(Not a) Newsflash: Vikings Play Like It Doesn't Matter

Fourth quarter. Vikings are not in the lead. Well, duh. At least the Vikes are only down by one.

Private message to Childress. Let your offensive coordinator call the plays, or you are going to get fired.. finally. Geez. Childress is not going to be the head coach after this year anyway, thankfully.

I imagine that old Brad is in panic mode by now, knowing that he is toast. At least Jackson is out for awhile, or the Vikings would not have won even a single game. Frerotte is not flashy, but he is at least somewhat consistent out there. Oh, if only we had a team full of Adrian Petersons, eh, Childress?

It looks like Longwell is going to win this game for us again. Winning is always a good thing, but winning by a fieldgoal (when the Vikings actually manage a win) is B-O-R-I-N-G!!!

The Countdown

I haven't decided what to do with the countdown clock for the expiration of the ban on offshore drilling. I guess that depends on what the originating source of the timer does after the ban expires later today. I am sure that the Marxists in control of America's Congress will pull some trick and spin it in the media, giving themselves all the credit, while demonizing conservatives and Republicans and conservative Republicans for acting in America's and your true best interest.

Remember, the government is here to help. Big government is your friend.

If you believe that statement, you scare me. Belief in such things is a threat to the future of America, land of the free and the home of the brave. God help us. We need it!

The Real Inconvenient Truth

Despite all the gloomy news and yellow journalism from the left, there is a light at the end of the tunnel! If conservatives get their way, God willing, the market will be forced to fix itself without taxpayers footing the bill. Further, and this is almost certainly too good to be true (at least for long), the libs in Congress are not renewing the ban on offshore drilling, a ban that is set to expire tonight. I believe that the plan is to let the ban expire and then, when Obama wins, God forbid, the libs will rush in and do an end-run to kill any hopes of looking for oil here at home. They claim they want energy independence, but the costs of the pipe dreams of wind energy actually generating enough power to pay for the wind generators is far-fetched. It's a fairy tale! It's all about keeping Americans under the thumb of a domineering government, a de facto fiefdom, with socialist liberals in charge of YOUR life.

For today, though, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. We can only hope this isnt just a trick, but I am confident that this is just political posturing from the left, as always.

For the truth about offshore drilling and shale exploration, click here.

The Young Viking

With enthusiastic fans like this, how can the Vikings lose (again?)

The Jedi Padawan: Anakin Skywalker

Gabriel in his Halloween garb for 2008.

Playing With the Camera (part 4) - Dandelions

Gabriel, busy re-seeding dandelions.

Playing With the Camera (part 3)

A close-up of Jericho, lounging around on the floor and enjoying his sippy cup.

Playing With the Camera (part 2)

Gabriel is 3-years old. He was clowning around last week, and I guess, figured a Frisbee made good head gear. It is rather stylish, isn't it?

Playing With the Camera (part 1)

Jericho at 1-year old. Taken last week. Jericho was deep in thought, from the look of this photo.

PHOTOGRAPHY IS LIFE

I have been giving consideration to what I really want to do in the next five years in my life. Or ten years. Or twenty. Whatever. I have been considering what I truly enjoy doing. I really take pleasure in my job and think that I have the best employer I could ask for, and the ideal fit for me. In the future, that may no longer be true, but today, this is good for me. My real passion, aside from Heather, Jericho, and Gabriel is photography.

I have investigated the idea of taking photography classes, but haven’t made up my mind if there is something out there for me yet, something that can make the spark of inspiration grow ever more stimulating. I considered the New York Institute of Photography, but am not sure if it is reputable or not. NYIP has been in business for 99 years, so it has staying power, but what will it do for me as an aspiring photographer? I do not know yet, but it is a consideration. This is the site, if you want to see what I am seeing: http://www.nyip.com/

Another site I have investigated, though not a formal photography training organization, is the Nikon User Community. It is a forum for photographers who happen to think that Nikon cameras are great tools for the photographic vision. I am not a site member, but am mulling it over. The site is http://www.nikonians.org/ in case you are interested. There are sites out there just like it for Canon users, but the D300 has made me a true believer in the quality of Nikon cameras. Maybe someday, I will graduate to a D3, but if I do that, it will be funded by a reinvestment in a photography business or profitable hobby. We will see if it is in the cards.

I have been investigating another site called Part Time Photographer. The idea is that the forums on the site encourage aspiring photographers to develop their craft, while helping to see if the individual could become a paid shutterbug. The last post I read has hints about a ready-made business plan, not a full-blown document, but the guidelines that would allow a part-time photographer to see how feasible it will be to conduct their business for profit. I am not there yet, but some day, anything is possible. If you are curious or interested, the URL is here. http://www.ptphotographer.com/

I have a couple other URLs to share, but I will do that shortly. The one I have hinted about in the past is a photography site that I am developing. No one but Heather and a couple of her friends have even seen the site yet. I do promise that one of these days, I will publish the site. I am just trying to be sure that only my very best work is on display. I think that it drives Heather mad, but maybe not, that when I go to work at Lake Vermillion or Grand Portage, I may take 500-700 pictures in one day, and when I return, I sort through the pictures, and I decide that two or three are good enough for public consumption. To be honest, I hope that I have set my standards high enough, so that when I put my site online, it doesn’t disappoint. I am being off the wall with that comment, I admit, but it is not meant to be avant-garde or pretentious. I just want to put my best work out there and I don’t want to disappoint with what I hope is an engaging photographic vision. If you are interested, stay tuned and I will tell you more, as soon as the site is ready. I know, I said it would be ready months ago. When it is ready, you will be the first to know.

Looking back to when I got the D300, I had a post or two here about how the capabilities of that camera really energized my enthusiasm for photography. Each new day is like that, and it just keeps getting more exciting. I see photographic possibilities everywhere.

Photography is life.

Life, Death, and Accountability

Mom told me that a classmate of one of my nieces committed suicide yesterday. Barring severe psychosis, it really makes a person wonder what is wrong with people, both kids and adults, when taking one’s own life seems like a viable or effective solution. While nobody asked for my opinion, I am giving it anyway. Why does this happen? The average teenager knows right from wrong, but sees no consequence of bad behavior. Why? Society focuses too much on material achievement, and as a result, parents are not paying attention to what their kids are doing. Kids should hang out with their friends more often under the watchful eyes of the parents. You know, parents should encourage their kids to hang out at home with their friends, instead of hanging out in parts unknown and doing who knows what. Too often, when kids get into trouble, part of the blame lies with inattentive parents.

The one good thing about Heather working and me watching the boys a lot more evenings is that it gives me a chance to spend quality time with Gabriel and Jericho. Further, it forces me to pay attention. That is key to kids turning out okay. Kids need to know that their parents really care, even when parents are in disagreement with the kids. You know how it is. Teens think their parents are just being difficult, but when children reach adulthood, they understand that parents really do have moral and ethical experience from which to direct their children’s behavior, and have the best interests of their children in mind when they make demands that seemed annoying and overbearing. Later, it all makes sense. I say that as a former kid and a former teenager. I have been there.

May those kids rest in peace and hopefully, the friends they have left behind will find peace and a better way to cope. Parents need to pay attention! Families need to remember that they are the first line of defense in the safety and welfare for their children. When parents fail, when teenagers fail, a big part of the answer is accountability for personal actions, and parents keeping a close eye on their kids. Completely different and absolutely the same, like Ronald Reagan versus the big Russian bear: Trust but verify. Parenthood is no different; it is just a different scale of consequences!

A Death in the Family

We received the news last night that my aunt, Dorothy, passed on. Mom tells me that she didn't have Alzheimer’s, but she was frustrated by having increasing memory loss and limited mobility, for a few years, at least. It progressed to the point that she was rarely fully cognizant of her surroundings. It makes one reflect on the value of life and the mystery of death, when death is a merciful event that seems preferably to life, for family members who watch their loved ones slowly slipping away. I have had a few people in my life who dealt with terminal illnesses. When the terminal illness is a protracted condition, the family members have time to adjust to the inevitability of human mortality, such that, when death finally comes, it is a relief. The family members who are left behind can rest assured that their loved one is no longer suffering the frailties of the human condition.


I remember the illness and death of my next door neighbor, George, when I lived in Burnsville. George had a type of degenerative distal muscular dystrophy. George and his wife, Janet spent a lot of time with me in the several years that his health was declining. We would go out to dinner and go for drives in the outlying areas of the suburbs, usually about once a week, but sometimes more often. I worked from home then more than I do now, and George would call me at the house for assistance. I would go next door and help him to the restroom and get him drinks and so forth.

