Wyoming Road Rage

A friend sent me a link to this little gem from Sinks Canyon up above Lander Wyoming.

Perfect Score

For the first time in 24 years of voting in California I feel like I didn't waste my votes yesterday.

Everything I voted for - passed. Everything I voted against - failed.

Oh crap! The one time I go a perfect 6 for 6 and I waste it on a special election ballot instead of a lottery ticket.

Election Results

The voters in California yesterday went to the polls and sent a message to our state lawmakers.



The folks I have talked to have all said pretty much the same thing.

STOP Spending Money on things we don't want or need!

We don't trust you to actually make the tax increased temporary.

We don't trust you to actually attempt to control the spending.

Unfortunately I don't think that our RINO Governator got the message:

Instead of sticking around here in the state during this critical vote, our girly-man governor spent the day hiding out in Washington DC. Apparently he hasn't heard yet that Nancy Pelosi's skirts aren't really a very good place to try and hide behind these days.

But today is a new day here in California. The people have spoken, we don't trust our lawmakers, we want the spending controlled. Now our Governator is talking also, unfortunately all we are hearing from him is the same fear mongering that we heard before the election.

How does Arnold think he is going to save this state?

1. lay off 5,000 of the state's 235,000 workers.
2. slashing education by up to $5 billion
3. selling state properties
4. borrowing $2 billion from local governments
5. release and deport from state prisons up to 19,000 illegal immigrants
6. transfer of up to 23,000 other prisoners to county jails
7. potentially reducing eligibility for healthcare programs

You will notice that two of those options (4, 6) will attempt to help the state by directly damaging the budgets of the counties in the state.

Also you will notice that not one of those plans becomes even close to addressing where the troubles all came from. There is not one solution there that will effect the billions of dollars this state spends on every liberal mamby pamby give to people who do nothing to earn it "social" program that this state has funded for years. #7 may actually be a step toward denying social services to illegal immigrants. But I wouldn't count on it.

So how about we try a few new ideas, other than just threatening the good honest people of this state.

How about:
1. Cut healthcare, welfare, education for all illegial aliens.
2. Cancel all "green programs" designed to save the planet while bankrupting the state.
3. Cancel all funding for programs that do not directly support the police, fire, education and state infrastructure.

Sure those are probably impractical solutions but according to everyone we are in for some tough times. So maybe it is time we start looking at some tough solutions. Not just the normal "lets threaten to cut things that are important to people so they will let us raise their taxes."

I stole this from the Boston Herald



Boy isn't that the sad truth.

Obama's Fiscal Responsibility

President Obama is putting forth a 2010 budget of

$3,600,000,000,000.00

But after a brief bout of fiscal responsibility he has reduced that number to

$3,583,000,000,000.00

I don't know about you but I feel much better knowing that this move will probably save my great grandchildren about $1.37 in taxes.

Solar (No So) Powered House

Students from Lawrence Technological University in Troy Michigan built an 800 square foot

"shining example of the green movement -- a completely independent solar-powered house with no gas or electrical hookups"

This technological marvel had only two little problems:

1) it cost over $900,000 dollars
2) it didn't work.

That's right, $900,000 dollars. That is $1,125 per square foot. If I was to build my current home from the same technology at the same price it would cost over 2.8 million dollars. Which is probably a great deal. I would be off the grid, I would never have to pay an electric or gas bill again. Heck I should do this. After all its free energy right? Never mind that it will cost almost 3 million up front. Think about how much I will save in the long run. At the current rate that I pay per month for electrical and gas I will make up that 2.8 million dollars in just 11,250 months. Heck that's just a piddling little 937 years, 6 months. What a deal! Where do I sign up? Just think if I do this right now, without delay, my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandchildren will be able to live here for free.

Oh, wait, I forgot about the second little problem. The system didn't work well enough to produce enough power to keep the heater working during the winter, the pipes froze, flooded that house and now the City of Troy doesn't have the $16,000 dollars they need to repair their new state of the art house. Whoops, I better recalculate my numbers. If I have to add an additional $16,000 per year, plus the cost of living somewhere else while my house is fixed each year, you had better add a whole bunch more greats to that list above.

