September 2003 Archives

Tuesday, September 30, 2003

National Ammo Day is coming! Go read about it here. This will be the second year of this effort by Kim and Mrs. DuToit to show in a simple way how much we as American appreciate our right to own firearms. The celebration will be a week long this year to give everyone that wants to a chance to participate. So bank away a few bucks and get ready! I should have my Kel-Tec paid for by then so I'll be buying two types of ammo this year!
Nate 1:56 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Its just not fair!

The difference between the big dogs and the barely-leaving-a-shadow-in-the-blogosphere types like this humble writer is never quite so obvious as this link. Just yesterday Kim begged for some funds to add another gun to his already bulging safe. And some kind reader came along and dropped enough cash on his doorstep to get the Winchester he was lusting for.

On the other hand, my puny blog and its simple request for funds to finish paying off my one and only concealed carry gun goes completely unheeded. Hmph!

I gotta find my niche here in the blogosphere and make this thing more interesting to people with money in their pockets! Generous people actually, with some cash to spare...

Yeah. Right. That will happen.

Nate 10:17 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Liquor law bites the hand that wrote it from the The Salt Lake Tribune


Legislators planning a national conference of state lawmakers from around the nation next year in Salt Lake City want to buck the reputation that it's impossible to get a drink in Utah.

But Monday, in contemplating the details of welcoming attendees with free wine and beer at social events, lawmakers discovered just how restrictive and confusing the very liquor laws they penned can be.

The head scratching began when Sen. Carlene Walker, R-Cottonwood Heights, asked about serving mixed drinks at the 2004 annual meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Trouble is, the opening social will be held at the Utah Capitol, noted legislative attorneys who aren't sure whether wine, beer or hard liquor are allowed in state-owned buildings.

"We need to research that," said General Counsel John Fellows.

Surprisingly, no one on the bipartisan committee suggested going alcohol-free, though according to Rep. Ty McCartney, it took some teetotaling legislators time to warm to the idea of sponsoring the consumption of alcohol. Most state legislators are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which requires its members to abstain from alcohol consumption.

Tempers especially flared when behind-closed-doors, committee members contemplated shuttling tipsy attendees from the opening social at the Capitol to a planned performance of the Mormon Tabernacle choir, McCartney said. "They were concerned about having drunk people in the conference center or on the Temple grounds."

In time, everyone agreed "people drink at these functions," said McCartney, whose sole concern now is holding a world-class conference that will make visitors want to return to Utah.

"I hope we can pull off even a small magnitude of Olympic spirit," he said. "It will probably come down to how much money we can raise."
kstewart@sltrib.com

Isn't that always the case? It all comes down to how much money can be raised...

Realistically, getting a drink here in Utah is not impossible, in most places. The laws have been loosened up so that all the chain restaurants serve drinks with meals and most all the fancy places have decent wine lists (so I'm told). Nightclubs are easy to score a one-night membership if that suits you.

Its not all so easy though. North Ogden, the next town up from my city had to pass a special ordinance to allow a Wingers restaurant into their city limits. Wingers won't open a place unless they can sell beer, North Ogden wanted Winger's business. But the laws had to be fixed to allow beer sales with food and the city council and harried citizens had strong feelings both for and against the rules. Eventually, the tax dollars incentive won out and the Wingers is open and selling chicken parts and beer. To out-of-towners I suppose.
Nate 7:44 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Sunday, September 28, 2003
One more thing. I almost forgot to mention that I bought one of these. Its a Kel-Tec P3AT. Here is the Kel-Tec web page that will tell you more about this little pocket pistol. Its .380 caliber, weighs 9 ounces fully loaded and the picture you see is full sized... It is a very light, very small backup or concealed carry gun and from everything I have found to read this weekend, an effective and useful tool. I even found through A Human Right, first hand reporting of ownership results of the P3AT's predecessor the P32. The P32 is almost identical to the bigger bored brother so I think all the comments will apply.

So its on layaway right now and waiting for me to finish paying the remainder. It might take me a couple more paydays to have it free and clear but you folks that are concerned for my family's safety could help- by hitting my tip jar! So give if you can, my family will thank you!
Nate 7:51 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Homemade mortars!
I want to go play with this guy! What fun! Thanks to Kim for putting up the link where I could find it!

Nate 7:35 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Jensens still resist chemo for sonThe Salt Lake Tribune -- By Matt Canham


The family of Parker Jensen announced Saturday that they are not ready to follow the chemotherapy regimen recommended by their doctor and once again demanded the right to seek alternative cancer treatments.

"We are currently reviewing the latest findings and considering what treatment options we need to undertake," the family wrote in a statement released Saturday. "We ask for the right and the time to make these treatment decisions on our own, without the fear of immediate arrest or Parker's forced removal from our family."

The Sandy family's comments came in response to a four-page document issued Friday from the state Office of the Guardian ad Litem. That report stated that Boise, Idaho-based physician Martin Johnston believes Parker needs 11 months of chemotherapy to battle Ewing's sarcoma.

Still, the parents assert that no subsequent tests have shown any tumors in Parker's body.
(Of course they ignored the MRI results that shows abnormalities in Parker's mouth...)


...Those talks ended in a legal agreement giving the Jensens custody of Parker as long as they follow the medical recommendations of a pediatric-oncologist of their choosing.

The Jensens selected Johnston on the recommendation of a friend. He brought up chemotherapy as the most likely treatment before examining Parker, which upset the family from the beginning, Daren Jensen has said.

On Friday, Johnston told the state he would no longer be Parker's physician, and Daren and Barbara Jensen, Parker's parents, have refused to give Johnston permission to treat their son.


This story continues to make the evening news and it is so apparent that these parents are making a martyr of their little boy. These dumbasses are obnoxious, self-righteous and arrogant and they probably won't get knocked down a peg or two until Parker dies in a year or two. Their "made for tv" kids playing football in the yard scenes are so staged as to be ridiculous and its all being done to show how normal and healthy Parker is.

Friday night they essentially thumbed their noses at the state even though they chose not to make reference to the latest MRI that shows the boy has new growths in his mouth. They agreed to abide by the Doc's diagnosis, then they have backed out of that agreement because they didn't like the answer they received! They keep claiming to never getting their day in court to explain their side of the story but on 3 occasions they have ignored the hearings and didn't bother to attend!

You can't hardly blame the Doc for backing out of this situation, he gave them his diagnosis after a new battery of tests and the family spit in his face and picked and chose the test results they liked.

Unfortunately, the DCFS boss has backed that department into a corner by stating that he would not take Parker out of the family. He's tied some hands and limited some avenues now, and that's too bad. Because this is NOT just a parental rights issue. A little boy's life is on the line and he is a trapped as a pawn in this fight and its all his parent's fault.

I feel sad for Parker. I hope his parent's get their dumbasses thrown in jail.

Nate 7:28 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Hello! Hello? Is this thing on? Can anybody hear me?

Finally. I'm back. My brain was too tired and work too involved for me to be involved in blogging until this morning, and then blasted Blog Studio was busted and I couldn't fill you up with the wonderment I've seen over the past couple days. And my internet connection here at the house has been on the fritz for a number of days. There is something wrong with the Comcast cable, my connection keeps dropping off, repeatedly, and I have to either unplug the network adapter or the modem to get the signal back. Its been happening numerous times per hour and really getting on my nerves. So the Comcast guy is supposed to be out here Tuesday afternoon to troubleshoot and fix the problem.

Anyway, it has been a spectacular weekend here! The weather is crisp and the mountains are glorious in their autumn colors. BSU and I just returned from our annual fall color driving tour, as well as every other person with a drivers license in the state... There were many groups of motorcyclists, groups of hots rods, convertibles with the tops down, families in minivans, all reveling in a day that begged everyone to be outside and enjoying the scenery and weather that makes Utah special.

Yesterday I drug buddy Brian out of his house for a hiking trip up James Peak. The peak is part of the Powder Mountain Ski Resort but access is only by helicopter and so, I had never been there before. But yesterday was another glorious day and perfect for hiking. We started from the main parking lot and walked up the dirt road to the top of Sundowner Lift then turned right and followed the track up Lightening Ridge. From there we could cut across a saddle and up the face of James Peak. Not very far in miles, really but steep and rocky and a puny trail that went straight up the mountain.

Anyway, we made it to the top. Here's proof. The view from the top was breathtaking, but that might just have ben the altitude and poor physical conditioning... The marker did not have the elevation inscribed but according to this map its 9,422 feet above sea level! (Its a big picture so it takes a moment to download... James Peak is on the far right of the picture.)

Once on the top we found the tribute to Amy and a pvc pipe with a log book. Amy, we discovered was a Powder Mountain Ski Patroller who was killed by a falling tree in Ogden in 1997. Someone that loves her keeps this tribute varnished and painted and tidy and visits here 3 or 4 times each year. Also from the log book we discovered that James Peak is a very popular destination for folks, lots of them had left their words and thoughts in the logbook. Brian took a few minutes to write as well, I just staked my small claim to reaching the top with a few comments. And I took some pictures! This one is looking south to Pineview reservoir and the village of Eden, and this is Wolf Creek canyon. Both of those pictures are to the south, this one was taken facing north towards the little town of Mantua. The line of haze in the picture is smoke from the wildfire burning in American Fork, 6000 acres over 70 miles away! Other than the haze the view was absolutely spectacular and worth the effort to get to the top.

Just to prove that I did, in fact make the climb myself, here's a picture of me next to the Amy tribute.
Nate 6:32 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Thursday, September 25, 2003
Hemorrhoid TV Ads Axed During Meal Times from Yahoo! News

"Television and radio broadcasters' advertisements should respect the customs of the masses...and are not allowed to air commercials likely to disgust audiences, for example medicines for hemorrhoids and athlete's foot, sanitary napkins and other hygiene products," the Beijing Times said.


Good for the Chinese! This is such a huge step towards real civilization. I wish we could do the same thing here in America. Maybe these obnoxious commercials could be just stuck on their own network and cable channel, like channel 997 or something...

Nate 10:28 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Bare Bottoms Yank Magazine From BYU Paper from Yahoo news


PROVO, Utah - This week's insert of Sports Illustrated on Campus has been left out of the Brigham Young University student newspaper because it contained pictures of bare-bottomed runners.

BYU was among more than 70 college campuses selected by Sports Illustrated as test markets this fall for a new magazine aimed at college students.

When it contacted BYU, officials of the school owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made it clear there would be no beer, no tobacco and no "racy presentations," said Jim Kelly, general manager of NewsNet, the school's combined student newspaper, Web and television news organization.

Magazine representatives agreed and The Daily Universe began inserting the 28-page magazine into the 18,500 papers it distributes across campus each Thursday.

It ran the first week, but Universe staffers pulled the magazine last week because of a swimsuit ad and pulled it again this week after being told it would include an article about college students playing sports naked. The story was accompanied by a photograph of nine bared male and female rear ends.

NewsNet informed Sports Illustrated on Monday that it would not be inserting the magazine and copies of it were not sent to the university.

...The contract between the magazine and the school allows Sports Illustrated to terminate the deal if NewsNet drops three inserts during the year.
"We may have to cancel the thing if this is going to continue on a regular basis," said David Randall, managing editor of NewsNet. "If students can't count on the magazine every Thursday, we're really losing some of the benefit of having it."

Imagine! College student's precious, sacred minds being subjected to nasty photos of bare behinds! The horror! And swimsuit advertisements! Is there no level to which advertisers won't stoop to despoil the sanctity of the children?? The college children? Why, look at this picture, its disgusting how these girls are showing off their legs! Have they no shame? They probably can't get their picture in the school paper...

As a member of the Proboscis editorial staff, I suggest that Sports Illustrated might be better served by putting their special edition in the Weevil State school paper!

Nate 10:28 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Tuesday, September 23, 2003
Gordon Jump of 'WKRP', Maytag ads dies - Sep. 23, 2003 from CNN.com


Gordon Jump, who played a befuddled radio station manager on the sitcom "WKRP in Cincinnati" and made his mark in commercials as the lonely Maytag repairman, died Monday. He was 71
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Rest in peace, Mr. Carleson.

Nate 5:47 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Monday, September 22, 2003
Apologies to all for the lack of blogging today. Another very busy day filled with the administrivia of hosting a 2 meeting for 75 people. Tonight there is several cases of soda, donuts, cookies and juice locked under the tonneau cover of my truck, waiting to be unloaded in the morning. Lots of other last minute changes to briefings and seating arrangements and seating cards to print and all the while trying to keep my bud Matt from screwing himself into the ceiling with his nervous energy.

So the hard part's done. Now its just staying awake in a semi-dark room and being alert enough to keep the coffee pot full and being chumy with all the guests. So no blogging at all during the day tomorrow unless I get a minute at lunch. But don't bet on it!

On a creepy note; this from my referral files. Somebody searched Google for "stepdaughter training naked step" and found their way to Wasted Electrons, even though it was the 90th listing for that search string! YUCK!

Look here Mr Perv, whoever you are, you need to stay the heck away from yours or anybody elses stepdaughters. You don't need to train aybody and you don't need to be trying to train them naked!
Nate 6:21 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Sunday, September 21, 2003
All the old comments are gone- both of them! I've jumped onboard the Haloscan comments train and so the few comments that were on my page have been lost. I was trying out the Blog Studio "Pro" version which enabled comments and a couple other features that I never could get to work properly. So I'm back to the freebie version and making the switch to the much better Haloscan comments feature.

So I hope the changes work well for you too.
Nate 11:49 AM - [Link] Say something...
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So there it is, another new link to a blog that's become a daily read for me; A little Aardvark Never Hurt Anybody. With a name like that its crying out for a button instead of a text link so I may have to see about making one for Little A.

And he and I are going to get together for brisquet brisket and beer next time I get to travel to his neck of the woods!
Nate 11:30 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Roaming rodent gets first-class return to Utah By Nancy Isles Nation, Marin Independent Journal reporter

An adventurous adult male chipmunk is being flown from Marin to Utah in a private plane today to rejoin rodents he left behind after he took a road trip to Terra Linda.
Its a a rodent for crying out loud! One of thousands! Not rare, not endangered, just a dang common chipmunk!

The chipmunk, known by staff at WildCare in San Rafael as "chipmunk 1344 from Utah," apparently didn't know he was hitching a ride when he hopped into Dixie Goldsby's Honda Insight while she camped in southeastern Utah a little more than a week ago.
Hitched in a Honda Insight ... that's a bad sign right away...

Goldsby didn't discover the stowaway until she returned home, and once she was able to catch him she wanted to do the best she could for the creature.

... Today, (Wednesday) the chipmunk is being flown from Gnoss Field in Novato more than 700 miles to the campsite where Goldsby picked him up. Marin pilot Ray Romano offered the use of his time and his Mooney aircraft and WildCare board member Jan Wild, who has experience in wildlife releases, will go along.

Goldsby also will join the entourage. The chipmunk - numbered but not given a name, per WildCare policy - will "have a story to tell," Goldsby joked.
Might as well make a party out of this hapless rodent's rescue!