George was a man who was of pedestrian faith like so many of us as we go through life, distracted by the things that seem important at the time, but in the big picture, are trivialities. We really enjoyed going out to dinner; the company was as good as the dining experience, but it was not destined to last. George was a big guy, funny as Bob Hope, and as George grew weaker, he had more problems with his limited range of movement, labored breathing, and poor balance. We stopped going out to dinner, because he was not able to walk or maintain his balance, even with assistance.

When George couldn’t go out any longer, it was something we all missed. His strength completely failed him. However, what happened in the meantime was significant. The more physical abilities were stolen from George by the MD, the stronger his faith became. Near the end of his life, George began to talk about the future, and how he would soon be strong again. George grinned, as best he could with his weak muscles, and he told us how he would soon be a new and better man, and how he would dance with the Lord. George was very frail, but when he did manage to go to a church service, he found the strength to carry on for another day. Ultimately, the MD caught up with him, and he couldn’t leave the house. I continued to visit him until the week of his mortal end, when he left the pain behind and found the gift of immortality. He spent the end of his life with his pastor and prayer leaders of his church. He told his wife not to grieve for him, but to be ready to move on with life and to celebrate every day, not endlessly dwelling on his memory. His wife told me this part: At the end, his weakness left him long enough for him to put his hands to heaven and to wear a big smile on his face. Later that day, George passed away. I have no doubt that he danced with Jesus with a renewed lightness of being. I am confident that it is that way with others who suffer from terminal illnesses. I am not sure, though, if it is better when death comes unexpectedly, or after an illness, when the end is expected and predictable.

Would the anticipation of the death of a loved one give some comfort in knowing that the family was preparing and able to say good-bye? Having lost three of my closest friends in accidents and another to heart failure at the age of twenty six, the shock of a sudden loss is hard to comprehend and not easy to accept, as if those left behind have a choice but to accept the loss. I have had capacious experiences with the deaths of extended family and friends. Revisiting the losses in my mind reminds me that the whole idea of the death of a loved one is hard to consider, without becoming awash with maudlin poignancy and private melancholy. I do know that the family and friends can find a modicum of comfort, and that is in this:


While I was not close to my aunt, I can empathize with her children, and the losses that my dad and mom are going through. My mom grew close to my aunt in the past months, as my aunt’s health declined. I was happy to hear that seven of Dorothy’s nine adult children were able to be with her as she passed from this world. There may be some comfort in that. I can say that from my own experiences. I hope that Dorothy’s children know my mother went to visit often and to ensure that Dorothy was well attended until the end mercifully came. I am confident that Dorothy is in a better place now, without pain and earthly concerns.

The Bible tells us that we do not have the capacity or authority to judge the worth of another, since righteous judgment is left to God alone. As a human with my own weaknesses, I still insist that we can faithfully believe, as my mother said, "If Dorothy did not make heaven, then no one will."

The Palin Thread Still Continues

While the main vein media piles on Sarah Palin and attacks her for noteworthy deficiencies, such as having a shoe untied or for using a double negative in the same sentence with a split infinitive, Palin continues to impress and enthrall the masses. This lady kicks liberal booty all over town, and it looks like she is taking names, too.


Remember the parrot press corps fawning over Barack Hussein “Karl Marx” Obama having 80,000 people in attendance for his DNC acceptance speech? This was THE definitive emergence event for Obama, and you can bet that Obama will not have another speech before the election with that many people in attendance. Did you happen to hear that Sarah Palin had an event in Florida on Sunday attended by 60,000 people? This was not the Palin get-acquainted event or anything of that nature. This is just another homespun meeting for her, and the buzz is big. She is drawing thousands to rally after rally.

Yes, conservatives love life again, with Palin, who gives conservatism a fresh face and new hope. Sarah Palin is definitely the foil to John McCain’s wishy-washy stances and middle-of-the-road moderate politics. Two things seem exceedingly ironic here. One, John McCain, moderate to liberal Republican, has birthed a conservatism renaissance. Who would believe it? The second irony is that in a search of network news sites, the only web site that mentions the fact that Sarah Palin raised a crowd of 60,000 people for a rally happens to be Fox News. This is big news today. Why wasn’t this mentioned prominently on CNN, CBS, or MS-NBC, among others? At the same time, Obama is front-and-center, no matter how droll and dull his activities of the day might be at the moment. The media want Obama to win, and their bold-faced support for him through yellow journalism is tantamount to an endorsement. The free publicity given Obama is illegal, or at least it would be if there still were purist journalists in the main vein media. Can you say propagandists with an agenda? I just did, and it is true.

Speaking of the contrast in media coverage between those two political stars, I heard a good one regarding Sarah Palin and Barack Hussein “The Marxist” Obama. The source for this is a reporter with years of experience in Alaska.

“What’s the difference between Sarah Palin and Barack Obama?”

“One is a well turned-out, good-looking, and let’s be honest, pretty sexy piece of eye-candy.

“The other kills her own food.”

In the words of that vacuous dim bulb, Paris Hilton, but with genuine acuity behind the charm, “That’s hot!”

The In-laws Visit

Heather’s parents were in Minnesota to visit the weekend of September 12th. It was a good time, as it always is when the in-laws visit. We worked around the house quite a bit, including redoing the closet. I know, exciting stuff. I would much prefer to sit around and relax with the family, but when they visit, we always seem to be productive and get a lot done around the house, so that works, too.

Jericho decided it was time to walk. He took his first tentative steps for his Nana, but by the end of the weekend, he was showing off for her. Just like his big brother, Jericho is a ham who loves attention. I guess all kids are that way. Gabriel and Jericho enjoyed the visit with their Nana and Papa. On Saturday, the four of them got their pictures taken by a pro. I will post a picture when I have some available. I know I haven’t been posting a lot of pictures lately, but I will have to remedy that shortly. I have been taking quite a few pictures, as if there is a time that I don’t take a lot of pictures. I have had the Nikon D300 since late April, and according to the automatic numbering system, I have taken 12,000 pictures so far.

Speaking of pictures, Josh and I took the boys for a bike ride on Sunday while Heather was working. We didn’t get more than a mile from the house on the bike paths, but it took us three hours to get out there and back. We stopped to take pictures behind the Wal-Mart on the path, where there are oodles of flowers and lots of bees. As you may not know, taking pictures of bees is one of my favorite subjects, after my kids, of course. While I took pictures, Josh wanted to see how far Jericho could walk. He called Jericho to walk to him, and then Josh kept backing up to see how long he could stay on his feet. I guess he walked 30 steps or more, so it looks like the little guy is officially a biped now. For a while, it looked like he would crawl forever! That would work, though, as Jericho crawls mighty fast, and until this month, that worked for him.

When kids are small, it really is an exciting time. Everything changes so fast and they do grow up too fast. Sometimes, it would be fun to be a kid again. I thought I was pretty smart when I was a kid, but since then, I have learned that I sure had a lot to learn.

Engineering Meeting

Last week, eight hardware engineers visited Minnesota. Along with my boss and another Tech III, we had a forum to discuss hardware issues. It was so beneficial; I am not sure why the company doesn’t do this regularly. I believe that it really gave our customer the feeling that the company is concerned about their issues in a tangible way that is so easy to miss without enough face time. There is talk that there will be quarterly meetings like this, though I would be surprised if there were more in Minnesota in the near future. I really hope that this continues, as it will do a lot of good as we roll out our new machines and have de facto convergence with PC hardware. While I am sure it was an expensive visit, I can guarantee that it was money well spent, based on the enthusiastic response and the positive impression it left with the customers. Kudos to the engineering management for making that call.

The Palin Thread Continues

The mainstream media machine tries to connect many of Alaska's problems to Sarah Palin. That just helps her, you aberrants! The fact that Governor Palin is a reformer and wants to clean up Alaska truly proves that she is the REAL candidate for Change. Saying Alaska tried to get the "Bridge To Nowhere" before Governor Palin pulled the plug only supports her emergent characterization as a reformer who will clean house, even if that means offending the folks in your own political party. Governor Palin didn’t care if she offended Republicans when she cut ties with Alaska’s former pork-barrel addiction.

Just for the record, Citizens Against Government Waste, last year ranked all United States senators by what they called “taxpayer friendliness”. Wouldn’t you know it, Joe Biden scored at 0%, and Obama came in at 10%. John McCain, the maverick who lives his beliefs, beyond and despite party lines, scored a laudable 100%.

I just read an article in today’s Wall Street Journal, in which Senator Jim DeMint, from South Carolina, stated the facts regarding Governor Palin's record on spending, and I quote:
“Mrs. Palin used her veto pen to slash more local projects than any other governor in the state’s history. She cut nearly 10% of Alaska's budget this year, saving state residents $268 million. This included vetoing a $30,000 van for Campfire USA and $200,000 for a tennis court irrigation system. She succinctly justified these cuts by saying they were ‘not a state responsibility.’”