Now to make matters even worse, the Oakland County Planning and Economic Development Department advertised tours of the house for its Tuesday Oakland County Green Summit.

Yeah, thats the ticket. Lets have a green summit and we will all tour the little house that couldn't. Does anyone think that anyone in the Troy area learned anything from this little exercise in incompetence and stupidity. I wonder, how many scholarships the $900,000 dollars could have provided for deserving students at the Lawrence Technological University to go to a real engineering school where they might learn some real engineering.

Don't get me wrong now. I'm all for sane common sense ideas that will protect our environment. You know things like don't litter, don't polute, turn off the lights when you leave the room, limit the amount of running around town you do, stuff like that. But spending close to a million dollars on an 800 square foot house that doesn't work is insane. Isn't there anyone in the city of Troy, the University, the student body, anywhere around there that said "maybe we could put this money to better use somewhere else?" Even if the goram house did work who in their right mind thinks that building a million dollar closet that is off the grid is a good idea?

Morons!

OS Wars

Comment on a blog in the midst of a long discusion about Operating Systems on PCs.

The OS wars are over and the Web Browser won.

Boy isn't that the sorry truth.

My entire Windows Operating system treats everything I try to do like it is a stupid website.

Anarchy in Contra Costa County

Well the lunatics are definitely in charge of the asylum in California. At least they are in Contra Costa County. According to the San Francisco Chronicle The Contra Costa County District Attorney Robert Kochly has announced that due to budget cuts his office will no longer prosecute:

Misdemeanors:
assault
thefts
burglaries

Felony Drug cases involving:
less than a gram of methamphetamin or cocaine,
less than 0.5 grams of heroin,
fewer than five pills of ecstasy, OxyContin or Vicodin

Also on the no prosecute list is:
people who are suspected of misdemeanor drug crimes,
minor traffic laws,
shoplifting,
trespassing,
misdemeanor vandalism

So what exactly does District Attorney Robert Kochly think he is being paid to do? Personally I think this is probably a ploy to try and coerce more money from the people this clown works for. But if it isn't a ploy and this negligent bastard really starts neglecting his duty this way I hope the first house that is invaded and stripped to the foundation is his own. Assuming of course that this coward actually lives in the same county that he is selling down the river.

So if you have ever wanted to rob someone, shoplift, trespass, vandalize something, or experiment with certain drugs you better get up to Contra Costa. If you live in Contra Costa County - may God have mercy on your soul. I would get out while the getting is good. It is going to get really ugly up there really soon.

The soft headed, earth first, save the planet folks over at Vote Earth 2009 are encouraging everyone to turn off all their lights tomorrow night (3/28) from 8:30 to 9:30 PM.

Their website claims that turning off your lights is a vote for earth, or leaving your lights on is a vote for global warming.

Personally I intend to turn on a couple extra lights. Call it a vote for reason, sanity and freedom. But I am not voting for global warming. I'm voting to be a light in the darkness caused by hysteria, panic and blind over reaction. How much effort and money have these clowns sunk into this endeavor? Do they think it will really matter? Do you think they'll see a satellite picture of the Korean peninsula at night and notice that the entire North Korean portion of the peninsula is dark and
think "Hey, everyone there is voting for the earth!"

A message for the Vote for earth crowd - You are wasting both yours and my time. You are attempting to cost our society billions of dollars with wasteful legislation that will accomplish nothing. You will not stop global warming by turning off your lights. You will not cool the planet by shutting down factories, cars, light bulbs, etc. The only thing you can do to cool this planet is to turn off the sun. But don't worry we can do that.

Wait until about 8:30 tomorrow night, then go outside. Look up into the sky and be amazed, because the sun will have gone dark. It will be turned off. Then if you dare to, turn on a light so you can read a thermometer. You will discover that it is already getting cooler outside. Amazing huh? If we turn off the sun then the atmosphere cools. Then, go back in your house, turn on your lights so you don't break a toe tripping over something. Sit down, read a book, watch some TV, play a
game with your kids, then turn off the lights, go to bed and get a good night sleep. Don't worry, the whole world will not be a frozen wasteland when you walk up. I promise that we will turn the sun back on in the morning so that your world will warm back up again. When that happens you should get up, shower, put on a clean tee shirt, braid your hair, then go outside into that great big warm wonderful world and find yourself a useful job.

