Flickr

Well, the United States has begun retaliations against the Talaban. I say “God Bless America” and go get ’em.

Earl and I have been getting into winter hibernation mode, stocking up the can cupboard, doing some baking, putting the lawn furniture away, etc. And not a moment too soon, because as I type this, my little “wetsock” weather indicator next to my computer clock is showing me a snowman, and says we’re going to get snow showers tonight. I’m very excited as I love winter. There won’t be any snow accumulation, but we’re getting there!

Thursday night brought my mother to our home for dinner. It was great to get together with her, as we had not seen her since mid August. She looks wonderful, and seems to be doing very well. We had a nice time just chatting amongst the three of us.

Earl and I went out to dinner both Friday and Saturday night, and both times we ate healthy! No desserts. Saturday night we watched “It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World”, as I got the DVD from Amazon.com a week or so ago. ‘Mad World’ is my favorite movie of all time. I can never get enough of it. And the DVD has the complete version of it, which is very cool.

I put up a bunch of odds and ends on ebay this afternoon. I love selling and buying stuff on ebay. I sometimes get addicted to it. But, I’m selling more than I’m buying right now, so everything is o.k. in the financial department. Let’s make sure we keep it that way.

Which reminds me. Back on September’s journal, I mentioned that my beard would stay around as long as my financial responsibility remained. Well, I gave in and shaved off my beard. But I am remaining financially responsible. My beard was just not coming in as well as I had hoped, plus as much as I cleaned my face and beard, I felt like I was dirty. So I went ahead and shaved, and have settled on this look.

Just a mustache without a soul patch. I haven’t been without my soul patch in quite a while! I’ll probably trim the mustache a little more, but this is basically what I’m going with.

I heard from someone about the IBM register system I was working on restoring. He has a similar system that he’s restoring. It’s nice to know that I’m not the only nutty geek in the world.

October 2, 2001

Wow, here it is October already! Tomorrow’s weather says it’s going to be in the 80s, but by the weekend, it’s going to be in the 40s. Gotta love Upstate N.Y. weather.

I’m bushed. I’ve been going into work at 5:30 a.m. for the past two days, as I’ve been training our new morning show at the station on the on-air equipment. Tomorrow they fly solo for the first time, and they are going to be spectacular. I just know it! Today I was pretty much just a safety net for them, as they did most of the show on their own. I gotta say that I didn’t really enjoy going in at 5:30 but boy did I like getting out at 2:00. I was able to get so much personal stuff done before everything closes at 5:00. Back to the regular grind tomorrow.

I think starting with this month’s page of the journal, I’m going to work my way down, instead of the putting the latest information at the top. It seems to make more sense as far as layout goes. I’m upside down at times I guess. 🙂

Earl and I just got done watching “All About Joan” or whatever that show with Joan Cuzcak is called. I really like her. I really like the show. I used to be an avid Dharma and Greg fan, but after the second season or so, I got bored with it and haven’t really watched it since. So tonight between 8 and 8:30 we watched an old episode of Bewitched. It was from the fourth season, called “Once In A Vial”. The one where Endora gets bewitched by a love potion and is going to marry one of Darrin’s clients. It’s a pretty good episode, especially since Agnes Moorehead really gets to shine in it. Bewitched is my all time favorite television show, and I watch it every chance I get. I also liked “Tabitha” with Lisa Hartman back in 1978. I have several of them on tape. I guess I have odd TV tastes, because I also have all the episodes of “Isis” with Joanna Cameron. I remember them from when I was a kid. I picked up the episodes on-line, thank god for ebay. I think I have a picture of her somewhere on my hard drive.

There she is! Now do you remember her? “Oh zephyr winds which blow on high, lift me now so I can fly…”

Sometimes when I read what I’ve written in my journal, it frightens me just how much my erratic thought processes shine through as I’m typing. Take the last paragraph I wrote. I started out with Joan Cuzcak, jumped to Dharma and Greg, popped over to Bewitched and ended up putting a picture of Isis up. Figure that one out. You should try to have a one-on-one conversation with me! 😉

Where to begin. I’m very tired because frankly, I haven’t been doing a lot of sleeping lately. Earl and I have been watching coverage of the terrorist attacks non-stop and it’s really gets your brain running when you’re trying to fall asleep at night!

I am very proud of America. I am very proud to be an American. With all the flags wavin’, all the candles that are lit, all the signs and such that simply say “God Bless America”, it’s hard not to get choked up driving down the street. It’s good to feel the American people band together again. But I guess that’s what we do best.

I’m a little perturbed at the media. They are doing there best to report what’s happening, but at times I shout at the television “Shut UP ALREADY!” I mean, what good does it do to ask some high government official? “So Mr. Blah Blah, exactly where will we strike first when we go to war?” I mean, let’s just tell our enemies what we’re doing beforehand. And then statements like “President Bush will be in New York at 11:48 a.m.” Great! Let’s just tell our attackers where to find the most powerful man on the planet. For God’s sake, shut up and let’s try to use some common sense on what we’re reporting! And there’s no reason to show those poor victims jumping from the World Trade Center. There was NO reason for that. Journalism? NO. Sensationalism? Absolutely.

Another thing that I don’t understand are these local rent-a-cop installations that are mad that the government is stepping in with airport security. Hello?!? Have you done a shitty job for the past ten years and now we’re finally paying for it? With all the video of security guards snoozing while guns pass by on the x-ray, people in wheelchairs sitting on a machine gun and not getting stopped or undercover CIA agents breezing right through a door and onto the tarmac, I think it’s very safe to say that the current system isn’t working. And who are the American people to think that they should just come breezing into an airport two minutes before flight time, jump on a plane directly from the curb, no questions asked, not pay any attention to what the flight attendants may demonstrate regarding safety rules and then get pissy when the steak tastes like chicken. The Federal government should take over all airport security. I think the passengers should have to get to the airport 2 to 3 hours ahead of time so that full security measures can be taken. I think armed guards should be walking around airports. Screw customer service and trying not to inconvenience the passenger. Get the passenger to their destination SAFELY, and let the rent-a-cops work at McDs. Enough of the soapbox.

I did something I’m very proud of today. I left work, unannounced, went to a local party supply store, and bought a huge 5’x8′ flag. A bunch of us hung it from the 16th floor at work for the whole city to see. You can’t miss it, you can even see it from the Thruway.

Beard progress is moving along nicely, as we are now on day 20.

I also grew a little fuzz on my head to make the beard seem more even. As you can see by my eyes, the allergies have been going wild! 🙂

Earl and I went to one of our favorite restaurants tonight, Casa Too Mucha. I had some wicked spicy Cajun Shrimp, and it was great. Also a glass of merlot, that knocked me off my keister a bit! 🙂 I don’t drink hardly at all, and when I do, it knocks me for a loop.

I’m looking forward to a relaxing weekend.