Senator DeMint goes on to say that “Obama voted for numerous wasteful earmarks last year, including: $12 million for bicycle paths, $450,000 for the International Peace Museum, $500,000 for a baseball stadium and $392,000 for a visitor's center in Louisiana, [while] Gov. Palin cut Alaska’s federal earmark requests in half last year, one of the strongest moves against earmarks by any governor.”

Barack Hussein Obama accused Governor Palin of lying, and that she was one of the biggest supporters of earmarks for Alaska, but here are the facts. Governor Palin originally supported the so-called “Bridge to Nowhere”, but later she personally terminated the project in her own state. Governor Palin’s reason for doing so? She saw that federal earmarks were such an unnecessary burden on the federal budget, making the deficit ever greater, and thus she changed her position in a reasonable rethinking of earmarking. Governor Palin’s actions saved taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.

To give credit where credit is due, Senator DeMint wrote that “Even the Alaska Democratic Party credits her with killing the bridge.” Who is the liar, Barrack Hussein Obama? Never forget that Obama and Biden had a chance to vote to kill the bridge project, and yet they both voted for the $223 million bridge. Even today, neither Obama nor Biden has withdrawn their support for the notorious “Bridge to Nowhere.”

DeMint concluded by noting that Palin “is one of the strongest anti-earmark governors in America. If more governors around the country would do what she has done, we would be much closer to fixing our nation's fiscal problems than we are.

“Mrs. Palin’s record here is solid and inspiring. She will help Mr. McCain shut down the congressional favor factory, and she has a record to prove it. Actions mean something. You can't just make stuff up.” Obama used those exact words (“You can’t just make stuff up”) but the irony of it is that Barack Hussein Obama is the liar, while Palin is busy telling the truth.

Did you know that about six months ago, the Alaskan Daily News reported that ‘Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens is aggravated about what he sees as Gov. Sarah Palin's antagonism toward the earmarks he uses to steer federal money to the state.’ Funny… which Alaska senator embarrassed the state and the Republican Party with an indictment for corruption? Senator Ted Stevens, you stink and are an embarassment to Republicans. Thank God I am not a Republican, but an independent with values and beliefs that vary from conservative to libertarian.

To Senator Ted Stevens, I say this: Enjoy life in prison. I hate to admit that there is enough corruption to go around, on both sides of the aisle. I just wish that there was a viable third side of the aisle, so to speak, because that "third side of the aisle" is where I would be found.

The Palin Thread Continues

Another thought regarding Governor Palin: Her daughter, Bristol, is pregnant and unmarried at the age of 17. Whether Bristol marries the father of their baby or not is simply not material for public consumption. I predict that, to the chagrin of the main vein media, Bristol’s pregnancy will not harm the McCain-Palin poll numbers. As the networks invade the private lives of the Palin family, it will become obvious to all but the liberal maniacs that the family is close knit; this will merely bring them even closer. Besides, this is a family matter and plainly none of our business, in the first place. Bristol Palin’s pregnancy is irrelevant to Governor Palin’s suitability to be vice president, and we, and the media, should leave it at that.

John McCain has been roundly criticized for choosing Governor Sarah Palin, because of her staunchly pro-life stance. Future president McCain has the right to choose whomever he wants to join him on the ticket, as long as they pass constitutional muster. For the uninformed, that basically means that the vice presidential candidate has to meet all the qualifications of the presidential candidate, including being an American born in America or specific U.S. territories. John McCain made an excellent choice with Governor Palin. It is obvious that he respects her, and as a self-styled maverick, he chose someone who has the chutzpa to stand up to corruption, not only from the other side of the aisle, but among the Republican Party as well. Governor Palin has stood up to Republican corruption and won. Duh. When that happens, we all come out ahead.

The Palin Thread Continues

The traditional media are saying that Sarah Palin fired the Public Safety Commissioner of Alaska for refusing to terminate her brother-in-law, Mike Wooten, because Wooten and Palin’s sister were going through an ugly divorce. As usual, the New York Times twisted the truth in their efforts to aid and abet the Marxist enemies within. The Old Gray Spin-meisters who hope to coronate Barrack Hussein Obama king propagandized last week that Palin audaciously used her influence to get the Public Safety Commissioner fired. Why would she do this? The main vein media claim the reason is because Wooten threatened the life of Sarah Palin’s father. This is not conjecture or rhetoric. This is a fact supported by the evidence. Wooten did this, and this has been substantiated and proven to be a fact. Instead of termination, Wooten, the trooper, faced a five-day suspension. Wooten also was seen drinking in his patrol car, and he tasered an 11-year old kid, who happened to be his Palin’s nephew, and Wooten’s stepson. These statements have also been substantiated and proven to be absolutely and completely factual.

This part is my opinion, but it is common sense. Mike Wooten was obviously not worthy of working in law enforcement, let alone to be armed by the state of Alaska. Wooten should never have been wearing a badge, and the fact that he was threatening the lives and safety of his in-laws seems to be irrelevant to the New York Times. Why should she, as governor, not be allowed to fire a state worker who was insubordinate and obviously not a suitable employee? That Wooten was a member of her family, albeit by marriage, is irrelevant. Of course, the union protected Mike Wooten from termination, and consequently, we have this “Troopergate” scandal, courtesy of the liberal media and the socialist-leaning union. The bias is blatant, as always. When would Governor Palin have been justified in firing the Public Safety Commissioner for refusing to terminate Mike Wooten, when Officer Wooten killed somebody?

To elucidate, we can make some safe assumptions, if only for the sake of discussion. Let's "assume" that the facts of the situation, for the purpose of discussion, constitute an ethics violation: Governor Sarah Palin terminated the Alaska Public Safety Commissioner because he refused to fire a state trooper who made death threats against a senior citizen, and used a Taser on his 11-year old stepson.

Face it, folks, because here it is: In Alaska, the Public Safety Commissioner is a governor-appointed position, held “at the discretion of the governor”. What that means is that she can fire any person holding that job title for cause or even if there is no cause at all. If Alaskans do not like that, they can change Alaska state law and leave the whining to the liberals.

I have absolutely no qualms with the governor exerting political influence to have a state trooper - a public servant who is responsible for public safety - terminated for making death threats against an old man and using a weapon on an 11-year old. The fact that the seasoned citizen was her father is irrelevant. The fact that the child who was tasered happens to be Governor Palin’s nephew is also irrelevant, when the public safety is put at risk by the very law officer charged with defending the peace.

Again, let’s enter dangerous territory of assuming, despite the risk of making an ass of “u” and “me” for our assumptions. Let us assume that Governor Palin’s termination of the Public Safety Commissioner of Alaska WAS an ethics violation. Extremist Palin-haters would rather self-righteously claim "Ethics first!" at the expense of safety for the most vulnerable in our society, the old and the young. Ridiculous as always, courtesy of your friendly neighborhood liberals in the Parrot Press Corps. Meanwhile, liberals keep goose-stepping down that greasy slope towards Marxism and selling out America to the U.N. and one-world government, with one-world government taxation and transference of wealth from America to the rest of the world. I say to all of you socialist wing nuts: Your lunatic fringe attacks on Governor Sarah Palin only serve to isolate you. Your personal attacks highlight the fact that you are scared, because wannabe king Obama is faltering in the polls, and to you, it doesn’t make sense. These dumb American commoners just don’t get it, that Obama is the savior we have all been waiting for. Or not.

Most of us don't wear tinfoil hats and drink Marxist Kool-Aid. You liberals and your politics of personal destruction only confirm that Governor Palin is the right choice for the real America. That’s me. Not you Marxists.

Liberals, eat my shorts.

The Palin Thread Continues

Despite the nonsense spouted by the “Parrot Press Corps”, to borrow a phrase coined by Mike Church, regarding the mainstream media and its blatantly biased reporting and supporting Barrack Hussein Obama, Palin has more executive experience than Obama, McCain, and Biden combined. Certainly, McCain is part of the establishment, not something I am thrilled about, but so is Obama. Joe Biden has been in Congress since I was a couple years old, even longer than McCain.

Minor tangent: Did you know that in the first 144 years in the life of the American republican experiment, all the laws written by the Congress filled 2,375 pages? In 2008, Congress passes enough laws to fill that many pages every single day that it is in session. WITHOUT EXCEPTION. Take this as one example. The 2008 federal budget was over 3000 pages long.

Do you think that you are really free? Freedom is not what it used to be.