Oh, if at anytime during the day you happen to see Algore speaking, stick both your fingers in your ears and run like your life and the lives of your children depend on it - because it does.

Ban Guns to help Mexico

Last month our glorious Attorney General stated that in order to reduce the escallating violance in Mexico we have to start banning the sale of guns here in the United States.

I have tried several times to put my thoughts about what a ridicuously foolish train of thought this is. But as I was trying to find the right words, one of my favorite bloggers did it for me. Mostly Cajun said it this way:

You’re a big Mexican drug cartel. You daily smuggle TONS of marijuana and cocaine across the border into the United States. You decide you need a few guns.

Do you

1. Send Pedro and Paco to San Antonio to buy up the legal semi-automatic guns from a legitimate gun shop
2. Talk to corrupt military and government officials in your own country and arrange to get fully automatic guns from THEIR stocks.
3. Buy guns from munitions dealers on the international market that supplies arms to trouble spots all over the globe.

I won’t even go into the idea that an American gun shop would deal in fully automatic weapons. Yes, it IS done, but it requires a special and expensive license and is highly regulated and watched. For a private individual to get the license to OWN one of these weapons is a long, drawn-out process involving fingerprints and background checks. And in the end you end up with a weapon that might have cost !50 to make, but you paid $5000 (or much, much more) to own. The same goes for “destructive devices” such as grenades.

The same $5000 in the right places on the international market will get you a truckload of REAL AK-47’s.

As much as the gun-grabbers and lamestream media would like to have you think that you can walk into and gun shop, plunk down cash and walk out with a bucket full of hand grenades and a couple of light machine guns, it just ain’t so.

And while a knowledgeable individual with the proper machine tools and parts can convert many semi-auto rifles into full auto versions, why would they do that when a few pesos in the right pocket can get you one out of the back of Mexican Army truck? Or with a phone call to Venezuela?

And to further laugh at the furor over the supposed flow of guns to Mexico, really, we can’t seem to stop the flow of drugs coming this way, so what makes people think that we can stop the flow of arms the other way, anyhow? Seems to me that if we have this magic technology that can somehow stop stuff going into Mexico from here, we could, like, turn it around and stop stuff coming here from Mexico.

Oh, wait! I forgot. What they’re proposing is that we stop selling guns here. If they’re illegal here, then the Mexican drug cartels won’t buy them here. Right! A LAW is going to stop that. After all, it works so well making drugs illegal that you can’t buy THEM from Jamar on the street in any US city.

Unfortunately we are dealing with domestic jihadists who only want one thing - the complete disarmament of the American population. They don't care about logic. They don't care about common sense. All that matters to them is taking away our most basic freedom - the freedom to defend ourselves and our families.

As long as "We the People" are allowed to own guns our elected overlords will never be able to sleep well at night. As long as we have the ability to defend ourselves we may one day wake up and discover that we don't need their constant interference in our lives. The very thought of an armed society strikes fear in the hearts of our liberal leaders. So far they have done a great job of taking over our country using our schools, colleges, universities and polling places. But as long as the unwashed masses have the tools to stand up and say "NO MORE!" their reign can never be complete. So don't be surprised when this attack on our freedom fails. Just be ready for the next one, and the one after that, and so on. As long as the whacko libs are in charge they will continue to attack our ability to defend ourselves. They don't hide that any more. In fact they proudly proclaim that they are going to make taking away our guns a priority. Get ready folks, this is just round one of what will be a long, long assault.

Electric Sheep

This may be fake, or maybe not, but its entertaining none the less.

If this is real I think the London 2012 Olympics Committee should hire these guys to do their opening ceremony

The New Gun Ban

Attorney General eric holder announced today that the obama administration will attempt to re-enact the expired 1984 assault weapons ban.