"Most people would say if this was anywhere but Marin, people would just shoot him," she said.
Hardly worth a bullet for 1 chipmunk...

Unfortunately, that is too true and not quite true either. There are nutcases everywhere, even here in Utah. My next door neighbor who is a wildlife officer had to miss the last Raptors ball game to collect an injured pheasant some dingbat woman wanted to save.

The trip will require more than $300 for gas, along with food and overnight lodging for the humans. WildCare is hoping animal lovers will donate money to help pay for the mission...

Some could interpret the chipmunk's return to Utah as an extreme measure. But Karen Wilson, WildCare executive director, said it's better than the alternative, which would be to euthanize the animal.

"We are trying to make the point of how each animal that comes through our center, we do our best for," Wilson said. "Every animal is important and we try to do everything we can for them."
Aww, ain't that sweet... Could we move a family of badgers into this moonbat's basement? Please?

Goldsby, 53, said the saga began when she was nearing the end of a mountain biking trip and camped out at Canyonlands National Park for the night. She noticed that a couple of chipmunks at her campsite seemed aggressive in seeking out her organic snacks, and she saw one scamper out of her car when she left a door open.

On the trip back to Marin, Goldsby began to suspect that something came along for the ride after spending a night in Nevada and noticing a chocolate bar she had left in the car had been nibbled.

When she finally returned to her Terra Linda home, too tired to unpack the car, she discovered the next morning that a low-carb protein bar had been partially eaten.

Goldsby had a sense all along that the animal needed to be returned to its home. She called mountain bike stores to see if workers knew anyone who would be traveling to the area. Some poked fun at her and asked if she was into crystals.
No, she's not into crystals, she's just stupid!

"If we couldn't get him back he'd be euthanized, so I did have an investment in getting him back," said Goldsby, a clinical lab scientist.
The chipmunk could not be released in Marin legally or ethically because he is not native and because ecosystem balance is important, Piazza said.
Ya know, people that would expend this much effort on 1 rodent, really need to get a real life! It makes me crazy when I read stuff like this about supposedly educated, functioning people that have so little drama in their own lives that they feel the need to rescue 1 single, stupid chipmunk!
Go help build a Habitat for Humanity home, spend a few hours helping in your neighborhood soup kitchen, take a sack of groceries to someone you know that could use them. But kill the dang squirrel and get on with your lives!
Nate 9:37 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Friday, September 19, 2003
I'm adding some new folks to my blogroll and also a link to the Proboscis, which is the new group blog for the Axis of Weevil. It may take me until tomorrow to get everything all hooked so be patient. And stop by often.
Nate 8:31 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Well this is exciting. Not only did I get enrolled in a prestigious university to earn my B.S. degree today but I've also been invited to be on the editorial staff of the school's official campus newspaper!

Of course the BS degree is BS and I'm majoring in Logistics and Ballistics! You've got to read the comments connected to the post to squeeze all the fun from one of Terry's very funny posts.

You also need to go to Billy Joe Bob's BBQ Emporium to read his thoughts about a group blog for the Axis of Weevil, of which he and I are privileged members. Not one hour before reading this post from BJB I had the exact same idea! I had not mentioned it to anyone, barely myself, but somehow we had the same idea almost at the same time hundreds of miles apart.

And that is how we got to the Weevil State University campus newspaper, the Proboscis! Today. This afternoon really. What fun!
Nate 8:08 PM - [Link] Say something...
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An excellent idea! from The Geek With A .45.

I like it!

The large numbers of people who are unwilling or unable to attend to their own defense not only contribute to the problem of crime, but necessitate expenditures of public funds to take up their slack, in the form of more and more police protection, the magnitude of which wouldn't be necessary if they took the propper steps to discourage their own victimization.


Nate 12:51 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Much more administrivia today in preparation for next week's meetings so blogging might be sporadic to non-existent until much later. We have a new Colonel in the front office and he is apparently a micro-manager from hell in regards to charts.

Every briefing being presented to anyone must now pass a 3 layer scrutiny before being deemed acceptable to the Colonel. And he has kicked back 3 sets of PowerPoint charts this morning for the most simple of errors. A closing paren on one line, one word not capitalized, one line of text one size too small, all were unacceptable to the boss! And each required Matt & I to make the changes and then reprint 25 copies of each of the pages that we have already printed!

Now I'm a littler smarter than the average bear when it comes to making charts and a grammar grinch of first order but I could have overlooked such minor errors if only for the sake of not killing more trees due to the reprinting. Anyway, we have fallen behind schedule badly due to the mandated reprinting of a number of the briefings. I've also been tasked to create a Customer Comment form today. Then there's more hole punching, collating, label making and other foolishness that either musst be done today or over the weekend...

But I did get the second pair of tires for my truck last night so it is freshly shod all 'round. Happy-Happy Joy-Joy!

Also, the new, experimental meds that BSU was recently prescribed WERE covered by insurance even though she was told that they would not be covered. Whoohoo! We were told that the meds would be $145 per month, instead it was the typical $9 copay! Major bonus! Now if they will just have the effect they are designed for life for her (and me) could be much better. Cross your fingers! Not to be too embarrassing here but BSU has been living on Immodium for an extended period of time and it does NOT work for her. This new med is supposed to be much better, IF it doesn't kill her... This stuff comes with major warnings and signed consent forms and all kinds of liability limiting exclusions. As long as it works...
Nate 10:32 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Thursday, September 18, 2003
Leaving shortly for the mandatory staff meeting and picnic in the park. What a drag! I'm trying to proofread my template text to figure out the errors and I have to stop doing that to go hang out with a bunch of folks I either barely know or don't like. Humph!

And a note to one of my visitors, Little a; Next time I get to Ft Worth, its lunch at the Railhead and beers after work down at the Flying Saucer! Unless you've got other choices that are better.
Nate 11:12 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Missionary Position from Meryl Yourish

Its not what you think but it is still a subject close to my heart.

Well said Meryl!
Nate 10:01 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Two days in a row now that BlogStudio has been tweaked. Its eaten two first of the morning posts. Grr! Maybe this one will get through.

I did build and add a button for my guest map over there on the left. Please use it liberally. I had one comment that suggested that maybe the blanks to fill in for the map were really PayPal donation instructions- which is a really great idea but that function is currently disabled.

Of course my template is dorked up and I haven't found the boo-boo that is causing some of the items to be centered and the rest off to the left. I will try to fix that presently, I promise.

My buddy Todd in Ohio is having surgery today, being turned into a sporting model- no more progeny less he picks one out from the shelter. I offered him the same medical prescription that I received years ago when I upgraded my world-wide readiness capability which was; "Don't pick up anything heavier than a 12 pack, stay on the couch all weekend. Put a cold one where it hurts and when it warms up drink it. Have your beloved bring you another cold one." It worked for me and it was the best medical prescription I ever received.

So Todd, I hope you're feeling better real soon!

XSU resides with her family in Maryland and so is looking into to receive a big portion of Isabele's fury. I'm certain that they are well prepared and securely battened down so they should be safe. I just hope nobody gets washed away back there.

There's also an Axis of Isabele going on right now for up to the minute blogging news of the storm. (Or at least until the laptop batteries and the internet connections die.)
Nate 9:48 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Wednesday, September 17, 2003
Something new and cool on Wasted Electrons! Its a guest map and there is a link over there on the left. No button right now till I make one, but the link is there just above the PayPal button. Check it out and fill it up! I like it and I found it thanks to Karen who is not only a Utah blogger but an Ogden blogger!
Nate 12:50 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Dangitall! Blogstudio just ate my homework! No, wait. It ate my last post in which I explained that I'll be busy today playing administrative assistant and spending most of the day trying to kill two printers and a copier. There's a Program Management Review next week, for which I have a tremendous amount of boring preparation to accomplish.

So today will be a day of copying, stapling, hole punching, collating and other menial tasks related to preparing handouts for next weeks meeting. Unfortunately a large number of our guests/customers/warfighters/and financiers are all stationed at Langley AFB in Virginia. And they have been sent home to batten down the hatches and head for higher ground. So their briefings are not here for me to copy and their attendance at all is in serious doubt thanks to Isabelle.

So I've got to get back to standing in front of the copier for now. And it is in the hallway, just inside the front door. Its just 41 degrees today so standing there is NOT optimal. Maybe I can get back here later.
Nate 9:45 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Tuesday, September 16, 2003
Tire size calculator Here's a very cool tool. It allows you to input different tire sizes and see the overall size change and speedometer error that your desired tires will have on your vehicle.

Interesting what people will design and put on the web, isn't it?

Nate 10:18 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Don't bogart that joint, dude! Lots of people commenting today about Canada's efforts to sell dope for medical purposes but the best one I've read so far is from one of my new favorite blogs, Snooze Button Dreams. Check out his take on growing dope in mine tunnels!
Nate 9:36 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Couple refuse to leave condemned home from the Salt Lake Tribune
By Michael N. Westley


As Salt Lake County officials threatened Monday to demolish the Magna home of 76-year-old Robert M. Starkweather for zoning violations, the man and his 78-year-old wife refused to leave the condemned structure. Sheriff's deputies eventually may be called to escort the couple away so heavy machinery can knock down the barn-shaped building at 2185 S. 7400 West.

But authorities insist there is no rush to evict the elderly couple.

Instead, they will concentrate on the mountains of junk that rise and fall for nearly 100 yards between the road and the building they call home.

The yard is littered with fallen trees, pallets, hunks of concrete, junk cars and old trailers. At one point, the Starkweathers had up to 300 goats and 13 dogs on the property, said Del Swensen, Associate Director of Planning and Development Services for Salt Lake County

County officials say they have tried for the past year to persuade Starkweather to correct zoning violations at his home and the 4 acres surrounding it.

Starkweather built the home in 1995 without proper permits, officials say. Exposed plywood on the outside of the home is deteriorating, and Starkweather began piping waste into a nearby ditch when his septic tank stopped functioning. Last month, the county obtained a court order allowing it to demolish the home and bring other parts of the property into compliance.

But Starkweather claims the property belongs to God. In 1993, Starkweather filed a quit-claim deed transferring the property to "Elohim, Jehovah, Michael." A tall hand-painted sign leaning against a tree at the head of the driveway proclaims in green paint that the property belongs to them.

"The county recorder's office rejected that and so the property rightfully belongs to Starkweather," said Swensen.

...In April 2003, the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office filed a complaint in 3rd District Court alleging Starkweather's home was "a dangerous building." Judge J. Dennis Frederick issued a default judgment and order on Aug. 11.


"I gave the land to God so the city can't touch me... but I'm willing to dump my raw sewage on God's land and pile up 150 truckloads of refuse in his honor..." [/sarcasm]

More misguided religious zealots loose behind the Zion Curtain making headlines. And I suspect these folks are not members of the "prevailing faith" here in Utah, that's the surprising bit!
Nate 7:14 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Monday, September 15, 2003
Apologies to all, (ok, both of you) that have stopped by looking for exciting news from behind the Zion Curtain. Its been a busy weekend, though no doubt Possum Dad will have me beaten hands down in the busy category, but its been busy for me. And work has kept me entertained this AM and will continue to gather my attention for the forseeable future. Which is goo because it spells continued employment...

But, a bit of this and a bit of that. Friday I located at Smith & Edwards the "just right" gate latch that I needed for my overhauled fence gate. Todd chastised me a few weeks back when he was here about the sagging, lift & kick & wiggle the latch gate that I had tolerated for the 4 years that we've been in our house. So I dug out the old hinge side post that was rotted through, replaced it with a new one, built a new frame for the gate itself, reused the fence boards, added a spring closer and located a new, automatic latch. My gate now swings easily, closes by itself to keep the dogs in and latches securely hands-free.

All that in one paragraph, makes it sound pretty easy but there was several hours of struggling and grunting involved, especially since the post that needed replacing was buried 2+ feet deep in a concrete hole. There wasn't just a clump of concrete buried under a few inches of dirt, it was a 4" square hole in the concrete... Grr! Lots of drilling with a long spade bit and digging with a pry bar to get a hole deep enough and clean enough to install the new post. But boy, did it go in nice and tight!

What else? A movie on Friday night! Once Upon a Time in Mexico, opening night of the new release! That does not happen for me too often but it did last weekend. Going to the afternoon matinee makes it possible, otherwise I don't venture out to the movies on Fridays. Anyway. Inspite of Johnny "I'm a dipstick" Depp's participation in the movie I still enjoyed it. It is weird and the story is disjointed but there is lots of dusty mexican streets, gunfights and Salma Hayek, so well worth the money if you're into that kind of stuff.

And leave your kids at home 'cause there's bad language, violence and some scary scenes that kids shouldn't be subjected to. Be smarter than the folks that brought their kids to the movies, sat behind us and wanted to talk out loud. They did pipe down after I asked them to and if there is any justice, their kids kept them up with nightmares later.

What else? Oh yeah, as mentioned before we will be in our house 4 years later this week. Sadly, one of the big features we really liked when we bought the house, the hot tub, is dead and I spent part of the weekend cutting it up to remove it. The tub had been installed back in 1991 and out of service for a year. The molded part of the tub had actually developed numerous cracks and delaminations so just applying bondo to the cracks wouldn't have fixed the problems. Plus there was a busted fitting that was obsolete and needed some kind of jury-rigging to get back into service. So we decided just to get rid of it and replace it another day- after lots of bills get paid off!

Son Noah is tasked to finish up the job of cutting everything up into manageable sized chunks this week. I think we can get it all into a couple trash cans and maybe avoid a trip to the landfill later on.

I did get to buy a reciprocating saw from Harbor Freight to aid in the cutting up effort and it works very well. Its a tool I've needed to add to my arsenal for a while, I've just always managed to work around the need. But now I have one and I can tell already that it will be a favorite.

Son Noah and I also made a trip to Salt Lake to look at a FiberFab Avenger that was for sale on EBAy. That turned out to be a fun trip and we got a number of fresh ideas to apply to our car when we get back to work on it. I also made a trip out to buddy Jim's shooting range for a little while Sunday to shoot my guns and I had a chance to look at the two choices I have in mind for my next gun purchase.

Lastly, (for now) I stayed up too late last night to watch Living With Tigers on the Discovery channel last night. I do like tigers and this was a fascinating story worth staying up past my bedtime. And Brian my blogson is alive and well and working lots of overtime and so is ignoring Mental Revolutions right now. He promises to get back on track real soon.
Nate 2:07 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Playboy comes knocking at Wal-Mart from CNN.com
Now this is really kind of scary...

Playboy.com announced Monday it is searching for the sexiest women at Wal-Mart Stores, the world's biggest retailer.

"Wal-Mart employees have a reputation for being cheerful and now Playboy.com is giving them a chance to smile for the camera," Playboy said in a press release. "Playboy.com wants Wal-Mart's sexiest assets to roll back their clothes and pose nude."