The Palin Thread

I have been writing my posts in MS Word and didnt get around to posting all of my comments, so I am doing that today, with the date of creation added. That is how my blog often gets updated, with ten posts in one day, all with different dates, because the entries were created on different days. Makes sense to me. You know how it goes... too busy to blog every day, or too lazy to log in to blog. Potato, po-tah-to. In any case, I wrote a bunch of comments regarding Sarah Palin. There are enough comments from different days, and that is the point of the name of this series: The Palin Thread.

In August, I met with my insurance agent, who is a former Minnesota legislator, and I told him that Sarah Palin was the single best person to be on the ticket with John McCain, and even a better choice than Tim Pawlenty. A week later, I stopped in to see my agent again, and he said, “You called it!”

I hope that he runs for office again. Heather and I will both volunteer for his campaign in a minute if he throws his name in the running. We need someone to represent us who is not part of the organization. Take Jon Ward for example. This guy was a teacher in Brainerd. Okay, so he was named Teacher of the Year. Great. We need teachers like that. It isn’t for me to tell him how to run his life, but when he retired and ran for state office, who was he representing? The teachers’ union. That is quite a biased background from which to legislate. Ward is one of the people who thinks that the answer to lousy education is more money, always more money. Sure, and what do they say about being in a hole? The public educational system in the United States is the captive of the Marxists in the teachers’ union. When you are in a hole, stop digging. Jon Ward as representative simply represents a bigger shovel, not a ladder to climb out of the hole.

Back to Sarah Palin for vice president. She is perfect for the job for plenty of reasons. She is definitely not part of the establishment, like all the other candidates, including Barrack Hussein “Karl Marx” Obama. The reason that Palin is perfect is the same reason that Biden is not ideal. The longer people stay in politics, the more likelihood they have of getting corrupted, serving their own interests and lining their pockets, blinded by power and removed from the realities of the people they serve.

Casino Talk. Pre-season Football.

The Indiana Jones system relocation was completed with no issues. In fact, it was close to flawless. The sign company had us unbolt and drop all the machines off the bases, and then they moved the sign and all the bases as one unit, all bolted together. We haven’t ever moved a bank that way before, but it worked great and it went fast. Maybe we will have to consider that in the future. Of course, it will only work if the system doesn’t have to move that far and doesn’t have to move to another floor in the casino.

Matt Leinart is showing some poise in the pocket for the Cardinals. The Cards haven’t officially decided to keep him in the starting position, apparently, based on the banter between the color guys on ESPN, but after his performance with USC, you would think that it would be a foregone conclusion. The Vikings had a ghost of a chance of getting him in the 2006 draft, but passed on him. Hey, at least they got Tarvaris Jackson. Oh wait, that isn’t any consolation. After all, Matt Leinart is only a Heisman Trophy Winner and Rose Bowl MVP. Why would the Vikings want that loser when they could have a draft pick like Jackson? Bring back Brad Johnson, please! (Sidebar to my nephew, Marty, the biggest sports fan in the history of the world: I am kidding, I am kidding! Bring back Daunte Culpepper, and to really throw a monkey wrench in the works, bring back Mike Tice, and/or Denny Green to boot!)

Back to the casino talk. We converted four games to a different game theme, the Cross of Coronado. I don’t think that the game is particularly unique, but it does fix an issue that we had with the previous theme. I cannot really say too much about it. It was a problem minimizing the profit potential for both the company and the casinos who are our customers. This conversion should remedy that.

Speaking of minimal profits, when will the media get tired of talking the economy down in the hopes of assuring the wacko coronation of Barack “Oh Bummer” as King of the “Blame America” crowd. I did find it telling that Dick Morris said that if “Oh Bummer” were elected, the U.S. economy would suffer from a massive economic depression. Believing that Barack’s massive tax increases would help create jobs is about as dumb as believing that we can’t drill our way out of our petroleum shortage. Duh. How else are you going to get the oil? I will revisit the petroleum issue and point out some factors and statements made by the Marxist side of the aisle that prove that they are a bunch of disingenuous hypocrites and phonies whose lies ring hollow. That will be a long entry, so I will leave that for another day, or at least until I get home again on Friday night.

Pre-season Football (Not the Vikes)

Okay. I am watching Reggie Bush and the New Orleans Saints playing the Arizona Cardinals in what is apparently the very first pre-season NFL football game. This is great! It isn’t the Vikings, and it is two teams that I do not pay any particularly noteworthy amount of attention to, and yet, I love this. I am so ready for Vikings football to begin. Of course, we apparently had a chance to get our hands on Brett Favre, but he went to the New York Jets. Odd? Definitely. I thought it was funny to hear that if the Jets dare to trade Favre back to the Vikings, they have to give up three first-round draft picks to the Packers. That is somewhat hilarious, especially given that, based on the fact the Jets have only won the conference three times in the last forty years, they cannot afford to give up three first round draft picks. Coincidentally, if Favre ever went to the Vikings (and he won’t be allowed, believe me), the first round picks that the Cheddar Heads would gain may be exactly what the Packers need at this point.

It is hard to imagine the mindset of the Packers, in letting Favre go to another team, and saying that he is too divisive to the Green and Yellow. Even though he is a Packer and always will be, no matter the colors he wears, Favre is one of the greatest football players of all time, with poise and well-earned respect among his peers, something that is rare these day. Favre is a consummate professional. I can say that from a purist point of view, as opposed to a schizophrenic point of view, that of a dedicated NFC North rival.

Newsflash: Vikings fans do not care for the Packers. Rhetorical comment: Duh. Another rhetorical comment: Any true sports fan, an NFL fan in particular, can appreciate the athletic talent of a player of Favre’s caliber, even if he happened to be part of one of the biggest conference rivalries in the past fifteen years.

I think that it would have been interesting to have Favre playing for the Vikings for a couple of years. It would have certainly made for interesting conversation on Monday morning. Even more tantalizing would be the idea of Favre dressed in purple and gold, causing Packer fans to squirm as the Vikings kick moldy Packer cheese around, with the larger-than-life Favre at the helm of the Purple People Eaters. Two things are certain. One, with Tarvaris Jackson at QB, the Vikings don’t have a prayer of emulating the Minnesota Moving Company of old. Two, Favre at the helm of the Vikings team would be sweet, not only because he is an incredible athlete, but also because anything that bugs the crap out of the Packers is good for me.

One other NFL comment… Madden 2009 comes out next week. I can’t wait to check it out! That should look fantastic at 1080P on a PS3. Any way you slice it, NFL football returns. Hot damn! This is awesome.

One-Nighter. Not as Exciting as It Sounds.

Tomorrow, I am working with my brother at Fortune Bay, doing a system relocation and theme conversion. We are moving the Indiana Jones system, because the bank of games is too heavy for its current location. The beams in the second floor support structure are not rated for that much weight in such a small area, and we have to move the system for safety reasons. We aren’t moving the system very far, but instead turning the system the other way. It follows the principle of load-bearing structural members. For instance, if you put a lot of weight on a non-load-bearing wall, and the plaster start cracking and the house falls down. Well, that is hyperbole, but you get the idea. The system is too heavy for its current location and configuration.

I will be stuck in a hotel, but only for one night. I am not thrilled, but it is part of the job. At least I get a chance to take some sunrise pictures on the way home the following day. Better yet, coming home will be sweet, and it will be a Friday. Coming home to your family rocks, and when it is a Friday, that rocks even more. It's like Jerry Reed said in The Waterboy: "The only thing better than one crawfish dinner is five crawfish dinners."

Wii! Wii! Wii! All the Way Home.

WII Sports is a lot of fun. I am not so impressed with M&Ms Racing, but it is what it is, a cheap and cheesy marketing tool for M&M Mars. The controls on that game are pathetically unresponsive, though it is fun to crash into obstructions until the novelty wears off. It is particularly entertaining to watch the G-Man try his hand at driving a 3-wheeled speedster on the M&Ms Factory racetrack. We really want the Mario Go-Cart game, but good luck getting a copy of that. Apparently, local stores get a few copies on Sunday mornings, and if you happen to be there at the right moment, you can actually buy it. If you are a few minutes late, forget it. You can’t even find it online at Amazon or New Egg. Maybe we can find it for Christmas.

I would say that Nintendo of America was shortchanging their profit potential, but on the other hand, they certainly do understand the law of supply and demand, and also the words of Ronaldus Magnus, regarding the vaudeville mindset of his younger years: Always leave them hungry for more. I suppose as long as NOA does not make enough WII consoles that the stores are always out of stock, they can keep the prices high, and people will always be scrambling for the games. That is the essence of supply and demand. Shucks! It is working, but we got our WII, so take that, Nintendo. Talk about irony, huh? They got us to buy one! =)

MLB Twins. Notre Dame. Wii!

