PAgent’s Progress

Elaine was constantly on the edge of falling apart. Or rather, the things around her were. You see, Elaine bought inexpensive things, and so they broke. But because she could never replace them with anything of quality, anything that would last, the replacements broke just as fast.

So, instead of a new battery for her clunker of a car, Elaine bought jumper cables. Instead of a new television, she bought a bigger set of rabbit ears, and so on. This lifestyle of stopgap measures and band-aid repairs kept her both broke and constantly on the verge of breaking down completely.
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I really hate to admit it, but unlike most of the bacon excess posted online, I’m genuinely tempted to make this bad boy. But I don’t care how much Lipitor you’re taking, it won’t be enough.

For detailed instructions to make your own bbq bacon/sausage/bacon extravaganza, see BBQ Addicts.

via Neatorama.

I grew up in the Pacific Northwest. Except for a brief stint in the midwest, I’ve been living in Pacific Northwest most of my life. And one thing about the Pacific Northwest that you can absolutely rely upon, is that if you live in the low-lying areas west of the mountains, you won’t see much snow. And even if you DO see snow, it’ll be gone in a day or so.

That’s just the way it is. This is a temperate area, and the climate is moderated by the marine effect of being next to the Pacific Ocean.

Which is why the northwest has been absolutely shut down by the recent snowstorm. A snowstorm that has been fondly nicknamed “Snowpocalypse ‘08″.

How bad is it? Well, the weather started getting sketchy last week, with enough snow that folks had trouble getting in to work. Then we were told that it was going to get much worse. How much worse? Let’s just say that we stocked up on food.

Meanwhile, my sister, who lives on a wooded hillside on a steep, steep driveway, was housebound. Looking at the forecast for the weekend, we made a rescue run on Saturday morning to pick her up. I had to put chains on the van to get there and back.

So, we’ve been snuggled up and staying home ever since. It’s kept on snowing, periodically. In fact we got another four inches of fresh snow last night. This has officially gotten insane:

I really like the beers made by Widmer Brothers Brewing, and I’m particularly fond of their Broken Halo IPA. It’s profoundly hoppy, without being excessively bitter; it’s got great floral hoppy nose that’s balanced by a malty finish. It’s good stuff.

So, in the middle of a particularly good bottle of Broken Halo, I twittered to the effect that I “loved Broken Halo”. Many, many days later I got a twitter back from @dougmcarthur telling me that he really appreciated my support for his band.

WTF?

So, I twittered back something polite, and Doug indicated in return that he had realized almost immediately that I was referring to “Broken Halo” the beer, not “Broken Halo” his band. Eventually I decided to hear how bad his little garage band really was.

But they’re good. Really good. I mean, everybody tells you they have a band and that you should check out their MySpace page, but in this case you really SHOULD go to their MySpace page and listen to the tracks they have posted there. And then you can go to their homepage, halomusic.net.

These guys seem to be making quite a name for themselves in Winnipeg, but by all rights they should be more popular. Their songs are musical, complex, and they rock. The vocals and instrumentals compliment rather than compete with each other, and overall their music is reminiscent of early alternative rock, before alt-rock embraced a more overtly grunge- and punk-influenced sound.

I will rarely, rarely give you a music recommendation, because my tastes tend to run to the more eclectic and nostalgic. But I really think these guys deserve a careful listen. Give them a chance.

All three blogs (this one, flotsam, and nonobvious) have been upgraded to WordPress 2.7. It looks pretty slick so far, but if even half the rumors I’m hearing about it are true, it will streamline blog maintenance, make posting a breeze, balance my checkbook, and satisfy me like no woman every could.

In particular, 2.7 has the ability to upgrade automatically. However, if you had been using the WordPress Automatic Upgrade plugin, by Keith Dsouza, you could do that already. In fact, instead of an agonizing series of painstaking backups, installations, and configurations, WAU made the whole process utterly, utterly easy. Which meant that I could upgrade all three blogs in less than an hour. And remember, I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.

I am appalled at the number of Americans who are applauding the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President Bush, while calling him a ‘dog’. This is not just an insult to a man, but an insult to the Head of State. As elected leader of the United States, Bush is a symbol, and when someone insults that symbol, they insult every American. We simply cannot tolerate foreign nationals throwing insults and footwear at our President.

That privilege is reserved solely for American citizens.