Playboy ran a similar-themed 'Women of Enron' last year and 'Women of Starbucks' photospreads in the magazine earlier this year. The Wal-Mart theme is the first for Playboy.com.

I would suggest that new employment be arranged before any employees start taking it off for Playboy, not the Wal-Mart would be heavy handed about their employees and corporate image or anything...

And I can't think of any Wal-Mart employees at my local store that I want to see with their clothes off...
Nate 1:29 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Friday, September 12, 2003
I don't think Kim would call this a righteous goblin shooting since it was accomplished by a police officer as opposed to an unbadged citizen but fortunately for all of us another bad guy has been removed from the streets and the gene pool. Thanks Lt. Day and I hope you are healed up soon!
Thanks to Kevin for reporting it first.

Nate 9:32 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Busy today but not at work. This is one of those "work 9 days and get the 10th day free" days. So that means bill paying, another trip to the DMV, a trip to Smith & Edwards in search of the just-right latch for my gate and maybe lunch with the BSU someplace. And I would really like to make it to the gun range but that pleasure might have to be delayed until tomorrow.

So browse around, there's lots more blogs out there for you to read besides this one! (But come on back later because you just never know when something good will be posted.)
Nate 9:20 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Thursday, September 11, 2003
I have already written about my whereabouts 2 years ago. So go read Francescas's In Memorium. It is heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time.
Nate 3:18 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Never Forgive-Never Forget...
From Little Green Footballs, a audio file that you might want need to hear. Today.

And be sure afterwards, when you have removed the tears from your cheeks to read the comments and click the link Watch the Video in comment #4.
Nate 1:15 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Searching for a Kalishna Kitty T-shirt! Please assist!

Folks, a couple weeks ago I stumbled across a web page with a t-shirt for sale. It had the cutesy Hello Kitty character holding an AK-47 in one little paw and a logo that said "Kalishna Kitty."

But, of course, I failed to link to it or save the page anyplace that I could find it again and now I want to buy one of these t-shirts. Not for me, for son's girlfriend Lilly! Seems she is a Hello Kitty fan. And I want to get her a t-shirt as a Christmas gift.

I already asked Rachel Lucas if she was aware of this subversive shirt and the answer was negative. But she wants one if I find it... I've Googled until I ran out of spellings to try and just can't find the page I'm seeking.

But I know its out there, somewhere, in the world wide web, waiting to be rediscovered. So if you happen upon it during your jaunts through the internet will you send me an email with the link? Please?
Nate 12:44 PM - [Link] Say something...
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September 11, 2001

Standing in the Delta Airlines check-in line waiting to go to a business meeting. Every check-in clerk behind the counter, with a phone in their hand and held to their ear, listening- not talking. Every single one of them.

When they put down their handsets a supervisor appeared and announced that the president had grounded every flight in America- right then and indefinitely. We would not be traveling that day.
Nate 7:42 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Wednesday, September 10, 2003
It was 52 degrees this morning when I left for work and its only up to 55 right now. It was 90 degrees over the weekend! I think this cold snap will be sending my hummingbirds south to Mexico for the winter. I'll bet my feeder goes undisturbed as of yesterday.

But I'll leave it up a few more days in case some late-leaving stragglers stop by on their way south.
Nate 11:25 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Barking moonbats loose in Zion! No doubt he's a regular Indymedia contributor too! I found this in the City Weekly and it was too crazy not to share. You do have to scroll down about 2/3 of the way to get to this particular letter.

..."After citing some more examples of the phenomenon, I concluded by pointing out that liberals always run government better than conservatives.

Now we have another demonstration that liberal government is the best government,the great blackout of 2003. First, conservatives caused it by deregulating electricity and allowing the utilities to cut corners to fatten their profits. Second, New York was the city that best coped with the problem. New York is way liberal compared to Salt Lake City, and has the highest taxes of any city in the nation. According to Utah's Republican propagandists, big tax, liberal New York City should have fizzled. Instead, it triumphed.

Third, the problem started in Ohio, the most conservative of the states involved.

Once again, conservatives did serious damage to the nation while liberals pulled their fat out of the fire. Liberals always run government better than conservatives."

Keith Baker, Heber City
Emphasis is mine- Nate

Hmm, so the blackout was caused by conservatives huh? Sounds like the actons of that vast Right-Wing Conspiracy! Let's turn the control over to the liberals!

Yikes!


Nate 7:22 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Tuesday, September 09, 2003
This goes on my Christmas wish list! And this one too!

Nate 1:27 PM - [Link] Say something...
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For you folks with troublesome squirrels, I think you should try this treatment!
Heh heh heh!
Nate 12:06 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Slip 'N Slide makers sue 'Dickie Roberts' from CNN.com

-- The makers of the Slip 'N Slide filed a lawsuit Monday over a scene in the hit movie "Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star" that shows actor David Spade skidding to a painful halt on the summertime water toy.

The lawsuit, filed against Paramount Pictures and Happy Madison Productions, charges the filmmakers violated its trademark by using the product without permission.

Wham-O also claims the scene violates the product's safety guidelines, which limit the use of Slip 'N Slide to children between the ages of 5 and 12 weighing less than 110 pounds and under 5 feet tall.


Couldn't somebody just sue David Spade for his continued appearances in movies and television pretending to be funny? The guy creeps me out. And maybe send this movie to the video stores- this week?
Nate 9:37 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Strip clubs recruit student bodies from CNN.com
Now here's a tuition assistance program I could support!

Nate 7:47 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Well, the Raptor's season is over and Provo goes on to the championship games on Wednesday. Last night's game didn't go well at all for the Raptor's. They had an entirely new infield roster with one guy joining the team that day to replace Chin-lung Hu, another player pulled a hamstring and had to be replaced and Ogden's starting pitcher just couldn't get his pitches across the corners called strikes. The Raptor's bats never did warm up and so their season ended last night.

Thanks Raptors, I'll be looking for you in the spring!

Nate 7:05 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Monday, September 08, 2003
Conversations sometimes get a little weird at my house, especially with two teenagers around. This past weekend they spent a couple hours watching television, totally enthralled with old reruns of Bob Ross painting "happy trees".

Somehow the conversation meandered around past what kinds of medications was he taking to be like he was to "Who would win a cage match between Bob and Fred Rogers?"

We decided maybe, (if both gentlemen weren't already expired) that we would pay to see that match on Pay-per-View!
Nate 10:43 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Make-a-Wish Foundation Apologizes for Lewd Madonna/Britney Kiss

Um, yeah. So they should...
Nate 9:56 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Provo Angels fill up on Ogden pitching from the Salt Lake Tribune, By Martin Renzhofer

This was ugly yesterday afternoon folks!

Ogden pitchers may not have served as many grand slams as Denny's Restaurant, but they were satisfying and filling all the same to Provo hitters.

The Angels pounded out 18 hits, including two grand slams in their dominating 20-5 Pioneer League divisional playoff victory over Ogden on Sunday at Lindquist Field. Provo, the best-hitting team in the league, added a three-run homer for good measure as the Angels tied the best-of-three series.

Provo inflicted enough damage for two games. The Angels may have got a break early when Raptor starter Mike McGrew, a left-hander who has struck out 99 hitters in 76 innings, couldn't get loose.

Shelved due to a tight elbow, Barbary turned to David Parker, who learned he was pitching 10 minutes before game time. And Parker started well, retiring the first two batters.

Seven hitters later, Provo led 5-0. The Angels scored six in the first, four in the sixth and seven in the eighth.

Brandon Wood connected for Provo's first grand slam in the first inning. Matt Brown tagged his in the fourth and added a three-run shot in the eighth for seven RBIs.

Chin-lung Hu provided one bright spot for Ogden by smacking a two-run homer in the ninth.

Yup, my beloved Raptors got waxed yesterday. I went to the game and had a wonderful afternoon but it sure hurt to see the Raptors take such a walloping. Loosing the intended starting pitcher and putting in a guy on short notice couldn't have done anything to improve their chances.

And on another related note, Chin-lung Hu played his last game last night with a 2 run homer to end his season. Seems he is due back in Taiwan before 12 September, he must either be enrolled in the university or start 2 years military service. So he is leaving today for Taiwan and will miss tonight's game and any possible championship games.

Thanks for your spirited play this season Hu!
Nate 7:29 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Saturday, September 06, 2003
UPDATE: The Raptors just won game one against the Angels, in Provo, 4-1! Way to go Raptors!
Raptors win in the 9th! Now this was exciting!

That was last night's final game of the regular season. I'm embarrassed to say that I turned off my radio when I came inside from a fence project when the score was still 8-0 Angels and had no expectation that the Raptors would win the game. I knew I should have gone to watch last night!

The Raptors are leading tonight, 3-1 in the first game of their playoff series which is also against the Provo Angels. So I am going to tomorrow afternoon's game to cheer on my team.
Nate 9:08 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Friday, September 05, 2003
Shootout at Blackwater

Thanks to Kevin for finding this link to the Shootout at Blackwater. This is a very fascinating site with lots of noisy gunpowder burning videos to see and some very interesting reading about this get together for the purpose of displaying the latest and greatest in modern weaponry.

Of course, there's also this, available at my local gun store. Buddy Jim wants one and he's big enough to make it work as a concealed carry gun!
Nate 2:01 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Girls Gone Wild Filmed at Least 35 Minors from Tampa Bay Online


The "Girls Gone Wild" staff filmed at least 35 girls exposing themselves during spring break in the Panama City Beach area, prosecutors said.
State Attorney Jim Appleman also said during a hearing Wednesday that additional charges are possible against the producer of the videos, who was arrested in April on racketeering and drug charges after parents complained to police he told underage girls to say on camera that they were 18.

Francis' company, Mantra Films Inc., has disputed the charges, saying its crews always ask young women their age and film only those who say they are 18 or older. (emphasis mine)

The charges are based largely on about 175 hours of tapes Bay County sheriff's deputies seized during a raid at a condominium rented by the "Girls Gone Wild" staff.

A. You mean the girls might have lied about their age? and
B. How do I get invited to the next party?


Nate 10:39 AM - [Link] Say something...
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State may help pay Parker's bill from the Salt Lake Tribune, by Matt Canham


Utah officials are willing to help cover at least some of Parker Jensen's medical costs as part of a settlement agreed to Thursday by lawyers for the state and the family of the 12-year-old Sandy boy.

... Daren and Barbara Jensen, Parker's parents, have yet to sign off on the agreement, but if they do it will go before Utah Juvenile Court Judge Robert Yeates this afternoon.

... All sides are hopeful the agreement will end the standoff that has ignited a national debate on parental rights and the government's role in protecting children.

Parker was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, a rare and aggressive cancer, in May after a small tumor was removed from under his tongue, according to Daren Jensen.

A doctor at Primary Children's Medical Center wanted Parker to start a 49-week regimen of chemotherapy, but the family questioned the diagnosis and wanted more tests done. They say Primary Children's thwarted efforts to get an unbiased opinion from other physicians, even though doctors at University of Washington Medical Center and the Los Angeles Children's Hospital told the court that they agree with the original diagnosis.

The Jensens defied court orders to get Parker chemotherapy and instead searched out alternative treatments with less severe side effects. They say Parker has shown no signs of illness since the medical and legal battle erupted.

The Jensens have selected a board-certified physician at a well-known out-of-state hospital to examine Parker and determine what type of treatment he needs, if any, McDonald said. The Jensens have promised to follow this doctor's suggested treatment, even if it is chemotherapy. The doctor, who has not been publicly identified, has yet to agree to take Parker as a patient, McDonald said.

Even if the agreement is approved today by Yeates, Daren and Barbara Jensen will have to face the kidnapping charges in Salt Lake County. Prosecutor Angela Micklos said she is not ready to drop the charges and instead would like to discuss a plea agreement with Parker's parents once they turn themselves in and the boy starts treatment.

More wheeling and dealing between the Jensen family and the state concerning the treatment of Parker's alleged cancer. It does sound like some agreements will be reached today and formalized by the judge this afternoon. And I am personally glad to hear that the family has agreed to abide by the evaluation by the new sawbones.

Most of the comments I have read in other blogs concerning this story are fully on the side of the parents and have decried the state's involvement. And while I sympathize, I also feel that as parents we do not have the unbridled right to rear our children as we choose without the oversight of the state or society in general.

For instance- Suppose you're a parent that believes in paddling as your choice of behavior modification for your children. Beloved Little Johnny gets in trouble at Sunshine Elementary School one day and is sent to the principal's office. So, Principal Feelgood decides that you, Dad should be called in for consultation concerning what to do with Little Johnny.

After the hasty and noisy review of Little Johnny's misdemeanors, you, now Angry Dad decide that Little Johhny has earned a good old-fashioned butt whipping and your trusty belt is right there in your pants loops. And you proceed to give Little Johnny the whipping that you believe he has earned, right there in Principal Feelgood's outer office.

Having dispensed the punishment you felt Little Johnny would remember and consider the next time he felt the need to misbehave, you, no-longer Angry Dad, return to work. And are promptly arrested for child abuse while Little Johnny and his sister Sweet Susie are on their way to foster care.

Is spanking appropriate? That's another whole post. Think this scenario is unrealistic? I doubt it. I think its completely feasible. Did the Dad in my story exercise his rights as a parent? Sure. Was his right to disipline Little Johnny in discord with society's and the state's rights to protect children? I think so.

So it is NOT "My child, my choice!" as one of the posters in the picture of the protesters claims. IMHO
Nate 10:23 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Well PossumDad Terry over at Possumblog was Instalanched last night. It will probably crash the Blogger servos for all of the Blogger faithful. But I am jealous and equally proud of my blogfather Terry.

Good on ya Terry! And get that new computer on your desk tweaked up soon!
Nate 9:52 AM - [Link] Say something...
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This showed up in my email today:


One day, while a woodcutter was cutting a branch of a tree above a river, his ax fell into the river. When he cried out, the Lord appeared and asked, "Why are you crying?" The woodcutter replied that his ax has fallen into water, and he needed the ax to make his living.
The Lord went down into the water and reappeared with a golden ax.

"Is this your ax?" the Lord asked.

The woodcutter replied, "No."

The Lord again went down and came up with a silver ax.

"Is this your ax?" the Lord asked.

Again, the woodcutter replied, "No."

The Lord went down again and came up with an iron ax.

"Is this your ax?" the Lord asked.

The woodcutter replied, "Yes."

The Lord was pleased with the man's honesty and gave him all three axes to keep, and the woodcutter went home happy.

Some time later the woodcutter was walking with his wife along theriverbank, and his wife fell into the river. When he cried out, the Lord again appeared and asked him, "Why are you crying?"

"Oh Lord, my wife has fallen into the water!"

The Lord went down into the water and came up with Jennifer Lopez.

"Is this your wife?" the Lord asked.

"Yes," cried the woodcutter.

The Lord was furious. "You lied! That is an untruth!"