Heather and I were trying to coordinate a Minnesota Twins game with my nephew, Marty, his wife, Tara, and their two boys, Brady and Ben. I wonder if Marty has taken his younger son to a baseball game yet. I am sure that they did go to Marty’s baseball games, but a pro game? No doubt. I remember that in Brady’s first year of life, he went to quite a few games. I think that is great. That is how sports fans are built, starting them out right and what is better than the sounds and the smells of the game, live and in-person? Do you know what is crazy? Gabriel is three years old, and he has yet to go to a baseball game. It is getting kind of late in the season, so the Twins games are becoming rather meaningless. Still, it would be interesting for him, and a new experience. The Dome isn’t a great stadium for baseball, but it still a cool experience. A Vikings game would be better, but any pro sporting event has its energy, so we will try to still go to a game this year. NFL games are just so expensive. We are settling for televised sports, I guess.

I bought Heather a book about Notre Dame football (concerning this year’s team). Heather does love her Notre Dame football. I really need to watch some college football games with her, especially since Smosh lives in Indiana. I guess some day, either we need to move to Indiana, or the rest of the family needs to move to Minnesota.

But back to sports... I think that college football does not move as fast as pro football, but IMNSHO, the penultimate sporting event is football, if you ask me. Basketball is for sissies. Baseball is for old-timers with plenty of time on their hands, and guys who like a slow pace (not as slow as golf… yawn!). I admit that baseball is the perfect sport for a hot, lazy summer Saturday afternoon, but this is August, baby, and to paraphrase the son of Bocephus, I AM READY for some football!

While I was talking about sports I find too slow-paced for my taste, I didn’t mention the sport for geriatric light-weights. GOLF. Talk about dull. To be honest, I am not a golfer, in case you didn’t know that. However, let me tell you, golfing on the WII is fun stuff. Gabriel and I golf either a practice round of three holes or a full round of nine. The funny part is that the G-Man gets a big kick out of hitting the ball in the water hazard and puts a big effort into making a splash with the ball as often as he can. I am getting some practice, and I admit (quietly, secretly) that getting a bogey making par is satisfying AND fun. I doubt that I could do as well with golf in the real world, but this gets me off the chair, away from the computer, and having fun with my son. The WII has been a good investment for us, because we have fun together. Sometimes Heather, G, and I all bowl together. When Josh was visiting, he was bowling with us, too. He adeptly repeats the exact same stance and body movements so that he gets a strike three or four frames in a row. What a booger!

Josh. County Fair.

Josh stayed with us the last two weeks, but on Saturday, he went home. Dave came to pick him up at the Crow Wing County fairgrounds. Josh and all of our family members went to the fair in the morning and stayed there until afternoon. Josh and Gabriel rode on a few rides, including the scrambler (by whatever name it was called at this particular fair). Gabriel had a good time and didn’t want to go home. I hate to disappoint the little guy, but we couldn’t stay forever.

We did visit with the CW Republicans. I saw that there were very few faces representing the party at the fair, though there were plenty of ignorant libs chanting the Democrat party talking points, like a bunch of mind-numbed robots. Funny how those people seem to never speak for themselves. In any case, we saw David Allan Pundt for the second time, and we offered to support him in his campaign for state representative. He is a fiscal conservative and calls for responsibility and accountability in government. Pundt says that small government is the answer, and this is a mindset that I can support and believe. He is a Viet Nam veteran, and a family man who supports pro-life causes, the sanctity of life from birth to natural death, and the right of private citizens to bear arms. Right on, (future) Representative Pundt! Keep it up; we need more of this mindset in government on every level. By the way, after we talked to his campaign representative, within three days (today), his campaign put a huge lawn sign in front of our house. As far as I am concerned, they can bring at least a couple more. Check out his campaign site at http://www.davidallanpundt.com/ This is a good man with a grass roots point of view that we need to encourage in our elected officials.

Gabriel said that he missed Josh already within an hour or two of Josh going back to his home. I like having him around most of the time. He is a teenager, so he gets testy, but then we all have our good days and bad days. Lately, Josh has been really good with the boys and spending more time with them. That is mainly because we are rearranging the house and the computer that Josh uses to get online is disassembled. He couldn’t get online, and so he was spending his days watching TV and playing with the boys.

Josh is a good kid, and I hope that he understands that when he is respectful and friendly, he is welcome to come to our home. When I have a problem with him, it is because he sometimes likes to spend his time downstairs watching TV and online, instead of being part of our household. When he is in our home, Heather and I agree that he should be part of the family goings-on, instead of isolating himself. He can be online at home, so when he visits, if he joins our family interactions, then I am glad to have him in the neighborhood, so to speak. I hope he comes back soon. The bike rides with the whole family, and Josh, are good exercise and lots of fun. The goats like our bike ride-interrupting visits, too. However, that is a story for another day.

Moving the Office

We have been working on rearranging things here. It has been a long, slow process, and it will be a while before it is finished. We moved my office into the former playroom and my office becomes a storage room. The family room remains the family room, albeit sharing the title and purpose of the playroom now as well. Our thinking is that the big TV is in the playroom, so it is better suited to play and entertainment, making it an altogether entertaining place for the whole family. That is our logic anyway. The other reason for moving the office is that it gets to be 90-100° in the office this time of year. With my marketing class starting next week and Accuweather saying it is supposed to be in the 90s all week, summer may finally be here in its humid and hot glory. I was not looking forward to another summer of long nights of study in a sauna, so this may work out better.


I worked on a couple of other minor things this weekend as well. We converted the bathroom window in the basement to frosted glass, for the sake of privacy, since the window is at the ground level. Also, since the bedroom in the basement is now the technology center and my office all rolled in one, we frosted that window so that you can only see blurry shapes through the window now. It isn't as if we have prowlers in the neighborhood (at least that I am aware of) but the neighborhood is growing, and we would prefer to avoid tempting any lowlife who happens to be wandering through the woods here.


Not coincidentally, I can't tell you how many times we have heard the teenagers and wannabe rebels (maybe one and the same, but not necessarily, in my experience) doing brakestands and smoking the tires on their parents' cars at the end of the turnaround behind our property. I say "their parents' cars" for two reasons. One, the wannabe rebels appear to be rebels without a clue, for the simple reason that only a clueless person would intentionally cause premature wear to the tread on their tires, in the name of stinking out the passengers in their cars and generally disturbing the deer and wildlife in the woods. Two, only an imbecile would due the same thing, wearing out their tires in the name of attention, and that would lead me to assume that these creeps are driving their parents' cars, since the lack of care for the hardware suggests that someone didn't work too hard for the vehicles they are abusing. Anyway, it is annoying, but one of these days, the Taxter cops will drive through the neighborhood and give them a place to spend their dollars (on tires and fines for stupidity and moving violations). Scratch that first one. It isn't illegal to be stupid. Want proof? Just look at the liberals who are destroying this country in the name of power and the buying of votes of gullible victims of society (read: victims of their own shortsighted errors in judgement). That reminds me... what will happen when 51 percent of the populace receive some manner of government benefits paid for by the taxes of the rest? Do you think these people will ever vote out the enablers who are taxing and spending us into oblivion? Just curious.


Okay. That is enough babbling for one night. I am still working on my PC and rebuilding the office structure as we, uh, speak. Heather needs more peat moss for the dozens of flower pots we have growing here, so we need to restock our gardening supplies. Ciao.

Saturday

We sat around today and didn’t do anything productive, but sometimes you just have to do that. We mainly watched a bunch of movies in the basement in our “home theater.” We watched Fool’s Gold with Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson. I think it is an entertaining movie, despite the panning by critics. But then again, what do those goofballs know anyway? Usually, it seems that if the critics dislike a movie, it is almost a surefire winner. Part of the problem is that movie critics read into a movie too much. If the movie is designed to entertain, is the movie entertaining? This movie was very entertaining, the scenery was beautiful in the Bahamas, and the story line was good for what it was, entertainment. Part of the problem is that self-important critics like Christy Lemire think that they are the be-all and end-all in judging a movie, when it seems that the average movie critic forgot how to have fun. Further, movie critics are offering a personal opinion, and their opinions generally stink and miss the mark because the average person is looking for amusement, not critical acclaim and a serious message. The average movie critic needs to stop acting their age and start having fun with the movies. As I sometimes do, I digress…

We watched a bunch of movies today, including the aforementioned Fool’s Gold. We also watched Dan in Real Life (another movie the critics hated but that I thought was actually a very good movie vehicle for Steve Carell). Also, we watched Juno, which did receive critical acclaim. I am not thrilled by the teen pregnancy, but the character, Juno, handles everything with class and a precocious maturity beyond her years. She is a little nutty, but the message is good. Anytime a pregnant teen thumbs her nose at abortion and gives the baby up for adoption, it is a good message. Admittedly, I would prefer if the average teen would wait until marriage to start having children, but with the garbage messages that are put out there by the major media, movies and television, what do you expect? I say this especially in light of the fact that so many parents think that the responsibility for raising children with a strong moral center lies with the schools. That is asinine and shortsighted, but I can’t raise the children for other parents. I sure as hell will never entrust our children to teachers who espouse the radical beliefs of the teachers’ union, but I can’t tell the rest of the world how to raise their children and remain true to my libertarian beliefs.