Holder says that putting the ban back into place would help stem the flow of US weapons into Mexico where violence between the government and the drug cartels is escalating daily.

So, our esteamed attorney gnereal wants to help our neighbors to the south stop violence by denying American citizens their rights to own guns. First off, why is this our problem? The same Mexican governemnt that refuses to try and stem the illegal invasion of American by it's citizens now wants us to stop exporting guns to their country. Well tough! We have an extensive network of border defenses designed to stop illegal aliens from invading our country, why doesn't Mexico do the same thing on their side of the border to stop the gun runners? Oh wait, we really don't have such a system and I guess neither do they. But that does not change the arguement. If you want something to stop coming into your country then stop it at your border. It is not our problem!

Secondly the on Feb. 20, 2009 the State Department issued a travel warning:

"Some recent Mexican army and police confrontations with drug cartels have resembled small-unit combat, with cartels employing automatic weapons and grenades," the warning said. "Large firefights have taken place in many towns and cities across Mexico, but most recently in northern Mexico, including Tijuana, Chihuahua City and Ciudad Juarez."

Ok, two bonus points for anyone who can spot the big problem with this statement.

"cartels employing automatic weapons and grenades" I have news for the attorney general since he is apparently incapable of understanding US law. The average citizen cannot walk into a gun store in the country and buy "automatic weapons and grenades."

Banning US citizens from buying assault weapons will NOT in any way curb the use of automatic weapons and handgrenades in Mexico. So lets forget all about poor Eric's arguement that we have to do it for the Mexicans. Since we know its really not about helping Mexico. Instead lets focus on what he wants to ban.

Assault weapons and high capacity magazines. These are evil devices forged in the depths of hell that just cannot be allowed in the hands of bitter, religious rednecks here in the United States. Do you know what an assault rifle is? An assault rifle is an automatic rifle that is usually issued to the military for the performance of their duties. If you went out right now and tried to buy an assault rifle in the United States you would not be able to do so. Do you know why not? BECAUSE THEY ARE ALREADY ILLEGAL!!!!!!

Oh, by he way - hand grenades? Same problem, they are already illegial to own in the US. You cannot buy them here.

What obama and holder really want to ban is semi-automatic weapons. So what is a semi-automatic rifle? According to Wayne LaPierre, president of the National Rifle Association:

"A semi-automatic is a quintessential self-defense firearm owned by American citizens in this country,"

So why if obama and holder really want to ban semi-automatic weapons why do they call them assault weapons? Because they are lying to you. Both these men are theoritically smart enough to know that a semi-automatic weapon is not an assault weapon. But a large portion of the voting public isn't informed enough to know the difference. Besides a lot of today's semi-automatic rifles look like assault weapons because they have a military syle stock that is made out of evil black plastic.

Califonia has already done this. See California has already outlawed many of obama's and holder's "assault weapons"

12276.1. (a) Notwithstanding Section 12276, "assault weapon" shall also mean any of the following:
(1) A semiautomatic, centerfire rifle that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and any one of the following:
(A) A pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon.
(B) A thumbhole stock.
(C) A folding or telescoping stock.
(D) A grenade launcher or flare launcher.
(E) A flash suppressor.
(F) A forward pistol grip.
(2) A semiautomatic, centerfire rifle that has a fixed magazine with the capacity to accept more than 10 rounds.
(3) A semiautomatic, centerfire rifle that has an overall length of less than 30 inches.
(Source(s):http://ag.ca.gov/firearms/dwcl/

Our wonderful chicken-hearted politicians here in California have defined an assault weapon for you. The problem here is items A, B, C, D, E and F are just cosmetic features that do not increase or decrease the lethality of a semi-automatic rifle. They just make it look really really scary. Because everyone knows that a semi-automatic hunting rifle is a lot safer than a semi-automatic hunting rifle with pistol grip on it. Cause you know, once you put a pistol grip on a semi-automatic rifle they lose all control. When the owner isn't looking they have even been known to sneak across the border to Mexico and shoot at drug runners.

But enough sarcasm. obama and holder want to ban scary looking rifles and magazines that will hold more than 10 rounds.