The woodcutter replied, "Oh, forgive me, my Lord. It is a misunderstanding. You see, if I had said 'no' to Jennifer Lopez, You would have come up with Catherine Zeta-Jones. Then if I said 'no' to her, you would have come up with my wife. also Had I then said 'yes,' you would have given me all three. Lord, I am a poor man, and am not able to take care of all three wives, so THAT'S why I said yes to Jennifer Lopez."

The moral of this story is: Whenever a man lies, it is for a good and honorable reason, and for the benefit of others.


That's our story, and we're sticking to it!

Nate 9:45 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Thursday, September 04, 2003
Tired tonight after two nights of staying up too late. And the Raptors are loosing to Provo again in the next to the last game of the regular season. One more game tomorrow night that I'm going to try to attend, then Saturday is Provo again, in Provo and Sunday the 2nd game of 3 possible, again with the Provo Angels. Ten games in a row against the strongest team in the league. I supect the Raptors season might be finished on Sunday. Dang.

But too tired to write anything of interest. Maybe I can get some blogging accomplished tomorrow from work. And I've got to get in touch with Brian from Mental Revolutions to see why his blog has gone so quiet. G'night.
Nate 9:03 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Geek question of the day-
Before you read this, go back to that Microsoft Office application that I know you have left open and save your work- so it won't be lost when your system crashes...

Did you click the "Save" icon? Ask yourself how long its been since you saved anything to the object the icon represents. How many of those items do you have in your desk right now? Being used? I'll bet not.

Note to younger readers: that's a 3.5" floppy disc picture on the "Save" button. It holds 1.44 MB of data. Not the 650 or 700 MB of a CD-R, 1.44 megabytes. Not enough storage space to hold a decent PowerPoint briefing...

So here's the real question: how long will that picture remain the icon for saving your work?
Nate 9:56 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Wednesday, September 03, 2003
I got to do one of the most manly of all activities last night and it did not entail killing or gutting any animals! It did entail gutting my wallet though to the tune of $344!

I bought tires! For my F-250 Super Duty truck. Big manly, burly BFG All Terrain tires, sized LT285/75R16. Sam's Club fixed me right up, in and out in less than 30 minutes with barely enough time to completely fill my sinuses with the tantalyzing smell of fresh rubber tires.

But only 2 of them right now because the dang wallet's only so big and I have to keep the lights turned on so I can see my computer's keyboard and the water flowing through the taps and the gasoline flowing through the truck's fuel injectors too. That's $1.82 per gallon right now for 87 proof! The next 2 tires will have to come from the next payday while I continue to fight off the creditors and utility companies with the remainder of this week's paycheck.

The first set of tires, which are looking pretty sad and past their prime were Firestone Steeltex tires, which, to their credit went 70,990 miles before being replaced last night. With only 1 puncture and no treadwear indicator bars showing. Pretty remarkable mileage really for OEM tires and I have to give credit where its due even though I have a long-standing aversion to Firestone tires.

You of course realize that by my purchasing the first half of a $700 set of tires that my Atomic Sugar Daddy skis are in serious jeopardy...
Nate 11:58 AM - [Link] Say something...
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AF Museum sponsors Food for Life Day


Hill Aerospace Museum is sponsoring its annual Food for Life Day on Sept. 20, when visitors can peek inside several vintage historic aircraft for the admission price of one can of food for each person admitted.

Those who elect not to bring a nonperishable food item may make a small monetary donation to the museum instead.

Collected food will be donated to the Women's Crisis Center at Your Community Connection in Ogden.

Museum hours are 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The facility is located at Exit 341 on Interstate 15 in Roy. No gate pass from the base is required to visit the museum. For more information, call 801-777-6818 or visit http://www.hill.af.mil/museum.

Come on out and visit a really first class museum. The open house days like this are well supported and always assist a good cause. My retirement ceremony was held in the museum so it has a special place in my heart.
Nate 8:10 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Hubby punches out flirtatious salesman from the Salt Lake Tribune-- Ashley Broughton


A magazine salesman from Ohio who was looking to "have some fun" in Utah County probably will return home after receiving a beating at the hands of an angry husband, Orem police said Tuesday.

...Officers determined the salesman had been at a nearby home speaking with a woman who was not interested in buying magazines, he said. "When he realized he wasn't going to sell any magazines there, he told the young woman that he gets 500 bonus points for a hug," Edwards said.

The woman, who was caught off guard, gave him a "little hug." But the salesman turned his head and attempted to kiss her on the mouth. The woman pushed him away, slammed the door and called her husband, Edwards said.

The salesman freely admitted to police the incident had occurred, saying he likes to flirt and "have some fun" with women.

The woman's husband caught up with him as he was headed down the street "and was responsible for the condition the salesman was found in."

The salesman told police he probably deserved the beating, and declined to press charges against the woman's husband, Edwards said. "He thinks he'll go back to Ohio."

Seems like a good idea...


Nate 8:05 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Monday, September 01, 2003
I can't resist sharing this link with you. Its called H2 and Stupid People...

UPDATE: The link is gone. Sorry.

Heh! "Women shouldn't drive vehicles taller than they are..."
Nate 10:06 AM - [Link] Say something...
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On a weekend note, the fence project that Noah was working on will be finished today, in just a couple more hours of work. He and I have worked hard on this project all weekend and have just a 21" gap to fill with new boards where we ran out of the old boards due to breakage and differences in board spacing. Yesterday I totaly overhauled the gate and now it works for the first time in 4 years. Needless to say, Vicky the homeowner is very pleased to have her fence and backyard nearly back in order.

And she's promised to repay me for the $70 in materials I have into this project!

UPDATE: The fence did get finished as promised and the yard is cleaned up and back to normal. Vicky is very happy to have the security and privacy of her yard restored and to have a gate that she can actually pass through without endangering her health. The gate at the front also received some attention as it was in danger of falling off its hinges and we decided to fix it up while all the tools were at hand and before the snow starts flying.
Nate 9:57 AM - [Link] Say something...
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I've had a slew of visitors this week come lookiing for more information about Parker Jensen and his family's efforts at keeping him away from the Utah authorities. If you don't know already, Parker is 12 and has been diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma and has already had a tumor removed.

But his parents did not want him to undergo chemo treatments (this is what my troll was so upset about) and took off for Idaho to keep the state from intervening. So there's arrest warrants out there, a trip to Houston for alternative treatment that got waylaid and an entire days worth of press conferences and publicity by the family- after they had agreed to not go to the press until some other negotiations could be completed.

So, its a mess. The family is complaining loudly that Primary Children's Medical Center was blocking their access to a second opinion about their son's diagnosis. That's hard for me to believe but I suppose the docs could be pretty aggressive when it comes to getting treatments started. I still think that if the family honestly were seeking a second, legitimate diagnosis that they could have managed that by now. Instead they are traveling about looking for an alternative medicine treatment... You know, they want some herbs and bee pollen to rub on his back and take away his bone cancer...

Another fine mess!
Nate 9:49 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Cops Don't Follow the laws in Chicago... from Kevin over at the Smallest Minority is a story about the gun that was involved in last week's multiple murder in Chicago. I actually wrote a post of my own a couple days ago about this story but Blogstudio ate it and I was too mad to reaccomplish it.

But Kevin's got an even better story so go check it out. It explains why a legally registered firearm was sold illegally to a police officer, who sold it to a second police officer, neither of whom registered the gun and then, somehow it ended up in a criminal's hands. In spite of the strictest gun ownership laws in the country!

And more importantly, a homeless guy has been arrested and been placed in custody, with a $100,000 bond because he didn't keep a piece of paper for 10 years! The original, registered owner has been jailed for failing to keep any sales record of the gun for 10 years according to the statutes of that misguided city...

Its just another reason why living in the west seems like a good idea to me.

Nate 9:33 AM - [Link] Say something...
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August 2003 Archives

My first troll! Yowser! Take a look at the comment left at this post by Susan. At least she was honest enough to leave her name!

But she obviously has issues. I hope she feels better dumping off some of that venom here at WE. Come on back anytime Susan, but maybe you could talk a little more politely next time...

Nate 10:52 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Saturday, August 30, 2003
Atomic Sugar Daddys My new objects of desire!

First, apologies to all for leaving nothing new on these lonely pages for the past several days- after putting a beg for $$ out there to help me get some new skis for the winter. That was rude and I'm sorry. If I'm going to beg I ought to also be putting up something of interest to keep you coming back. And I'll try.

In the mean time, I went to some of the Labor Day ski sales yesterday. I went to Alpine Sports, just down the street from me and a place where I have bought much of the winter gear that shares the Wasted Electrons World Headquarters and gear closet. The demo Pocket Rockets that I used last winter are for sale- for $495! Yikes!

Later I went to another store and they had these Atomics on sale, 1/2 price or $600. But the skis are brand new, under warranty and have a very trick boot binding system that allows the ski to flex under the boot instead of just in front and back of the binding.

I did not yet put them on layaway but I really should and probably will if they are still there tonight. So if you kind readers wanted to show your love, a tinkle of a tip in my PayPal account would get these skis under my boots when the powder flies this winter.

But now its off to finish the fence project son Noah has been struggling with at the girlfriend's mom's place. It turned into something just a little too big for him on his own, so Dad's helping.

And it needs to get finished because he has an appointment with the Job Corp admissions folks next week!

Nate 10:03 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Thursday, August 28, 2003
The Braden Files : You might be a teacher if...

Two of my sister-in-laws are educators, I wonder if they have seen this. I know they would agree with each of these statements. Check them out...

Nate 8:01 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Wednesday, August 27, 2003
Ya know that just because its 79 degrees F outside right now its not too soon to be thinking about skiing season. And new ski gear too since the sales start Friday. And I still want a new set of powder skis, preferably Salomen Pocket Rockets the I lusted after last spring.

So, if ya'll could just be so kind to toss some cash into my tip jar I could put those pretty blue skis on layaway this weekend. Anything you can spare would be appreciated and I'll think kind thoughts all winter while I'm playing in the powder.
Nate 4:07 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Family slams kidnap case From the Salt Lake Tribune


State officials have violated the parental rights of Barbara and Daren Jensen by court ordering their 12-year-old son to undergo chemotherapy, family members said Tuesday at a small rally in front of Scott M. Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City.

"They have been snowballed," said Robert Jensen, Daren Jensen's father. "They never had a chance to present their side at all."

Prosecutors say the Jensens made their case in Utah's 3rd District Juvenile Court and should have appealed if they disagreed with court orders instead of fleeing the state with their five children.

Daren Jensen and his family, from Sandy, went to Pocatello, Idaho, after a judge in Utah's 3rd District Juvenile Court ordered his cancer-stricken son to be placed in state custody on Aug. 8. Prosecutors filed kidnapping charges against Daren and Barbara Jensen on Aug. 15 when they could not be located.

Doctors from Primary Children's Medical Center and representatives from the Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS) say the boy, referred to in court records as P.J., has Ewing's sarcoma, a deadly form of bone cancer.

Family members said Tuesday that the tests were inconclusive and the Jensens are not convinced their son has cancer. They are worried unnecessary chemotherapy could leave their son sterile and stunt his growth, according to Ray Howes, Daren's uncle.

Police have not located Barbara Jensen, who is believed to be with her son. Daren Jensen and the other children are staying with Barbara's father, who is a Pocatello chiropractor and a practitioner of alternative medicine.
(My highlight.)

Here's another fine story of misguided folks from behind the Zion Curtain. The story is disturbing to me and particularly the picture that accompanies the article. I strongly resent the use of children to promote a parent's viewpoints and to make a pretty photo op. No five year old girl should be put in the position of being the poster holder for a parent's ill-formed opinion. At least in this case the parent did spell all the words on the poster correctly but its still wrong.

And while I have strong feelings about what parent's rights are in regard to their children, I think that society has imposed changes in acceptable behaviour between parent and child, mostly for the good. Running away from state agencies and going into hiding does not seem to me to be responsible parenting. Its better probably to deal with the DCFS and the doctors and the judges to resolve this as amicably as possible.

I can tell you from personal experience that dealing with the DFCS people in your family's intimate life does cause serious stress. Its hard and the questions can be ugly and repetitive. It causes strong emotion when your parenting behaviour is put under the microscope and your integrity called into question. But sometimes it needs to be done and these folks are just hurting their entire family by running away.

Nate 8:50 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Tuesday, August 26, 2003
Dang. It appears that I got all that previous post spelled right. No hope for the punctuation or anything more complex!
Nate 10:37 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Well apologies to all that might have stopped by, but I told you Todd was in town and that calls for lies in the backyard and too much to drink. All of which transpired tonight. And the Raptors lost to Casper 11-9 after the Raptors went ahead in the first inning and scored 3 more in the bottom of the 9th! It just ain't right!

So its too late to relate any more except to say that my hiccups are killing me! And Dad called tonight. Carol is into her 2nd dose of chemotherapy poison and doing ok but not loving life right now. I hate that she has to suffer through the chemo all the way until Christmas. And the concealed carry gun that I hoped he would loan to me isn't a very concealable firearm and so I'm still needing my own.

So. If you folks would be so kind to hit the tip jar, repeatedly, I'll be able to afford a concealed carry firearm to secure my family. I will post later, its too complicated tonight!
Nate 10:34 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Monday, August 25, 2003
Well dangitall anyway. Its already after 10PM and I haven't told you anything about this past weekend. And a fine weekend it was with a trip to the amusement park, the hot air ballon festival and the open air veggie and fruit stand.

But its too late tonight to really get into any of it. And tomorrow is a a tour of the Clearfield Job Corp Center with son Noah and perhaps it will be sign up day for him too. This is plan B BTW, while we continue to work on getting him accepted into the Coast Guard. Lots of red tape hurdles to leap so we might as well get him started in another honest and respectable direction.

There's also meetings tomorrow and my buddy Todd is in town for a couple days business which usually means some eating, drinking and lying late into the evenings. And maybe a baseball game tomorrow night too.

Good night!
Nate 10:20 PM - [Link] Say something...
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I've not forgotten you; I've just been busy this morning and the connection to the net has been tenuous as well. There's paying work to be done so blogging will have to wait till later.
There is some good news today though; the Lt is home from the sandbox! Thanks for a job well done Lt.

Now I must go deconflict a number of appointments I've scrambled.
Nate 11:57 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Saturday, August 23, 2003
Yahoo! News - Child Molester Geoghan Killed in Prison

Gee, who could have seen that coming?

Nate 3:19 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Friday, August 22, 2003
Hey Anonymous! Come on back will ya? I haven't had a comment from you this week, ever since the power outage through WE off the air last weekend. And you don't have to be shy either. We're all friends here so you needn't worry. Nobody ever throws anything here at WE and the company is usually fairly subdued.

So come on in, pull up a comfy chair, have a beer and a sandwich and we'll get better aquainted.
Nate 10:29 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Thursday, August 21, 2003
Egyptian Jurists to Sue 'The Jews' for Compensation for 'Trillions' of Tons of Gold Allegedly Stolen During Exodus from Egypt
From Little Green Footballs, which you should be reading every day- if your blood pressure can stand it...