Another movie we watched today was Jumper. Amazingly, we are three for three in enjoying movies that critics gave the thumbs down. The critics hated this movie, too, but Heather and I both thought that it was original, fast-paced and fun. Samuel L. Jackson looked absolutely cartoonish and bozoesque (just made that word up; do you like it?) with his snow white fro. He looked like a clown, but what matters is that he was intense in his acting precision, so that made up for his ridiculously brash dye job. The screen writers were trying to bash Christianity when they had the plot point regarding religious believers who are self-appointed judge, jury, and executioner. That would seem to be more relevant to Muslim wackos, since they feel it is acceptable to kill anyone who does not follow their radical line. But it is politically incorrect and unpopular among liberal wing nuts to be critical of Islamists, while it is wholly encouraged to loathe and subvert Christianity at every turn, especially for political expediency or media-induced propaganda subterfuge. To underscore my point here, in the movie, the religious zealotry mentioned is the Inquisition, so it follows that once again, Christianity is the target of the bashing. Just keep in mind that the Inquisition took place hundreds of years ago and is not in any way synonymous with contemporary Christian beliefs. So there.

Despite the critics panning every movie that the populace loves, the movies were all entertaining. I am sure that I will watch each one of these movies repeatedly, despite the critical disapproval. As I said, I do not care what any professional critic says, since the critics are full of crap and miss the mark with their, uh, professional opinions, loosely defined. I am sure that the critics know that their job is to muddy the water and cause discussion and controversy in the name of increased movie viewership. Maybe these guys should get into network broadcasting and propadandist news spin to slant every story against traditional American values in the name of furthering the yellow journalism so prevalent today.

This post isn't about postulating with regard to the lies and distortions of the media. It is about the movies we watched today and how much we loved them. The critics are full of crap and have a snooty, highbrow lack of taste, in my opinion. Ultimately, I have a very simple credo regarding what constitutes a good movie: If the movie entertains, then it is good enough for me.

Friday, Part Two - Visiting Dad

We visited Dad at the hospital today. He is doing okay, but doesn’t really want to be there. He had some nausea, but given the different drugs he is getting, it doesn’t surprise me. He is a stubborn German farmer, so he isn’t the most cooperative patient, but I think that he is regaining his strength, so that he can go home. I am sure that he will go stir-crazy in there once he starts feeling stronger and gets his independent streak back in gear.

Dave and Josh rode along with us to the hospital. We met mom in Hutch and brought her along, too, so that she didn’t have to attempt to drive in the Twin Cities traffic. The passengers were grouchy, but that happens in dealing with a long drive. It would have been better to leave at 5:00 a.m. so that the boys slept for most of the drive, but some of the passengers hinted that leaving early would require them to get out of bed extremely early. The day was not bad and it was nice to visit Dad. We all want him to get stronger and get home, and that is what matters, not the petty stuff and minor inconveniences.

Politics, Family, and Stuff

We found out that Heather’s brother is coming to visit around the time of Jericho’s first birthday next month. His girlfriend will be traveling and he needs to be there to meet her at the airport, so he is coming a different weekend. Gabriel really enjoys spending time with Josh, so Gabriel will be excited to see his uncle. We are interested to hear more about Josh’s love interest, too, but that will come in time. He is a great guy and he deserves someone as nice as he is, so we are all hopeful. I am sure that things will turn out for the best. I guess what would make it easier for all of us would be if we could convince the authorities to move Indiana closer to Minnesota. Maybe Al Gore could influence these authorities, so that we could keep fuel usage to a minimum and avoid global warming as much as possible.

Oh, by the way, Accuweather changed the forecast. At the time I went to Las Vegas, the prediction was for a full week of hot weather with highs in the 90s next week. I see that now the temperatures are predicted to be in the 70s with lows in the 50s. this sounds like May weather, not July weather. If this is global warming, I don’t like it, because I am trying to grow warm-season crops and this global warming is just too cool to be useful for growing food for my family. Maybe if I buy some carbon credits, I can influence Fat Albert to send some excess carbon dioxide our way. After all, the more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the better the plants grow, and the more food we have to eat. Gee, that almost sounds like global warming would be a GOOD thing, if only it wasn’t a bunch of lies, distortions, propaganda, money-making schemes, and part of a global plan to transfer the wealth of the United States to the rest of the world, so that we can all be one big, happy, low-rent family of communists.

Thank goodness for the DNC and the Democrat party. What does the DNC stand for again? I would think that the name should be changed. How about Distortions Nonsense and Communism? I need to think about that a bit, because I am sure I can find other names that fit better for what the Dems and libs REALLY stand for and espouse, besides enslaving the American people to fuel their wealth and hunger for control of the people. When you hear the crap that people like Nancy Pelosi and King Obama are spouting, you hear lines taken directly from the Communist Manifesto. Funny how these jokers are not suggesting confiscating THEIR wealth measuring in the millions of dollars, but just the evil oil companies and entrepreneurs. What a bunch of propaganda. I feel pity for the average person who takes the propaganda published by main vein newspapers and network news as gospel. It is all happening in the name of reprogramming to get the people used to the idea of a much stronger centralized government. Oh, by the way, I heard today about Obama’s tax plans if he is elected king. The effective tax rate would be approximately 60 percent. Is that the change we need, as he claims? God help us all if people are ignorant enough to vote for this communist fiend.

EBay Issues

The EBay games were released for play after extensive testing. The casino management got a kick out of how the games are going over, so that is a good thing. I drove to another casino to help them iron out the communication issues, and then the games there were released for play. Ka-ching! Ka-ching! I can hear the dollars coming in eventually, as I believe this is going to be a big hit in the casinos.

With the cost of everything going up with the cost of fuel, we need every penny that comes our way. Maybe I will get to move to the country someday yet, though I would prefer to do that while our children can still learn the work ethic that goes with living in the country, even if the only farming efforts are on a hobbyist level. I just want more room for a big garden, room for grape vines and lots of fruit-bearing bushes, chickens and other small animals. Then our Lake Country Zoo will seem more like a farm, but that suits me just fine.

EBay SNAFU Continues

The install didn’t get any better today. It turns out that we can’t get the server to work properly and you can’t even get the machine to register a door open. I am sure it will be something simple, but we haven’t had time to troubleshoot the problem yet. The casino is getting antsy to get the games in service, but tomorrow, all I need to do is to fix that door-monitoring problem and have the games tested, verified, and checked by compliance. Then the games will be released to the public. I think the games are going to go over big with the shared bonusing. Let’s hope so! I am saving for retirement and of course to buy the land and get out of town.

EBay Underway

We are installing an EBay system at a casino near here. The first day of the install went badly. The schedulers or coordinators forgot to send parts and the games were installed with whatever trim was available. There are four different configurations of games, when there was only supposed to be one. This is a new product and production is still ramping up, but it would certainly have been smart to wait another month while everything got in order. I am sure that we will find that there are lots and lots of problems with the install, but we will get through it eventually. I obviously can’t go into the details of the work or the hardware here, as those include company trade secrets, but the games are neat, if we can get everything in working order in the next couple of days.

Dad

Mom called in the middle of the night to say that Dad had an accident in the barn. We don’t know exactly what happened, but the evidence suggests that a calf (a 400-pound heifer) either kicked him or bumped a gate. In either case, Dad fell in or across the gutter. He ended up with some bad injuries, including broken ribs and a punctured lung, and was airlifted to a medical center in the Twin Cities. His injuries were severe but he is going to be okay. Dad isn’t a young man anymore, so that certainly exacerbated the extent of the damage. We will go visit him in the hospital later this week, but we are waiting for clarification on his injuries. I am sure that he is looking forward to being home again, though this may change his working life as a lifetime farmer. Dad is one of the old-school guys who shows that farming isn’t just a job; it is a life. Maybe some day we will be in the country raising a few animals, but we will never farm like my brothers and uncles do. It is a hard life, but the living is good for you. I think that our kids would do well in that environment, but it isn’t going to happen anytime soon.

