm not trying to spread rumors I'm just looking for a reality check"........was just a hair finger pointingish I think, despite his "I'm just sayin'" disclaimer, huh?

Equally amusing, but actually believable, was rbguy, the club owner's disclaimer to distance himself, and go on record explaining the fact that his truck was photographed at the scene of the bust.......some quick butt covering and brow wiping and "please God, make this go away" went on in that poor guy's head, I am sure....
Fact is, I have known more than one drug dealer in years past, who was in the automotive service business, in addition to their little moonlighting operation. That does seem to help with explaining some of the excess traffic coming and going as the result of a drug operation. Being a speed dealer(alleged), I'd be willing to bet he could tear down and reassemble a tranny in record time, ya think?(I'd bet the Rock 'N' Blues truck owner agrees with me on that) On the other hand, maybe he wasn't a speed freak, or was just a beginner.....as most speed freaks I have seen in years past, tended to have a little slimmer waistline.......

I noticed where patientearth thought that a better photo could have been used to accompany the story. That's a matter of opinion I suppose, but aside from the aforementioned perplexingly pudgy perpetrator(alleged) in the frame, I found the sign leaning against the wall of his auto/pharmaceutical enterprise, to be a bit ironic. I reckon that as the proprietor of a legitimate auto shop, such a sign would be in order to not get wiped out by being held liable in the event of a fire, but considering the double duty the place was doing as a meth lab(alleged), one does have to consider the possibility of a rather untimely spark from one side of the room causing the other side of the room to put the entire operation into orbit, doesn't one? You'd think a mechanic would know that..........

Travels With A Pal - Trip Notes

Okay, let's call this one for lack of something better, a trip journal.
A pal and I set out on a journey, the fun kind, with no really etched in stone itinerary, but I took some mental notes, and I'd like to relate some of it to you.

Both of us greying, and with a lot of miles under our respective belts to this point, it was only logical, that we would make it a point to see the areas where we each grew up, and share stories of "back when.......", and make notes, of how things had changed, and what looked the same as we remembered it to be. There were fish stories told of eating walleye, and spearing carp in the mountain streams of New Mexico, and telephoning up catfish on the Llano River. Stories of hiking in carrying an aluminum skiff to a mountain lake in the Rockies, and stories of ice fishing in Minnesota for Northern pike, and what a pain cleaning and getting all the bones out of northern's are.

We went down into Canyons in the Rocky Mountains, and to the streets where he grew up as a boy, in the high desert of New Mexico, where he was quick to point out the houses of his childhood friends, and the local churches and landmarks.Before the trip ended, we went to the dunes and the barrier reefs on the Texas coast, that I wandered as a youth, where there is history that includes everything from Civil war encampments, to WWII U.S. Army Air Base, to a Vietnam era S.A.C, Air Force base, to a natural pass from the Gulf of Mexico, that was sailed by merchants and plundered by the likes of the pirate Jean Lafitte.

As much as you are thinking that we embarked on the trip of a lifetime, one we all dream of taking, I have one more little secret to share with you..... This type of trip is one that I am accustomed to taking on a pretty regular basis.
Here we go again........there's an app for that.........
It's called Google Earth, and there is another one by Microsoft, called I believe, Virtual Earth. Yes, I do travel, for real, at every opportunity, but the trip I just described to with you, was done on a rainy morning on the bay, over coffee, and it is one that anybody can take. You are limited only by your imagination.

If you have aging parents, who maybe aren't computer savvy, can you think of a nicer gift, than to take them on a trip to their childhood neighborhood or trout stream, or sledding hill? It is there for the taking. Just a little food for thought. Happy Trails............