Heh. Barking Moonbats want to sue "all the Jews" for the gold stolen during the Exodus! read the whole thing, its rich!


Dr. Hilmi: "Since the Jews make various demands of the Arabs and the world, and claim rights that they base on historical and religious sources, a group of Egyptians in Switzerland has opened the case of the so-called 'great exodus of the Jews from Pharaonic Egypt.' At that time, they stole from the Pharaonic Egyptians gold, jewelry, cooking utensils, silver ornaments, clothing, and more, leaving Egypt in the middle of the night with all this wealth, which today is priceless."

Question: "It is clear why they stole the gold, but why the cooking utensils?"

Hilmi: "Taking posession of the gold was understandable. This is clear theft of a host country's resources and treasure, something that fits the morals and character of the Jews. Yet what was not clear to the Egyptian women were the reasons for stealing the cooking utensils, when other things may have been of greater value. However, one of the Egyptian priets said that this had been the Jews' twisted way throughout history; they seek to cause a minor problem connected with the needs of everyday life so as to occupy people with these matters and prevent them from pursuing them to get back the stolen gold...

Question: "What do you think is the value of the gold, silver, and clothing that was stolen, and how do you calculate their value today?"

Hilmi: "If we assume that the weight of what was stolen was one ton, [its worth] doubled every 20 years, even if the annual interest is only 5%. In one ton of gold is 700 kg of pure gold ? and we must remember that what was stolen was jewelry, that is, alloyed with copper. Hence, after 1,000 years, it would be worth 1,125,898,240 million tons, which equals 1,125,898 billion tons for 1,000 years. In other words, 1,125 trillion tons of gold, that is, a million multiplied by a million tons of gold. This is for one stolen ton. The stolen gold is estimated at 300 tons, and it was not stolen for 1,000 years, but for 5,758 years, by the Jewish reckoning. Therefore, the debt is very large?

Question: "Is a compromise solution possible?"

Hilmi: "There may be a compromise solution. The debt can be rescheduled over 1,000 years, with the addition of the cumulative interest during that period."


I notice he did not make mention of repayment being due for the long line of donkeys... This story just floors me. What dumbasses!



Nate 10:10 PM - [Link] Say something...
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NOTE: May not be work safe! My network's filters jumped all over the link... Your results may vary.
Steak and BJ Day Mark your calendars tonight! Do NOT fail to mark this one in BOLD on the calendar for next year! Set your watch, program your PDA, do whatever you must do to remind yourself...

No. Wait! You'll need to find a way to ensure the feminine half (or quarter or third for you polygamist types) of your relationship remembers this important date.

This is almost better than Eat an Animal For PETA Day!

And its right during spring ski season too!

Nate 7:01 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Better now. Much less cranky. Looking at jet powered firetrucks helped!

And an update, it seems the Standard-Examiner is still requiring you to register. I visited there today and it was just like previous visits with a request to log in. Maybe it was broken or perhaps the powers that be had it turned off for one reason or another. At any rate, I'll share my login with you if there's something to see.

New workload today. Its Night Vision related and a new effort for the european countries and hopefully it will not be a fairly quick program that does not tie me up for months and months.

My friend Lisa is retiring from the USAF in October and is looking for work. She's doctoring up her resume this afternoon and then I'll forward it to my company for a position that is being advertised right now. She is perfectly qualified for the job as its listed so I would predict that she will certainly be asked to interview for the job. And it would be great if my puny efforts could assist her in her job hunt.

I think I need to go out and shoot my guns. That might make me feel better and cure my malaise...
Nate 2:30 PM - [Link] Say something...
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World's Fastest Firetruck. found through Dave Barry's blog

Ok, this makes me feel better! You know how fond I am of excess power in vehicles, so how could this fire truck not cheer me up? Yeah Baby!

Nate 11:21 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Crabby today. Grouchy. More curmudgeonly than usual. I did not sleep well last night and my attitude shows it this morning. I think I know the reason why but I'm not sharing right now. Blogging might be lagging until my attitude and humor improve. Go read some of the folks on my bloglist in the mean time, they're better reads than this puny effort anyway.
Nate 8:38 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Wednesday, August 20, 2003
LETTER FROM COOK COUNTY JAIL
From a link at Kim du Toit's blog.

This is a very disturbing story. I may not be able to support this young man's defense financially but I certainly hope he gets good counsel and that his day in court is ruled with some overwhelming common sense.

Nate 10:26 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Its Speed Week at Bonneville Salt Flats Maybe I should take Friday and go out there again.

Nate 7:08 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Tuesday, August 19, 2003
Kevin over at Smallest Minority had an interesting, (ok, scary) story about the young woman Bridget Green who was supposed to be her class validictorian but instead failed to graduate because she could not pass the graduation exit exam.

I'm just appalled by this entire story. It is too scary that this girl was the best the school had to offer and even though she could not meet the standards she received A's and B's in her classes. And while I don't think that state required exit exams are faultless, there is a bigger problem here that should have been corrected much sooner in life.

Its a hard world out there in the real world Bridget!
Nate 11:14 AM - [Link] Say something...
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A SMALL SUCCESS!
This may have nothing to do with my repeated letters to the editors but the Ogden Standard-Examiner's webpage no longer requires you to have a login and password to read the stories! So now I can share my local news with you much easier and you won't have to feel guilty for using my shared login info.

I'm calling it a victory.
Nate 9:54 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Ogden woman faces porn, sex charges

Tue, Aug 19, 2003 By MARK GRAY Standard-Examiner staff



OGDEN -- A 43-year-old Ogden woman was charged Monday with seven felonies after police say they discovered her in possession of a computer disk with more than 100 images of nude children.

Karma Monk was also charged for having sexual intercourse with two juveniles, as well as allowing them to view pornographic material at her home. Court records indicate the material was readily available in the house. The charges include sexual exploitation of a minor, two counts of unlawful sexual activity with a 16- or 17- year old, two counts of dealing in harmful material to a minor and two counts distribution of a controlled substance.


Eww! There's no picture but I can't help wondering what this woman looks like... My guess, she's ugly as a burned stump. Or just too lazy to find a real boyfriend that might not get her arrested!

Nate 9:49 AM - [Link] Say something...
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I've added a WeatherPixie to WE today, just for fun. Maybe it will be a little more accurate in reporting the weather than the last reporter I tried. Pity I can't modify my pixie to make him bald and pudgy!
Nate 9:01 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Well, real life and a movie got in the way of my return to the spacious WE world HQ and ski closet last night and so I did not get to do any further posting. I'm not going to write any movie spoilers here but if you've not yet seen How To Loose A Guy In Ten Days, I really recommend it. Yes its a chick flick but it is also laugh out loud funny! While it has been many, many years since I've been in the dating world, I could tell that the scenes played out in the movie were probably too true and a good reason not to be dating.

So, a: its a good thing I'm not dating and 2: watch the movie. Its funny and you will score good points with your partner for volunteering for a chick flick.

Later rent Basic, if you can stand John Travolta and like Samuel L. Jackson. Its a fine murder mystery, military suspense film with a lot of twists and turns and an excellent ending. I liked it and even the BSU claimed to enjoy it even though the plot turns made her brain dizzy from trying to keep up.

First weekend in a while that I've managed to rent a couple films that weren't real stinkers!

Nate 8:31 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Well, real life and a movie got in the way of my return to the spacious WE world HQ and ski closet last night and so I did not get to do any further posting. I?m not going to write any movie spoilers here but if you?ve not yet seen How To Loose A Guy In Ten Days, I really recommend it. Yes it?s a chick flick but it is also laugh out loud funny! While it has been many, many years since I?ve been in the dating world, I could tell that the scenes played out in the movie were probably too true and a good reason not to be dating.

So, a: it?s a good thing I?m not dating and 2: watch the movie. Its funny and you will score good points with your partner for volunteering for a chick flick.

Later rent Basic, if you can stand John Travolta and like Samuel L. Jackson. It?s a fine murder mystery, military suspense film with a lot of twists and turns and an excellent ending. I liked it and even the BSU claimed to enjoy it even though the plot turns made her brain dizzy from trying to keep up.

First weekend in a while that I've managed to rent a couple films that weren't real stinkers!

Nate 8:25 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Monday, August 18, 2003
Well its been another difficult day for blogging, busy at work and when I tried to get into the posting page it wasn't working. So maybe a little bit tonight if the systems stay up. But dinner first and probably some weed pulling. And both my hummingbird feeders are empty tonight so I better get those filled to avoid the scolding that 8 hungry hummers can dish out.

Later.
Nate 5:14 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Sunday, August 17, 2003
Its back! WE is back from the void of nothingness caused by servers with no electricity. And its my bed time and I'm not staying up late to try to catch up. Sorry. Highlights tomorrow as time permits. And hopefully the comments will be back soon too. G'night.
Nate 10:07 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Thursday, August 14, 2003
Well then, apologies to all for the lack of posting yesterday. Interestingly enough, my lack of fanciful rambling was noted by a couple of my regular readers and I've been chastised for it in private. I'll try to do better.

Yesterday wasn't a total loss though as I was reading other folk's work and leaving some comments here and there and swapping emails in a couple different directions.

I don't have time to lay out for you all the details of yesterday's conversations but I do want to tell you about an interesting development. A couple of days ago I posted a note to a proud mom to recommend to her son to consider the Chrysler Crossfire and that mom has left a number of comments in the box. She also sent me email a couple of times and we swapped ideas about her sons's desire for a Neon SRT-4 and whether he might prefer kart racing instead of drag racing and some related topics.

Later, Terry over at AOW HQ posted a link to a Ford Focus modification to install a real V8 motor and rear wheel drive where the front drive V6 normally resides. And I shared the link with this mom of the would-be SRT-4 owner and suggested she share the link with him.

Well, she did. Mom and son checked out the hot rod Focus pages then the Wasted Electron links and comments including my remarks about the Fast & Furious crowd with their rice burners and big noisy resonators and silly wings. Youngster took some offense to my F&F comments and didn't want to be considered part of that group though he admitted to owning his own copy of the movie...

Finally, after poking through the WE archives a bit with the young man, proud mom pointed him to the link to my web page where my pictures reside. Here the youngster (he's 23) discovered pictures of people he is related to...

Because the proud mom is the XSU and the young man is my namesake. And last night he got a chance to learn more about me through this blog and my pictures and comments and I hope he will be encouraged to stop back again on his own. And leave some comments refuting my F&F crowd opinions if he'd like...
Nate 8:22 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Tuesday, August 12, 2003
OK, I give up! I put my colors back to the original template colors. Doing so wrecked a number of personalized additions like the spinning caffeine molecule. I was able to get that put back and the borders resized and most of the items centered in the left column. I've made myself cross-eyed trying to get the 3 remaining pieces to be centered instead of aligned to the left.

I'm tired and cranky and the Raptors are down by one run at the top of the 9th with their last bats coming up. But I think I'll read about it in tomorrow's paper.
Nate 9:45 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Marine dies three hours after return from Iraq

Dang. This is a tough circumstance. I wonder if the wife got the timeline accurate though...

Nate 1:29 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Mucking about with my template for a couple minutes this AM, obviously. I've removed the weather forecasts as some of you couldn't access the page because of them and I didn't love them anyway. And I've got the colors all dorked up again which will probably take me until tonight to get corrected into something more masculine. The current color is just a little too bright for me. Sorry.
Nate 10:43 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Monday, August 11, 2003
Fire pictures as promised. And no movies because they were horrible. So just pictures... Fire breaks out above my house!


A retardant tanker makes a drop pass.

This is the smaller of the two choppers that came in to drop water.


One more tanker drop.


Nate 8:40 PM - [Link] Say something...
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One quick post- To the proud mom of the new Chrysler mechanic and employee of the year...

Tell him to skip the Neon and get the Crossfire. I sat in one of these the other day and it is very cool!

More expensive than a Neon I know. But so much more style!
Nate 2:56 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Back to work. So I've been busy today reading, sorting and throwing out junk emails. (I need to hire Chet away from Terry to manage my email...) But work is good and makes paying the bills easier so I must abide continuing in the service of my government handlers.

I've even been handed a new task this morning which should if I'm careful ensure my continued ability to feed myself and the familial unit. So I'll be digging into other people's activities and building graphs and charts and that type of fun stuff. It will get me out of my cube and talking to a number of other folks, one of whom is quite pleasant on the eyes so that will be a bonus.

So blogging will necessarily be lighter doing the work hours. Sorry.

UPDATE TO THE FIRE STORY- The helicopter continued all day Sunday dumping water on the patch of burned mountain that appeared to be fire-free by Saturday evening. Kudos to the firefighters for being so thorough I suppose.
Nate 2:50 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Sunday, August 10, 2003
OK, no pictures or movies of the firefighters as promised earlier today. It was late when I go into the spacious Wasted Electrons HQ and ski closet and then some malicious little bit of software snuck past my firewalls and installed itself on my computer! dang thing added a new line to my IE toolbar and it was blinking and beeping and would not allow me to use any of my favorites.

But its fixed now. Thanks in no small part to the good folks at Lavasoft and their neat bit of freebie software called Ad-Aware. I ran it through, followed the instructions, deleted the files it found and my computer was functioning the way I want it to. Again.

Thanks Lavasoft! Now its bedtime. And an early 5AM wakeup as I have to go back to work... Rats! Pictures and movies tomorrow night. I promise.
Nate 11:07 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Vacation's over - I'm back!
Blogging will return to its usual mundane quantities and qualities over the next couple days. I'll try to fill up some electrons with all the excitement of the past couple of weeks.

And there has been some excitement in my neighborhood, just yesterday. During the previous night there was a big thunderstorm with lots of lightening. As a result, the Forestry Service received reports of 40 wildfires, and one of them was on the mountain side right above my house! I happened ot be visiting Brian when I first spotted the fire fighting tanker airplane and its spotter plane flying down the mountain face. When I moved just a bit to see where they were going, the fire and smoke became obvious and the proximity to my neighborhood very apparent. So we headed to the house where we could clearly see the fire and the fire fighters efforts.

We set the lawn chairs out in the church's grass across from my house, brought out the cameras and binoculars and refreshment and spent a couple hours watching the fire fighters efforts. The big retardant dropping tankers made a number of passes dropping their bright red cargo, its quite spectacular to watch.

When they were called off to fight some of the other fires around the state then the finishing duties were passed off to two helicopters carrying water baskets on cables slung below. This was pretty dramatic stuff to watch too and we pretended to be Olympic judges passing critique on their accuracy with getting the water onto the fire. We went down to the irrigation reservoir just a couple blocks away to watch them refilling the baskets but due to the raised reservoir edges af the police lines we couldn't get any pictures of the baskets being filled.

Still those 2 choppers kept after the fire, making trip after trip, picking up water and delivering it up the mountain to the hotspots. On the news the reporters called the fire about 15 acres and no lives or property was ever endangered. But it was pretty exciting spectating!