Glad to be Home

How great it is to be home! The weather in Minnesota has been nice, not too warm and we haven’t had to run an air conditioner once yet. Thank goodness for global warming and Al “The Liar” Gore. Where is this evidence for human-induced global warming? It is just a bunch of lies and distortions intended to confiscate American wealth and hand it over to the United Nations to be redistributed to third world nations whose own governments and systems of economic activities keep them in poverty. The dollars that liberal wackos propose to use to fight global warming would be better used for many other things, including supporting democratic regimes in all of these totalitarian countries where our confiscated wealth will be given. In five years, global warming will be the outright joke that it is privately now. Take a look at the financial statements of Al Gore and see that he is now many times more wealthy than he was five years ago, as he “buys” carbon credits from HIMSELF via his shell company. Anyone who says that conservatives do not care about the environment are spouting sophomoric rhetoric. After all, conservatives have children and want to leave a better world for their children as well. We just think that people should stop whining and should assert themselves in an effort to make their lives better through hard work, instead of complaining and mass victimization. How does that help anyone when the tax dollars from hardworking entrepreneurs are confiscated and handed over to people who do nothing to contribute to the well-being of society?

Get this now. Are fuel-cell vehicles the answer to minimizing vehicle pollution? Not anytime soon, that is for sure. The dollars required for fuel cell vehicles are ridiculous! For example, in Santa Clara, California, there is a fleet of municipal buses that use fuel cells because those are “zero emissions” vehicles. Consider this: the cost of using a diesel bus is $1.61 per mile. The cost of using a fuel cell vehicle per mile is $51.66. Got that? PER MILE. You KNOW that liberals are in charge of that boondoggle. If you ever want to read some truth in science, spend a few minutes browsing at junkscience.com and get some enlightenment. Good luck and God help us!

Day Six - Coming Home Part Two

I never lost sight of this, but just walking in the door of my own home reminds me how much I missed my wife and our two beautiful sons. I love getting home. Damn, I am lucky. Thank God for that, and it is really good to be home again.

Day Six - Coming Home

I got home today at about 11:00 a.m. I am thrilled to be home, to see the boys and Heather again. Minnesota’s weather feels great compared to that wonderfully dry heat in Nevada. I know that I heard that comment five to ten times a day, and I still say that is ridiculous. When it is hot, it is hot!

The taxi driver was a Muslim guy, and he and I talked about religion a bit. It was not uncomfortable conversation, though. He asked why I was in Nevada, and when I mentioned gaming, he said that he “was prohibited from taking part in gambling.” I just figure that he is a smart person for doubling his money the easy way, folding it in half, and putting it back in his pocket. He did not strike me as being a militant person. I know that not all Muslims are wacko fundamentalist wing nuts, and that some of them make things look bad for the rest of the group. You cannot generalize and say that just because 19 Muslim radicals flew two planes into the World Trade Center, all Muslims are crazy. A lot of them are nuts, some claim to be moderates but are not, but there are still some out there who are levelheaded and tolerant. The same can be said for any religion.

If some people think that being of another religion is justifiable cause as self-appointed executioner of a death sentence, then those people may eventually face the same treatment at the hands of others. Religious nuts follow all the major creeds and faiths, and it is not my place to dictate what others do with their lives. We are told that the judgment for each of us is reserved for God alone. I just do my best to work on my personal relationship with Jesus Christ as my savior and try to help others to see the same light as the solution to the problems of the world. I figure that when God calls, we have a choice to either listen or ignore the call. We have free will and if we miss our chance to know God in a personal relationship, that is our own fault. I do my best, but God, I am only human. Thank goodness, He understands. I didn’t plan to make this a religious forum, at least not today, so I will leave my religious comments at that.

I am home with my family in Minnesota. I love this place. I am going to go see what I was missing out on for the last six days. Sweet! I am home. Ke aloha nô me ka mahalo kâua! Hello and good-bye until next time, with rich blessings for you always. To my two or three regular readers, later days!

Day Five - The Adventure Continues

Today is the last day out here, sort of. I checked out of the hotel this morning, and after training is complete, I have about six hours of time to wander the area before I return the rental car and check in for the flight back home to Minnesota. The departure time is ten minutes to midnight, and I will end up traveling through the night due to the shift back to central time. I figure I will be home before noon on Friday. I have missed being home, missed the boys and Heather, too. Traveling is interesting, but like Dorothy Gail lost in Oz, there is no place like home. That statement was cheesy, but it is true. I like being home. Heather wrote me an email to tell me that she has been planting flowers like crazy all week. The temperatures at home have been much more moderate. Las Vegas is not in the high heat of late summer yet, but for a Minnesota guy in Nevada, this is uncomfortably hot weather. Fortunately, I have been reminded about ten times a day that “it is a dry heat.” Call it what you want, but from my perspective, it is just very hot in Las Vegas. It is a nice place to visit, do the training, and take some pictures, but I prefer Minnesota any day.

I have learned quite a lot in training out here and I am glad that I had the opportunity, but I am still looking forward to feeling that familiar rush as the plane lifts off the ground at McCarran and heads over the Spring Mountains and turns northward. Better yet, it will be wonderful to see the recognizable landmarks like the Mendota Heights water tower that I see every time I fly to the Twin Cities. When I fly in to Minneapolis in winter, the Koch refinery is the landmark that really draws attention, because there are so many lights there that the entire place is lit up like a Christmas tree, and that place is huge! This time around, the sun will be well above the horizon by 5:15 a.m. and the landmark of note will be the downtown Minneapolis skyline, reminding me that I am nearing my destination, and, “Oh, Auntie Em, there’s no place like home!”

Oh, and though I don't mind visiting Las Vegas, I can understand why they say, "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas." I prefer Minnesota; Las Vegas can keep its secrets, though my visit was about training, working, driving, blogging, company paperwork, and photography, not necessarily in that order, because the best part of it was the photography, other than the homecoming which will soon be underway. I love that part.

Day Four - Part Two

I went out to see Red Rock Canyon tonight. What an incredible site! I took about 400 pictures. True to form, there will be 3-5 pictures that I feel are good enough to be part of my online photography site which I hope someday will be part of my portfolio if photography ever becomes my sideline or my business. I wish! I will keep working on it and see what happens later. Anyway, I digress…

Red Rock Canyon is about 190,000 acres of desert canyons and chaparral in the Mojave Desert and in the Spring Mountains near Las Vegas. The views are spectacular! I am so glad that I took the time to drive out to the canyon. There is a scenic drive that extends for 13 miles through the canyon, though the entire recreational area is huge, extending for miles beyond the areas I saw today. If I had more time, I might consider revisiting the canyon, though I hear that this time of year, the rattlesnakes and scorpions are most active. I did not see any evidence of either today, so I am not sure if I am relieved or if I missed out on something that would make for great photography. Oh well. I did get some nice pictures, and I will retouch those and post them to the photography site as soon as I can.

I brought along three bottles of water and stayed for about three hours. I figured that was enough water, but I was wrong. I wish I brought at least double that. I spent an hour exploring at the first stop along the trail, focusing on the plant life and flowers on the succulents in the desert. The air temperature when I left the parking lot at the first stop was 119°, but that may be a bit dubious, as I was sitting on a huge rock baking under the Mojave Desert sun. When I got back to Vegas, it was only 107°.

I read a quote that said, “If your pictures are not good enough, you are not close enough.” I took more close-up photos and macro shots at Red Rock than I did of the horizon, the canyons, or the mountain ranges. What amazes me is that despite the fact that Las Vegas averages around 4-5 inches of rain a year, when you drive the 17 miles to Red Rock, you find out that the desert is alive with birds and wildlife abounds. The desert in this area is green and full of flowers and vegetation. Red Rock Canyon is spectacular!

Day Four

Today in training, we were introduced to the new gaming platforms that we will see in the field soon. Honestly, the only thing that changed dramatically was the physical appearance of the exterior of the slot machine cabinets. The interior, the hardware, has not changed that much. One thing that we are seeing is a trend towards off-the-shelf components and a gradual convergence with PC technology. That is to say that our slot machines are becoming computers, either Windows-based or Linux operating systems. A few components are standard off-the-shelf items now, especially for handling data storage and video processing. Future generations of the hardware will be very close to actual computers hiding out in slot machine cabinets. Every hardware roll-out is a step closer to that convergence, and that is good for various reasons. It saves us money in development, makes parts acquisitions easier and less expensive, and reduces costs for the casinos in replenishing and repairing the machines, not that our machines are particularly prone to hardware failures.

I found out that we will install these new cabinets in the field in Minnesota within a couple of weeks, so the training seems very timely. The one thing that I am missing here in Las Vegas is a preview of the hardware for the EBay systems. I will begin installing those in Minnesota next week, so a preview would be nice. There is one more day of training yet, so it might happen, but I would not guarantee it.