I've got pictures and even a movie clip to show you but have to add them to my site first. And breakfast is ready so it will have to wait!
Nate 11:36 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Saturday, August 09, 2003
Driver who nursed infant found innocent of child endangerment from CNN.com

This story just really pisses me off! UPDATE: Here's another linkto the story with details of the court activity.

RAVENNA, Ohio (AP) -- A woman who belonged to an obscure religious sect was found innocent Friday of child endangerment for breast-feeding her baby while driving, but was convicted of three lesser charges.

Catherine Nicole Donkers, 29, was found guilty of violating child-restraint laws, driving without a valid driver's license and fleeing police while on the Ohio Turnpike in May.

Prosecutors recommended Donkers be sentenced to 30 days in jail and a $500 fine instead of the maximum one year in jail and $2,000. Judge Donald Martell said he would postpone sentencing to investigate Donkers "because I feel I need to know more about you."

Child endangerment was the most serious charge she faced.

Donkers, who represented herself, and her husband, Brad Lee Barnhill, belong to a religion they say requires Barnhill to be responsible for punishing Donkers.

"I called my husband, and he directed me to continue on, to drive to Michigan and nurse my child in the car. We did not feel we were breaking any law." Catherine Donkers

Donkers had said she did nothing wrong and was following her husband's orders.

"We are people who do not shirk from facing the consequences of our actions. I pray that this court respects my faith," Donkers said in closing arguments.

Donkers argued that as a Michigan resident, she was entitled under that state's child restraint law to breast-feed while driving, even though she was driving in Ohio when she was stopped. Child restraint laws in Michigan exempt nursing babies.

But prosecutor Sean Scahill said Donkers should be punished for endangering the child's life because the baby could have been killed even in a minor accident.

"She placed that infant between herself and the steering wheel, between herself and the air bag," Scahill said.

Donkers said Thursday that for a short time she took both hands off the wheel to move the 7-month-old girl while the car drove in cruise control at 65 mph.

"I don't believe there was any form of recklessness," she said. "I called my husband, and he directed me to continue on, to drive to Michigan and nurse my child in the car," Donkers said.

"It certainly isn't a primary choice as a form of feeding my child. I certainly had no intent to harm my child. I never would," she said.

Donkers and Barnhill -- who lack a marriage license but claim to be married -- belong to the First Christian Fellowship for Eternal Sovereignty, which has a history of challenging the government.

The organization, which pledges allegiance to Jesus Christ, was founded in Henderson, Nevada, in the 1990s. Barnhill says he is a minister in the fellowship, which has 650 followers.

State police had pursued Donkers for several miles on the northeast Ohio highway before she stopped. She insisted on speaking to her husband before cooperating.

Testimony from a state trooper said Donkers had what appeared to be a homemade Pennsylvania identification card instead of a driver's license.



So, she didn't think she was doing anything wrong, it never occurred to her to pull off the road into a rest stop to nurse, she decided it would be ok to put her baby between herself and the airbag and she didn't have a drivers license from any state but instead had a forged document in her possesion. Driving with both hands off the steering wheel was ok because her husband said so and by the way, we don't respect the states right to impose punishment; my husband will do that!

Dammitall! What kind of blockheaded dumbasses are these people? Its ok to drive on the states roads but we don't recognize the need for a drivers license... We think we can apply laws from other states to suit our fancy no matter where we live... How can stupid people like this be allowed out in public? I of course refer you to the quote at the top of the page...

And why in the hell was she innocent of the child endagerment charge? More dumbasses decided that!


Nate 8:38 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Monday, August 04, 2003
Some of you might know that the USAF paid me for 18 years to be an aircraft scheduler. I worked in offices throughout the world that were all known as Plans & Scheduling. Also known as Dreams & Schemes by lots of folks that had to respond to the schedules I built. It was my job to build schedules, to forecast upcoming requirements, schedule them to be accomplished before becoming overdue and ensure that the documentation of the work was properly annotated when the work was done.

Its what I did. I was pretty good at it. I scheduled EC-135 and KC-135 aircraft, B-52 aircraft, the engines hanging on the wings of B-52s (all 8 engines per bomber), F-16s and enough munitions to destroy Baghdad again.

So imagine my surprise, after mentioning to each of you this morning, and in previous posts that tonight we were going to see Willie Nelson at the county fair to discover that the fair begins Wednesday! Not tonight! Wednesday! And the concert is sold out BTW, not that it matters because we will be camping 100 miles away on Wednesday. Geez did I feel like a dope!

Somehow, when I started talking to Renee about coming to Utah for her vacation I built a little schedule of things to see and do. And I looked at the fair schedule and the concert announcements and I decided that a concert should be on Monday before we left to go camping. Except I forgot to coordinate that plan with Willie and the fair organizers and all the little sparkly-dust sprinkled lambs and their owners that won't be there until Wednesday!

Dangitall! So, it might be, if she wants to go, that we will see the Raptors game tonight that was washed out yesterday. And its a double header tonight for the same reason.

But she's napping right now so I'll ask later. Just thought you should know I was stupid this week.
Nate 2:38 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Ok, so Renee's vacation in Utah has been pretty wonderful so far. Or so she says. The weather has cooled into the 60s at night and while we have our morning coffee and hummingbird viewing and not terribly hot during the days. She is really enjoying the cool weather, I just wish I could take credit for it...

We even had a ferocious storm blow through yesterday while we were at the Ogden Dinosaur Park. Hail pounded down for a while forcing all the picnicers throughout the park to scurry to huddle under pavilions and covers everywhere. Fun to watch even though the backwards flowing drain finally forced us inside the museum to the rest of the exhibits.

Tonight we're going to the fair and to see Willie Nelson. So we have to get out this morning for tickets. There's a draft horse show that I want to see as well as all the animals in their pens that BSU enjoys so much.

Last night was a trip to the drive-in picture show, something Renee wanted to do again since she enjoyed it during her last trip. It was American Wedding and Bad Boys II that we chose. (You can find your own links if you like.) Anyway, neither of the women like American Wedding- at all. I liked it and laughed but I had seen the first two movies and knew what do expect. They hadn't, didn't and didn't care for it. Renee slept! Bad Boys II was about what you would expect from Will and Martin and there was lots of horsepower and things blowing up, so I liked it bunches. Renee slept... It might have been because of the beer we drank throughout the afternoon since the Raptors baseball game was rained out...

Anyway, I've got a picture or two. But I have to get them uploaded first, as I just realized. So hang on a minute...

Right. I'm back. For the toe porn lovers that are out there, Renee said I could post ths picture...


Those are her toes and I got to paint them myself! Here's a picture of Renee from the same time.



So, off the computer and outside for another glorious day! Posting will be even lighter as tomorrow we head off camping. I'll take notes!
Nate 10:52 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Friday, August 01, 2003
Renee's here! She arrived safely last night and more vacation starts today. So blogging might just be even lighter than usual. Sorry. There might actually be some time in the mornings to do a little something if I get up earlier than the rest of the house.

Also I've added a couple new items, the current weather box and the weather forecast. Either or both may stay or go, I haven't decided. I wish I could resize the current weather box to the same width as the forecast but that's controlled by the provider of the service.

Anyway, a little feedback would let me know either of you think about the changes. Todd called in, he doesn't like the light blue background color so maybe I'll tweak it today.
Nate 9:00 AM - [Link] Say something...
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July 2003 Archives

Thursday, July 31, 2003

A really big day for Donald and Steven Sensing from One Hand Clapping.

from the Marine FAQ website:

Will my child be someone different when boot camp is over?

Answer: Don't worry. Your child will be the same person after boot camp, just a greatly enhanced version.


Donald got to administer the oath of enlistment to his son today. What a proud moment for both of them. Go watch the video of the ceremony.

I on the other hand am wading knee deep through the DOD medical processing for enlistment handbook (88 pages) in search of the appeals process for son Noah who has just last week been disqualified from further enlistment actions. We're going up the chain of command and I've already drafted the letter to my Senator...
Nate 1:14 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Centerville fire finds fuel
From the Standard Examiner that still requires you to register... use "wasted_electrons" and "blogspot" to read the whole story.

Pretty dramatic pictures today from the fires burning on the hillsides just a few miles from my home. And it aggravates me something terrible that this was caused by kids being stupid. Anyway, check it out.


The third major wildfire in the Top of Utah this month continued to blacken at least 215 acres in Ford Canyon on Wednesday as helicopters, air tankers and firefighters tried to contain the day-old blaze.

The fire began at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday after three teens were playing with smoke bombs near the base of the mountain on Firebreak Road, sparking the dry scrub oak and grass yellowing the mountain, officials said.

Officials had been glad the weather cooled from the triple-digit temperatures and canyon winds that accompanied other fires were lacking.

However, late-afternoon winds Wednesday brought the fire south, jumping the canyon to burn heavy timber. That expected move created mushroom clouds of smoke that could be seen from Weber County to Salt Lake County.

"It so sad. This fire is right in my back yard," said resident
Natalie Bailey, who went outside with her family to take pictures of the smoke as it filled the sky. "I hate to see all that black smoke in that air. I feel bad these kinds of things have to happen."

The fire is being compared to the Farmington fire, just two miles north earlier this month, with similar fuel and terrain conditions.

However, it is just more than 10 percent of the size of that 1,936-acre fire. Thus far, the Centerville fire has cost more than one-quarter of a million dollars. Officials expect by the time the fire is contained costs could equal expenses of the Farmington fire, which cost at least $1.5 million.



Nate 9:06 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Wednesday, July 30, 2003
A gentle reminder today.
(in)Famous Gun Nuts from Flashbunny.org
Nate 1:00 PM - [Link] Say something...
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German scholar says Quran was not originally in Arabic from Donald Sensing over at One Hand Clapping

A very interesting article about a book Challenging the Quran that claims that the Quran was not originally written in Arabic as all good Muslims take as fact. Rather, the author, using the pseudonym Christoph Luxenberg claims that the Quran has Hebrew and Aramaic origins.


Donald writes: "Its important to remember that the Quran does not occupy the same religious place in Islam as the Bible does for Christians. For Muslims, the Quran is much more analogous to what Christ is for Christians - the supreme and actual revelation of Allah.

Even so, one may ask, "What's the big deal?" The tenets of Christian faith have come under critical scrutiny - if not actual attack - for many decades now. The Jesus Seminar, for example, consists of about 70 members (only a handful are bona fide scholars, though) that claims to have refuted almost every Christian doctrine about Christ. Yet Christians haven't lit torches, grabbed pitchforks and marched off to lynch the heretics and blasphemers.


Its an interesting read and another indicator of why "they" don't like "us." Go read it.
Nate 11:51 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Mueller makes homer history


ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) Bill Mueller could not have imagined having a night that was unprecedented in major league history.

The switch-hitter became the first player to hit grand slams from both sides of the plate, connecting for three homers to lead the Boston Red Sox over the Texas Rangers 14-7 Tuesday night.

Mueller had a career-high nine RBI with the first three-homer game of his career. He has 13 homers this season, also a career best, and four career slams.

"I was just trying to have good at-bats like the guys in front of me," Mueller said. "I was just trying to drive some runs in. I was fortunate to get some balls up in the air and they carried out. I was just trying to hit line drives, but tonight they went out."


I am very impressed!

Nate 10:03 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Fire chases Fruit Heights residents from homes

More examples of dumbass running rampant with no consideration of personal responsibility, danger inflicted to property, homes or the lives of firefighters. Two fires yesterday, just miles apart, caused by teens playing with fire on the mountains during the driest summer in years. No appearance of commmon sense being applied here at all; just dumbass.

I think I'm beginning to favor the idea of public caning for behavior like this...

There's a couple buttons below the picture, clicking the left button will take you to the story.


Fire officials in Fruit Heights called for the evacuation of at least 20 homes Tuesday night as a field fire burned out of control east of Highway 89 near 200 North.

The blaze, thought to be human-caused, ignited around 9 p.m. Five or six juveniles were spotted jumping a fence and speeding from the fire scene in a white minivan, said Lt. Brad Wilcox of Davis County Sheriff's Department.

Also on Tuesday, a fire in Centerville was started in dry grass by three teens playing with smoke bombs, authorities said.

A firefighter was injured at that fire, but officials did not immediately release information about the injuries or the firefighter's condition.

That fire started about 12:30 p.m. It had covered about 80 acres, was moving slowly and no buildings were in immediate danger by Tuesday night. A second, nearby, spot fire had burned 10 to 15 acres as of late Tuesday.

A fire started July 10 burned more than 2,000 acres in Farmington Canyon. (By the homeless guy that wanted to start sleeping in the county jail, remember? Now he's looking at 15-20 years!)

Nate 7:08 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Tuesday, July 29, 2003
Well that's it for tonight. I've played with the colors and the comments and I can't figure out the statistics page and my original comments are showing up again too.

But it will all have to wait, I'm off to the airport!
Nate 6:42 PM - [Link] Say something...
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I just implemented the BlogStudio Pro upgrade. Now I've got to figure out how it works. Instructions are very sketchy...
Nate 2:56 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Comments are AWOL. Again. Time for a switch to a new comment provider, just as soon as I have a couple hours to tweak about.

Spouse is returning tonight. Got to finish getting the house tidied up. I often do it when she's away just to prove that its not so hard that even I can do it. But she's anxious to be home and she'll probably sleep a couple days to catch up from her stay with her sisters.
Nate 2:42 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Monday, July 28, 2003
Busy tonight finishing up some housecleaning in anticipation of the BSU's return and the arrival of Renee for her vacation. Rumor has it that BSU is flying home tomorrow but so far I've not been told when to appear at the baggage carousel to deliver her home. I suppose she'll call sometime.

And the itinerary for Renee's trip is getting fixed up nicely. There will be a day at Lagoon Amusement and Water Park, a Raptors baseball game, Willie Nelson in concert at the county fair, 3 days and 2 nights camping in the mountains, good food, margaritas just about non-stop and plenty of hours of just resting in the shade.


Wish you all could join us!
Nate 10:23 PM - [Link] Say something...
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One more thing right now. Carol, my dad's bride of 3 months is beginning her chemo treatments today. If all goes well she should be finished being injected with poisons before Christmas. Say a prayer for her if that's your part of your daily routine.
Nate 1:51 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Man I am so glad its Monday and I can get back to work and rest up. This last weekend was another fun-filled bunch of hours that seemed to run out before the fun and chores were caught up. For those of you keeping up, the BSU has NOT returned home or called to say she's coming home. But she hasn't called and demanded that her sewing machine be shipped to Oregon either.

I have received email rumors that she may be planning to return tomorrow but so far I've not been told when to present myself to the airport baggage pickup carousel for her (hopefully) joyous return home.

Saturday, buddy Brian and Noah and I headed out to go mountain biking. The easy kind of biking that involves riding up the mountain on a chairlift and then down the mountain on the bike. We like to do this a couple times each summer and its a great way for old slow fat guys like yours truly to have some fun without having a heart attack and wrecking everyone else's afternoon fun.

This trip we decided to go to Snowbird Resort. I had read that they were shuttling bikes on their tram this year and we had never been there before so we decided that was our destination. In the past we have been to Deer Valley and Park City Resort and we were hoping to be able to ride this year at Snow Basin this year since its much closer to home but old Earl Holding the owner killed that idea for this year. So off it was to Snowbird and adventure.

Brian needed to rent a bike 'cause he's too cheap to buy the parts his bike requires and I had read that there were rental bikes available. Little did we know that Snowbird really isn't into this mountain biking thing too much, they're really just doing it because some of the other resorts are doing it and they wanted to sell a few more rides on their fancy tram.

Their bike rental was in a closet. They had 5 bikes. Mostly broken, the rest poorly set up. The bike Brian first rented had no real brakes, the rear suspension was totally misadjusted and the tires were worn to nubs.

Oh, and there was NO singletrack trail to ride! Just one gravel and rock access road from the top to the bottom. Turns out that Snowbird is on BLM land not Forestry Service land and no trailmaking is allowed. This was a huge disappointment because singletrack that winds and weaves through the alpine meadows and aspen forests is the reason we like to go to the resorts. We made one run to the bottom; carefully. Not carefully enough for Brian though as he did get thrown down pretty hard and skinned himself up from shoulder to calf in the gravel.

So we took a break after getting back and Brian found some antiseptic creme and picked most of the rock out of his skin and pretty soon he wanted to do it again. After we thumped the so-called bike mechanic and insisted that he fix the brakes, which he did and then we re-did after getting back to the top for the second ride.

This time the tram operator turned us on to another way down that he promised would be much better, after we went uphill over that ridge over there... So off we went and it was much better even though the uphill portion was much bigger once we got closer... But it was a good ride down for us and the 3 young fellows that tagged along with us. We stopped and took pictures of a badger napping, fixed one of the bikes that was unscrewing itself, climbed on the boarded up silver mine access door and generally had a pleasant ride back down the mountain and the resort area.

Homeward bound after that but not before fish & chips at Neil's Halibut & Chips, voted best in Salt Lake City for a number of years. Very good food, funky decorating and great service, its a favorite whenever we get down that way. And we went to Riverton to visit the traveling Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall which was on display just for the weekend. I've not yet had the privilege of seeing the permanent memorial but seeing those 58,000 names engraved in stone is a stark reminder of the people in uniform that put their life in harm's way for our country's ideals. (I may have more on this subject later.)

And all that was just Saturday!

Sunday was much more mundane but just as tiring. The camper needed some parts installed, a new cover on the vent and a replacement LP gas sensor. Both the parts I bought Saturday on the way to mountain biking. The sensor required me to cut a bit of the plywood and a bit of wiring to get properly installed but no real cussing was involved.

Then I folded it up and headed inside for the dreaded housecleaning... The place was a wreck really with all the travel we've done this summer. We don't clean too hard anytime but lately the situation had become real bad. The amount of dust bunnies I swept out of the laundry room could have populated the entire Utah west desert! I scrubbed the bathroom. Hard. I vacuumed the computer closet and world headquarters of Wasted Electrons. I sprayed the spiders that threatened to carry me out of my closet that they were trying to claim for themselves. I vacuumed the family room and the hallway, including moving all the furniture and wiping down all the baseboards. I did laundry all the while including the dog's blankets and our bedding. I folded clothes last night finally during the 10:00 news.

I did NOT get the dusting completed not have I cleaned our bedroom. That's tonight. I'm tired already. But doing this while BSU is away is almost tradition, its my way of doing some of the heavy lifting and letting her know I care. And Renee is arriving Thursday so its good to have things as tidy as possible for company.

Now its time for me to get back to satisfying my government masters for a couple more hours!
Nate 1:47 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Bob Hope passes away at 100.

Thanks for the memories...

Nate 8:58 AM - [Link] Say something...
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'In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida' guitarist dead

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Erik Braunn, the Iron Butterfly guitarist who played one of rock's most recognizable riffs in the 17-minute anthem "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," died of cardiac arrest Friday. He was 52.

Braunn, who was born in Pekin, Ill., and raised in Los Angeles, was a violin prodigy who began his musical career at age 4. He joined Iron Butterfly when he was 16 and toured with the heavy metal band from 1967 to 1969, when the group was enjoying its greatest success.

Braunn, Doug Ingle, Ron Bushy and Lee Dorman left their mark on musical history with the psychedelic "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," released in 1968. It went platinum and stayed on the national sales chart for two years; a three-minute version became a Top 40 radio hit.

Braunn occasionally reunited with the band for performances, and worked as a songwriter, musician and producer until his death.

During a 1988 reunion, he commented to the Times about his experience with superstardom decades earlier: "My first vacation I bought a car, a Jaguar, and parked it outside the hospital where I spent two weeks for ulcers and gastroenteritis."


Another rock legend has past to the everlasting jam session. Wish I still had my LP of this album but its long gone. Maybe EBay has one...



Nate 7:33 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Friday, July 25, 2003
Comments have gone AWOL. Again. I guess its time to switch to a new flavor of comment provider. I'll work it this weekend. And maybe I'll write a little something about my summer vacation(s) so far.
Nate 8:59 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Thursday, July 24, 2003
nekked+muslim+girls Southern teen seeks girlfriend...

I found this search string in my referrer logs this afternoon. Without a doubt some teenaged boy south of the Mason-Dixon line got logged into that there internet thingie today, maybe there at the back computer of the public county library, hiding from the heat of the day, trying to generate some heat of his own.

Knock that off BillyJoeBob or you'll get whupped by your Pap and given extra chores! And you'll get banned from the library where its cool.
Nate 4:11 PM - [Link] Say something...
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"Gobble Gobble" from J-Lo?
By ANTONELLA LAZZERI in Los Angeles


Film critics have branded J-Lo and Ben Afflecks new film a total disaster which is destined to bomb at the box office.

Gigli has had reviewers sniggering in the aisles at the laughable dialogue and ludicrous plot. In the film J-Lo plays a lesbian assassin who is seduced by hitman Affleck.

One critic said: "It has the feel of a straight to video film. There were a lot of rumours from the set that it was a terrible movie and it is."

...Another critic said: "Affleck is just totally miscast and J-Lo is just awful."

In one scene J-Lo, 33, tries to seduce Affleck, 30, by laying on a bed and telling him: "It's turkey time!"

When he asks: "What?", she replies: "Come on, gobble, gobble".

One reviewer said: "There was J-Lo with her legs wide open trying to look sexy and then she opens her mouth and spoils it! It was possibly the worst line ever said in a movie."

... even J-Lo diehards will be disappointed. In the only sex scene she keeps her robe on.

And gay rights groups are incensed that J-Lo's character starts off as a lesbian but goes straight thanks to Affleck.


Ok, I can believe the movie is bad. And the "gobble gobble" turkey time line is unbelievably tacky and terrible. But the thought of the invitation- from J-Lo is intriguing... or at the very least distracting!

I'd have to give it some serious thought.

Ok, that's a lie. I would be there in a minute, for the night!






Don't tell.

Nate 3:41 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Eden man faces fraud charges
Thr, July 24, 2003 By MARK GRAY Standard-Examiner staff


OGDEN -- An Eden man who once tried to buy Nordic Valley ski resort -- and operated it for a short time -- was charged Wednesday with 31 felony counts of fraud for allegedly bilking $2.51 million from investors and employees and using it for unauthorized purchases.

Court documents allege Gary Randall Whetton, 31, redirected $533,791 from a non-existent online gaming company, www.playitall.com, to third parties and for personal use, some of which went to Nordic Valley promotional items. Whetton was the CEO and president of Catalyst Advisors, a Salt Lake City-based company specializing in locating operating capital for businesses. He was supposed to use $487,000 from 11 investors to launch the gaming platform.

"He was basically stealing from one to compensate for another one," said Weber County Deputy Attorney Camille Neider.

Whetton, who goes by the first name of Randy, intentionally misrepresented he built software to run the online company, court documents said. He also claimed the technology on the site would allow clients from across the world to play simultaneously and convert text into the recipient"s native language. He would go on to tell investors he secured licenses from various owners of more than 2,200 interactive video games.

During sales pitches, Whetton claimed a million people visited the Web site on weekends, the court documents said.

It was later determined the software he claimed to have built was copied. One person who used the software described it as "junk that worked initially, but started running into problems," court records said.

During a two-year period, Whetton received $687,000 from investors for the platform.

Court records said Whetton used the money to purchase personal items such as a plasma television set and a 2002 Chevrolet Tahoe. He also divied out money to his wife"s doctor, a marketing firm for Nordic Valley, and his attorney, who was representing him in a real estate transaction involving the ski resort.

Of the 31 second-degree felonies, many are for unpaid wages and bills associated with the ski resort he operated for around three months. While collecting all proceeds during that time, Whetton failed to pay nearly $1 million to employees and bills, and failed to pay a contractor $613,818 for development work. (He did write several insufficient funds checks to employees.) Instead of paying for bills, Whetton used "stall tactics," according to the court documents written by county attorney"s investigator Shane Minor.

Bank accounts for Whetton show between December 2001 and January 2002 the average balance was negative-$398.82. Just a month prior, Whetton had written a fraudulent personal check for $4.5 million (emphasis mine) to buy the resort from Ski Associates. He wrote a personal check and it was accepted by the seller at face value without being cleared? Geez, I told you its a small town!

On Wednesday, Judge W. Brent West set a cash-only bail of $200,000 for the man who once claimed to have millions of dollars from Stream Technologies, another Internet company.


Here's another fine example of the brotherly love some common among the local populace here behind the Zion Curtain. The town of Eden is a tiny little place, a village really with just one pizza joint and a grocery store and a Post Office. Nordic Valley Ski Resort is a small, mom & pop, take the kids to play on the tubing hill kind of place. Nobody flies into Utah to go skiing at Nordic Valley but the locals frequent it because its close, cheap and offers night skiing.

So nice guy Wheaton here, he's a local! He lives in Eden! And he says he's going to buy Nordic Valley but instead rips off the sellers and all the staff and puts the resort into serious jeopardy.

So here's hoping that this dumbass not only finds a way to spend a lot of time in jail but also spends the rest of his life repaying those neighbors and investors that he defrauded.

I really dislike people like this!


Nate 8:35 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Wednesday, July 23, 2003
Well then, a little blogging housecleaning accomplished. As some of you know, the AT&T web and cable tv provider recently changed to Comcast. And although they promised everything would go along smoothly, they were only talking about those things that were done in acordance with their terms of service. That's why most of my buttons on the left side weren't loading, the address had been changed and nobody was home at the old address!

So tonight I think I have everything fixed. You'll note that my email address is different also. So fix your address book if you use it at all.

Apologies to all for such extended light blogging. Vacation stories are piling up waiting to be shared but work in the cubicle is keeping me busy, which is good. Then there's been yard work and a camper to clean, some minor "improvements" to make on it before the next trip and baseball games to listen to on the radio. (The Raptors won tonight BTW, 7-3.) There has also been a cougar sighted in the park just below my house about a half mile away that has everyone's attention. I need to talk to my next door neighbor Roger the Fish & Game guy to get the scoop on that story and get back to you.

Tomorrow I'm giving a briefing to 200 Air Force F16 mechanics and managers. That should be fun since Todd built the briefing charts then asked me to attend the conference in his place. It won't be the worst briefing I've ever done and its a fairly friendly crowd so maybe I won't get thrown out on my ear.

Anyway, its past my bedtime. And I still need to pick out clothes for tomorrow and shower and shave. So g'night!
Nate 11:42 PM - [Link] Say something...
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I'm having a terrible time getting Blogstudio working today. I made a couple changes and then tried to reverse them and now everything's tanked. Its been slow to load and I don't know why.

If you're reading this its not totally broken...

But I sure hope it gets better soon. I'd hate to have to move back to Blogger...
Nate 12:24 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Tuesday, July 22, 2003
Whew! I'm back from Oregon and a fine camping trip at the beach and good food and a not so good fishing trip and a 13 hour drive back yesterday. Its over 100 degrees this afternoon, the swamp cooler in the building is barely able to keep up and my email box is overflowing and I learned today that I have to brief Todd's briefing on Thursday...

So much to do. Lots of details later. Promise.
Nate 1:58 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Wednesday, July 16, 2003
Damm, Studabaker arrested before the Marines found him...
Missing girl safe, ex-Marine held from CNN.com


British police said Wednesday Shevaun Pennington was found on her way back to Britain after she had traveled to France with Toby Studabaker, who was arrested in Frankfurt, Germany.

His arrest in Frankfurt Wednesday -- made with the help of German authorities and the FBI -- came after images of child pornography were found on Studabaker's computer in the United States, a senior investigative source told CNN.

"It confirmed our worst fears," the source said. "We can prove he knew she was 12."


Its very good that the young girl is safe and headed back home to her parents. Its also a good thing this dumbass has been arrested so quickly due to the efforts of a large group of police officials in a plethora of different colored uniforms.

Now throw the dumbass pervert in jail.
Nate 8:10 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Tuesday, July 15, 2003
Vacation time will interupt blogging staring nearly immediately. Sorry.

Tomorrow starts another almost full week of vacation. We are leaving the 100+ degrees of Utah and heading for the cooler seashores of Oregon. (Did I write this already? Maybe.) Anyway, leaving tomorrow with the truck and camper. Spending the night in Baker Oregon where I am told is a museum that has a number of old photos of cowboys that bear my same surname and look disturbingly like my brothers and myself. But I don't think we'll be seeing the museum this trip.

BSU desires to be the first sister into the campground here at Ft Stevens State Park. We are camping in the "N" circle so if you're in the neighborhood, stop by and say hi. I'll buy you a beer.

Preparations tonight so I may not get back to blogging. We'll see. The truck needs cleaned badly. I can't stand dirty windows when I'm traveling and the inside of the glass right now is very dirty. Also there's a tool bag to prepare, clothes to stuff in a duffel, bike stuff to stash and the camp boxes need loaded up. The bikes can go on the rack too tonight I suppose. Cold groceries are going to be purchased when we get there so no real need for ice except to keep a couple beers cold for tomorrow night's motel stay.

Let's see, what else? Oh yeah. I want a volt meter and amp meter to add to the camper so I can keep track of the battery. I bought a new one last night, even bigger than the previous one to keep the lights and heater blower running when needed. But there is some electrical gremlin loose in the camper that continually draws electricity even when its all closed up. I need to capture that gremlin. And buy more fuses for the fuse panel...

And finally, there's no phone connection while camping so I will be internet-disconnected. Not a terrible thing really but I will be missing it I suspect.

TTFN
Nate 3:37 PM - [Link] Say something...
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More fires in Utah- Weber fire destroys structures From the Standard-Examiner that still requires you to register. So, try "wasted_electrons" and "blogspot" to see the entire story. Don't tell!


Firefighters in Northern Utah found themselves battling a second large blaze Monday, and equipment moved north from Davis County to help fight the new fire.