Day Three in Vegas

It was 110° when I left the office. I am thinking about going out to the Red Rock Recreational Area, but not today. I think I will go out there just before I leave, either on Wednesday or on Thursday. Ironically, the federal government runs Red Rock through the Bureau of Land Management, and yet BLM does not take credit cards anywhere. That is odd because you would think that tourists would use either credit or travelers’ checks for obvious monetary security reasons. I never carry cash because of the slight possibility of issues when testing machines in casinos if you happen to be carrying cash. I will figure something out.

Today’s class was on another table game product. The company bought a significant interest in another company and is perfecting the technology and marketing it for what is now our de facto subsidiary. The training was not difficult, but I don’t see this product coming into our local market anytime soon. Minnesota’s gaming environment is different. We don’t have stepper games (traditional mechanical reel-type slots). Minnesota is strictly a video gaming environment in casinos. Arguably that means this product WILL come to market in Minnesota, because it is a video-based gaming table, but I still see this as a long-term prospect as it takes up quite a bit of gaming floor space. Casinos tend to not want to give up space to large gaming devices, because the cost in revenue per square foot has to be high to make up for the large size of the games.

I am going out to see Red Rock tomorrow if I find a way to pay the admission fee without having ready access to cash. The company office and training center are halfway between the hotel and Red Rock, so it makes sense to visit Red Rock Canyon from the office instead of from the hotel.

Day Two in the Desert

The first day of class was interesting. The topic was radio frequency table games and the technology behind it. We learned how to install radio frequency antennas and how to set up the system that works behind the scenes. Every poker chip will have an RFID chip in it (like the anti-theft devices in retail stores), so that when you lay your chips down on the poker table (or baccarat or roulette or other gaming tables), the system automatically takes an accounting of your chips and credits you for the player tracking system. Then you earn rewards on the casino’s in-house accounting system, just like when you use a player’s card. It doesn’t help the house or the player to win or lose more effectively (depending from whose perspective you are viewing the winning or losing). It is all about better accountability and rewarding of customers. Interesting.

When I left the training center and got in the rental SUV, the ambient temperature was 109° and it was still windy. I heard that the reason it is so comfortable out there is that “it is a dry heat!” Yeah, and in Minnesota, when the air is stifling, everyone says, “It’s not the heat; it’s the humidity” and that is just as goofy. Any way you slice it, it is just hot and uncomfortable, but what are you going to do? That is why we have air conditioning!

The drive to the office is not too long. It takes about fifteen minutes from the hotel to the training center. The only comment I have about driving in Las Vegas this time around is that the locals drive as if they are in the hunt for the pole position on a NASCAR track. I have driven in enough big cities that I have learned that when you are in an unfamiliar city, you have to drive just like the locals, and if that means you get a bit pushy or cut in close when you change lanes, and then you learn to adjust. I have not crashed so far, so I guess that mindset is working.

Las Vegas, Here I Come (Can I Stay Home?)

Today is the travel day to Las Vegas for the new product training. I hate leaving on Father’s Day, or any day when I will miss time with my kids, but that is what happens sometimes, when job duties call a person away from home. I had to leave the house at 7:00 this morning for the flight to Vegas. It was 56° at the Minneapolis International Airport. When the flight arrived at McCarran Airport, it was 104° and windy. It is no wonder… I would say that it did not occur to these people to plant some trees, but in the desert, what are you going to plant but a bunch of saguaro cacti and sagebrush? Those are not exactly going to slow the hot, desert winds.

I am staying at a nice hotel that is only a couple of minutes from the car rental place. Vegas is convenient, if a bit odd, in that you get off the plane, claim your luggage, and then ride a shuttle bus about fifteen minutes from the airport to a car rental depot, where all of the car rental agencies are located in one central location. The hotel is about two minutes from there. The other techs in the training are staying out in Henderson, about fifteen miles from here and quite a bit farther from the new office. I was supposed to share a car, but thankfully, the hotel there was full, so I was forced to have a hotel reservation far from the rest of the techs. I am so bummed about it, too. After all, had I been required to share a rental car with three other techs, I would have to either stay in the hotel after training each day, sort of stranded because I was not quite the joiner that I could be, or the alternative would be to go where they went. I am so depressed that I am going to miss the skanky strip clubs and over-priced bars and nightclubs, the Las Vegas strip, and all the touristy places where frustrated married men go when they are a couple thousand miles from their wives. Then again, I could be completely sarcastic in that statement and I would rather do my work and come back to the hotel to read, study, do my paperwork, and just relax in an air-conditioned room with the thermostat set at 65°. In fact, that is exactly my plan, to avoid the seedy gambling environs and to research locations to take pictures for my photography site.

I did not mention my photography website. I will roll that out before the end of the month. I have about a hundred pictures on the site, but I have many more to add, and I only want to add my best work. I will tell you about that in the next posts. I am going to get some sleep in this desert hotel before I head to the office in the southwest Las Vegas metro area. Oh, joy! Not really, but I may get to see some new sites and check out some photo opportunities, so that isn’t all bad (though I would rather not be away from the boys and my wife). Friday will come soon and I will stay busy until then. Anyway, over and out for tonight.

Aloha kâkou!

Photography 101

I wonder if winter is finally over this time. The sun is shining and it is beautiful outside. If I didn’t have a lot of homework to do tonight in my statistics class, I would be outside taking pictures or seeking new locations to take pictures. I will have opportunities later this week, as the forecast is calling for mid-70s within the next few days. I love snow, I don’t mind winter, but I admit that spring fever is now in full swing… and gardening comes next! Cool!

Too bad it was rainy and cold when we were in the Cities a couple of days ago. It was a long drive and stopping at the Minnesota Zoo made it more enjoyable for the family. The weather was lousy so we checked out the Tropics building and the main building. We have seen those areas three times this year, but it gave me the opportunity to take pictures and experiment with the teleconverter and the long lens. I have another dental appointment in a few weeks, and if the weather cooperates, I will finally be able to take advantage of the brighter light conditions outdoors for the long exposures in the larger enclosures. The elevated track of the monorail may be conducive to some great photos I haven’t had the chance to capture the last few times we visited the zoo. Listen to me, talking about photos as if “they” were living things. “Watch the photograph hunter as he approaches the unsuspecting snapshot. With luck, he may finally capture a live one in its native habitat. The wild snapshot has a keen awareness of its surroundings, but fortunately for us, has not yet detected the photograph hunter”, etc., etc.

With more experimentation, I am sure that I can get the right exposure in the more complicated lighting situations, but I will keep practicing. One of my favorite subjects in the Tropics is the white-cheeked gibbon exhibit, along with the sun bear and the cougars. The lighting is great for the cougars, but at the gibbon and sun bear exhibits, the light is comparatively weak for a long-glass situation. Using the teleconverter, I lose one stop of light-gathering ability. Even with a monopod, it isn’t easy to get really sharp photos at 465 millimeters, because to compensate for the low light, I need to lengthen the exposure time to 1/30 second or longer. In the future, I will try to shoot RAW format in that building (without on-camera processing). Then I can use Photoshop to tweak the various attributes of the raw picture with much greater latitude, a lossless file format, and photo stacks so I do not compromise the original file. Then I can always revert to the original, unedited RAW file if I don't like the results of my own manual adjustments.

The other thing that occurred to me is that I should have adjusted the exposure bias to compensate for the low light. The distance is too great for a flash, and so I can manage some acceptable (but not tack sharp) photos, but the problem for me is that the result of the low light situation is that I end up needing to use an ISO around 1800-3600, which isn’t suitable for enlargements, in my opinion, due to the noise that is introduced in the photos. Had I adjusted the exposure bias and used a tripod, I am confident that I could have gotten tack sharp photos. That is the great thing about digital photography. If at first you don't succeed, go back and take a dozen more photos with bracketed exposure settings and you are sure to get it right!

Don’t let my comments sound like I am negative on this camera. The D300 takes beautiful photos, even at ISO 3200, but pictures shot at high ISO settings are best viewed at a reduced size or possibly the size that fits on a computer monitor, but not at the native resolution. Of course, this is just my opinion, and maybe I am starting to become a photo snob, wanting my pictures to be better all the time. Remember, kids, this is merely my own opinion, and my personal experience. I am still experimenting and have much room to improve, but I love every minute of it. The problems I face with the camera so far have been due to the learning curve of the settings on the camera much, much more than any shortcomings in the camera itself. Nikon, if you are listening (not that anyone at Nikon is paying attention to this), this camera is superb. The D300 is an incredible piece of photographic hardware and I think this camera rocks. I have always loved taking pictures, but the D300 has awakened a new enthusiasm in me that is incomparable.

Photography is really exciting again. I love that.