By 10 p.m., the Evergreen fire, just west of Causey Reservoir, had spread to cover an estimated 350 to 500 acres, destroyed six structures and forced the evacuation of Sourdough, Evergreen and Beaver Creek.

The fire started in Evergreen, a subdivision of scattered homes, and quickly spread north over a hill into the Sourdough area. Cause of the fire was uncertain Monday night, but several local residents told reporters they believed it had been started when a backhoe hit a rock and resulting sparks ignited the tinder-dry grass.

In a briefing for area residents late Monday, Kerry Jenkins, Weber County fire warden, said the fire was "man-made" but declined further comment.


This fire's not too far from home either, just up the road a few miles from a number of fine campsites we like to use and very near the site I went camping with the ROTC kids back in May. Sure hope they get it under control soon.


Nate 9:30 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Farmington Fire and Potential for Flooding from Lori Butters, Salt Lake Tribune

FARMINGTON -- Crews battling the 5-day-old Farmington Canyon fire might welcome a heavy rain. But such a storm could spark more trouble.
"There is a history of flooding on these hillsides that was spawned by overgrazing at the turn of the century," said Paul Flood, soil conservationist for the U.S. Forest Service. "Fires typically don't cause that kind of damage, but it is something we will look at."
The extent of the fire -- allegedly started last Thursday by a transient -- won't be known for a few more days. The state Department of Geology and the Forest Service are convening a task force to examine rehabilitation of the nearly 2,000 charred hillside acres.
By Monday evening, crews had the blaze 50 percent contained, though they expected hot spots to burn for "some time," according to Lynn Barclay of the Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team.


I haven't mentioned this before just because I'm lazy I suppose but there has been a significant fire burning in our valley since last week. The smoke has filled up the valley for a couple days then the wind switched and sent the fire and the smoke up, over the top of the mountain improving visibility and breathing considerably. You can see this fire easily from the interstate and there is a simple rest stop that has become very popular for firewatching and taking pictures. Its not quite visible from my house but certainly from work. So far damage to homes has been avoided but the troubles might not be over yet.


The transient that started the fire claimed he did it "just to get himself into jail" so he would eat regular and have a place to sleep. Which tells me that jail is just too easy and pleasant a place if he's so eager to get in. Fifteen years is the time he could do if he received the maximum punishment, I wonder if that's how much time he was hoping for...

You know its coming...






Dumbass!

Nate 9:20 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Ogden Raptors Baseball!

Since I know that many of you might not have foound the link since the Raptors web page moved recently, I thought it only fair to ensure that you had the opportunity to share America's pastime with me by listening to Raptors baseball over the 'net.

You should know that the Raptors are 3 in a row for the 2nd time this year and are 11-14 for the season. You should also be aware that "Who's on first?" has a whole new meaning this year with the addition of this guy to the roster... (He's really a shortstop but he's batting .231 so he gets to first often enough!
Nate 8:57 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Monday, July 14, 2003
Ex-U.S. Marine flees with girl, 12 from CNN.com

Oh man do I smell an ass-whuppin coming on... If a real Marine finds this guy before the police do. Marines don't take kindly to anyone sullying their name and reputation, especially someone that once wore the uniform. I sure hope he gets arrested before he gets wailed upon- no, actually I hope he gets beaten badly, then arrested and put in jail as a child molester for a long number of years.

This dumbass could be living a very long miserable life after he gets caught. Serves him right!

Nate 1:20 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Last year was the safest ever for U.S. airlines USATODAY.com

For my friend Renee, who is traveling by aircraft to visit us in just a couple weeks and is a teency bit nervous about flying...

Last year was the safest ever for the nation's major airlines, with no deaths and only nine serious injuries due to accidents on U.S. commercial flights.

It will be ok- really!
Nate 8:19 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Woman's son stabbed-starts anti-gun group from Publicola which you really should be reading daily...
If your child is murdered by a knife wielding criminal the logical thing to do is to start an anti-gun group.

But I must confess I do find her deductive reasoning skillls somewhat lacking. How did that thought process work? "Since my son was killed with a knife I must do everything I can to stop people from owning guns." Or perhaps, "A knife is made of steel. A gun is made of steel. A knife killed my son, but since it was made of steel then maybe it was just a sharp pistol. Therefore if I eliminate guns which are made of steel then no one will be stabbed with a sharp pistol" Or maybe, "Since knives & guns are both made of steel then if I eliminate guns knives will disappear as well since they're made from the same material"

Personally I would have thought, "Since my unarmed son was stabbed with a knife then obviously he wouldn't have been stabbed if he had a gun. So therefore I will encourage people to learn how to use & carry guns so they won't be stabbed to death by criminals the way my son was." But that's just me.


Yeah, I don't understand her reasoning either.

Nate 7:40 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Sunday, July 13, 2003
I just noticed that my dang comments are missing- again! Not that they get overused or anything but I wish they would always be available...
Nate 7:20 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Well, its back. Blogstudio my gracious host was completely off the air earlier this afternoon. Wasted Electrons was not available. And my apologies for anyone that stopped by during the downtime. Anyway, its working now.

The first Wasted Electrons is going bye-bye. Yesterday I finished moving the archives so I think its time to free up those electrons for someone elses use. Hang on a minute...

OK, I did it. Deleted the first wasted Electrons blog from Blogger. Blogstudio- don't make me sorry I joined your team! I guess if this blog ever outgrows Blogstudio and feels the need to move up to bigger and better things that the next step might be Moveable Type or something similar. But not for now.

Spent a couple hours over at my Blog son Brian's place yesterday helping him get Mental Revolutions shined and polished up. Basically I just showed him where to go to copy and paste things and how to get links working both in his posts and permanently in his template. And he's gone off to set up his own personal web page through Comcast so that he can post pictures of all the things that he's interested in.

I also showed Brian just enough about HTML, (which is all I know too BTW) for him to start having fun playing with his blog's appearance. He was changing colors like crazy last night for a little while and finally got back to the default style before quitting. I suspect that appearance changes might be a regular thing over there at ME for a while, so stop by and check it out then give Brian some feedback.

Today has been preparation for the upcoming Oregon camping trip with BSU's sisters. Camper had a busted tire stem that required a trip to Sears for replacement, (thanks for the quick service!) and the water tank filled and the battery charged. Again. I'm pretty certain the battery is failed and needs to be replaced as it has not held a charge well since the first trip this year. Dang it anyhow as those battery's aren't cheap and don't seem to live very long.

So I still haven't written anything wonderful about my vacation in Michigan. Sorry. I have been thinking about it and there's a plethora of pictures to sort through to add to my site for posting but I just haven't written it yet. But I guess I really should do it before leaving on the next trip, huh?

Renee is coming for a week's vacation too at the end of July and going into August so that should entail more camping, a county fair, Willie Nelson in concert and lots of other fun and fanciful adventures. So kee coming back, there's bound to be more fun stuff here!
Nate 7:12 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Thursday, July 10, 2003
Lance Armstrong's latest gear assault on the Tour de France by Mark Riedy

Lance gets the coolest gear... and all my hopes that this year is #5.

But I've never understood this:

SHOES: Armstrong spends perhaps 1,500 hours a year in his cycling shoes, so they've got to fit perfectly. This January he took delivery of two pairs of size-9.5 hand-made custom Nike shoes. Synthetic kangaroo-leather uppers, ultrastiff soles made from seven layers of carbon fiber, and a Pebax resin heel/midfoot cage keep the weight to about 10 ounces per pair. The shoes will retail next year for about $250.


Where does Nike get synthetic kangaroos? And if if the material is synthetic, how can it be called leather? Couldn't it be possible to come up with another word to describe material with leather-like qualities that didn't originate on the back or side of an animal?

Nate 10:59 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Wednesday, July 09, 2003
CNN.com - A car stereo that can kill you? Cool - Jul. 2, 2003

Troy Irving's 18-year-old Dodge Caravan has a heck of a sound system: 72 amplifiers -- you got it, 72 -- and 36 big 16-volt batteries to put out the 130,000 watts of power needed to rumble his nine 15-inch subwoofers.

Not really. At a curb weight of about 10,000 pounds, the Caravan is basically undrivable. There is virtually no room for a driver, and even less for a passenger.

"We need more batteries, but that's all the room we have," Irving gripes. But he can at least sit in his driveway and listen to music, yes? Actually, no. Irving's audio system can't play music. It's designed to play a single frequency -- 74 Hz -- very loud. Irving, you see, is a dB drag racer.

Valenti admits he's often asked why he pursues this hugely pointless hobby. "Yeah, it's weird. But there are people who have tens of thousands of dollars invested in stamp collections, for God's sake. That to me is weird."

As Troy Irving's partner, Jason Bradley, explains, "You start out with a nice stereo in your everyday car, and it grows and grows and eventually gets out of control. The sad thing is, I don't even have a stereo in my daily driver anymore," he says, laughing. "Every dime I have goes into this equipment."


Ya know, there truly is no end to the dumbass that some people can display. What a complete waste of energy.

As many of you know, I'm plenty opinionated and one of the disruptions to my usual pleasant demeanor is the rude obnoxious kid in the smoking, rusting, rattling Civic with a trunk full of amplifiers trying to impress me at the stoplight.
My personal philosophy is that if my stereo in my truck isn't disturbing you in your vehicle then you should show me the same courtesy.

I also have a couple of proposed solutions to the noisy boom box cars disturbing our urban tranquility. One could be implemented immediately, the second requires some technology development. What I want is a handheld, directional electromagnetic pulse device that can ride next to me on the seat of my truck. Stereo in the car next to you too loud? Just point and pull the trigger of the EMP device and all the electrons in the car get scrambled. Immediately. Right there in traffic. The smoke gets let out of the amplifier and every other device more advanced than a lightbulb and the noise stops.

But I've been told the technology I seek would require a truck bed's worth of batteries to be feasible and the directional requirement needs development too. In the mean time I have another suggestion that requires little more than the legislation to implement it.

I say that if people really want loud music in their cars, we let them listen to it loud. Get a couple tickets for obnoxious music, pay a fine. Third time -get handcuffed to the steering wheel of your own car, parked in the middle of a big field. Then the music gets cranked as loud as it will go and and the audio enthusiast can enjoy it until their eardrums bleed.

I don't think it would take too many of those punishments to quiet the other enthusiasts down...

Nate 12:19 PM - [Link] Say something...
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Tuesday, July 08, 2003
Last day of vacation. Bummer. Traveling today, back to Saginaw airport then back to Utah late tonight. But first I have to go with my grandmother to assist in picking out her new bike. That's right, Grandma Manning is 90 in a few weeks and she wants a new bike. A three-wheeler. Similar to the three-wheeler in the basement but with balloon tires. Her current bike has skinny high pressure tires and only 3 speeds.

So Grandma wants a new bike. The reunion auction gathered enough money to buy it for her and this morning we are going into town to comparison shop a couple. Its a shame I don't live closer because I could make the desired changes to her current bike in just a couple days time if I was at home. But the local (supposed) bike mechanics can't seem to be bothered and would prefer to sell an entire new bike rather than lace up some new rims and install a new hub.

My blood pressure which had settled right into complete bliss and relaxation mode has bumped itself right up to normal again with a simple trip over to Little Green Footballs. I guess its nice to know the world has continued to swirl around while I've been picnicing and canoing blissfully unaware.

And Terry is back at work and blogging his vacation to the shore over at Possumblog. Reading that got me back into vacation mode for the final few hours. And I'm mailing a couple post cards today too.

Mom just cruised through the room and said I better be kind in what I write about her- I am using her computer after all... And she know the address here and threatened to stop by and check what I write!

So, it packing and traveling and turning in the rental car and the last of the homemade bread and strawberry jam today. Its been wonderful!
Nate 5:53 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Monday, July 07, 2003
Grandma's house is quiet. First time really since we arrived last week. All the rest of the family left this morning, brother Tim about 3 AM for the drive to Detroit's airport, the rest left about 7 by car and 2 vans all going different directions. Mom is off preparing food for a funeral reception at her church this morning and Grandma has finished watching the news and is cleaning up in her kitchen.

What a weekend it has been! Great fun seeing all my cousins again, meeting or being reintroduced to their spouses and their children and in several cases grandchildren too. Wow. There was just over 100 people at the house for the reunion! The weather gods blessed us with fine weather though it has been close to hot here but no thundershowers like the 2 afternoons prior.

I'm going to just post this for now and will try to get back with details a little later on. I put 208 pictures from 3 cameras onto CDs yesterday for family members and it will take a little sorting to find the best to share with you. And there's logistical issues today- I'm out of clean socks...

More later. Go read about Brian's weekend over at Mental Revolutions, he's been busy! But I've got to show him how to link to things when I get home. And I'll be adding him to my blogroll shortly but the dialup connection here takes so very long...
Nate 7:21 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Friday, July 04, 2003
Hey! I'm a blogfather! How about that! My buddy Brian has started his own blog and its on Blogspot! (I may have to talk to him about that when I get home...) Anyway, go say hi to Brian at Mental Revolutions.

I'll yell at him about Blogger when I get home from Michigan but right now its almost time to go to the Alpena 4th of July parade. And Mom's planning lunch for 34 folks afterwards!
Nate 8:19 AM - [Link] Say something...
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Thursday, July 03, 2003
Coming to you my faithful readers from a remote site in Michigan, the Wasted Electrons staff is on vacation. Finally. Yesterday was air travel and it was remarkable only by the pleasantness of the trip. I haven't traveled with BSU by air in a number of years and it was nice be be on an adventure with her. Son was also on his best behavior and even got to sit one leg of the journey with 2 attractive teenaged girls. So we flew from Salt Lake City into Saginaw Michigan. The luggage arrived with us and the rental car was cleaned and waiting. (Its a Sebring BTW and seems to be a decent car.)

But its a 3 hour trip from the airport to Alpena and it was late to be starting to get all the way there so we drove just as far as Standish where we found sustenance and then into Tawas City for a motel for the night. That's where I am now, drinking my first coffee on the front deck of the North Star Motel. Cabins, phones, commercial rates. Probably been in business here for 50 years. Tiny little room but clean and well maintained and I only wanted a shower and sleep so I'm not complaining. Its American self-sufficiency and independence at its finest really, this little motel. No big multi-national corporation running this place, just a small town couple putting a nice place for people to stay out by the road and taking pride in providing a clean place to stay on our vacation. There's yellow bows on the porch rail and star spangled ones too and the porch is newish and very nicely made.

Oh, and "this bear, resplendent in his Independence Day finery, on guard at the pool. I think if I walk a block I can see Lake Huron but from my current perch I can see the bear and across the street a red and white light house in the parking lot of the Tawas Motel. There's motorcycles on the highway out there, birds singing and a squirrel sneaking up behind me looking for handouts.

What a really nice day so far and I'm not even home yet... Time to roust the rest of the clan from their slumber so we can be on our way. Family, homemade bread and strawberry jam await!
Nate 3:24 PM - [Link] Say something...
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