Now I don't want to give them any more ammunition to work with here, especially since they want to do the same to us. But, do you know what the difference is between me shooting a semi-automatic pistol with a magazine that holds 17 rounds and a 10 round magazine and a spare is? About 2 seconds. That is how long it takes me to drop a mag, slap in a new one chamber a round and start firing again. 2 seconds. And I am slow, I don't practice that enough. I'm sure there are guys out there that can do that in half the time I can.

Limiting the size of the magazine a weapon can hold doesn't make the weapon any safer to let it run around loose in public. Again like any tool a cap mag or a 10 rnd mag is only as safe as the user makes it.

So here comes your hope and change folks - Clinton Mk II. Ban guns and mags that will not make America safer and will not make Mexico safer. Because the other lie of ommision they don't tell you is this: Banning guns and gun control is not about the guns. It is not about the ammo or the mags. It is all about control. If they can control your life, they control you. More importantly if they can weasal away a little more Constitutionally protected rights it will make it easier for them to take away even more of them later. What is next? free speech, freedom of religion, etc? And lastly in extreme thinking cases only, it is much easier to supress an unarmed population than it is an armed one.

Satellite Fall Down - Go Boom

A satellite that was supposed to measure green house gases in order to help governments continue to use scare tactics to further repress their citizens develop global climate change policies crashed after take off in California today. A payload fairing that covers the top half of the satellite during launch failed to seperate so the launch was unable to reach a sustainable orbit. The satellite crashed into the ocean near Antartica.

Alan O’Neill, a science director of the Centre for Earth Observation in Reading, U.K. said:

“It’s disappointing because it was giving us novel information to help us move our understanding forward on global warming,”

Wow, that is impressive. The satellite didn't even manage to achieve orbit before it crashed yet it was already giving them "novel information". Any bets on what kind of novel that satellite was reading? Fantasy? Sci-Fi? Horror?

According to NASA's Mission Website :

Of all the carbon emitted by human activities between 1751 and 2003, only about 40 percent has remained in the atmosphere. The remaining 60 percent has been apparently absorbed (at least temporarily) by the ocean and continents. Recent inventories of the ocean can account for about half of this missing carbon. The remainder must have been absorbed somewhere on land, but scientists don't know where most of the land sinks are located or what controls their efficiency over time.

I have a couple questions: We can inventory the entire freaking oceans? All 60% of the earths surface, but we need a satellite to find what on the land is stealing all our CO2?

Secondly, the ocean is only absorbing about half of the CO2, and is only doing so temporarily? OMG what are we all going to do when suddenly the ocean lets loose with one huge burp and spits out 30% of all the carbon emitted by humans since 1751? Damned! Will there be an "excuse me" big enough to handle that magnitude of burp?

An improved understanding of carbon sinks is essential to predicting future carbon dioxide increases and making accurate predictions of carbon dioxide's impact on Earth's climate. If these natural carbon dioxide sinks become less efficient as the climate changes, the rate of buildup of carbon dioxide would increase-in fact, today's carbon dioxide levels would be about 100 parts per million higher were it not for them.

Notice the completely blind faith that the CO2 is impacting Earth's Climate?

Also the assumption that these sinks will become "less efficient" as the climate changes. We can't even find the damned things but we know they are going to be less efficient if we don't hurry up and ban light bulbs and cow farts.

And - we can't find the sinks, we only know that about half of the CO2 is being absorbed by the ocean and about half by the sinks (that we can't find), but we know that there would be 100 parts per million more carbon without them? Please?????

I have long been a proponent of a space program and I wish to God that we had one! So, far be it from me to cheer on the loss of any legitamate space vehicle. But this sounds more like a junk science vehicle than a space vehicle so I'm not too sorry its gone.

Tax Calculator

The Sacramento Bee has a new tax calculator online to help you figure out how much our new State budget is going to cost you.

Tax Calculator

Warning: If you don't like the numbers you see when you do this don't blame me, I'm still cleaning the outrage off my monitor from when I finished.

Bend Over, Here it Comes.....

California Senate approves long-awaited budget

California Budget Deal?

The Sacramento Bee is reporting that state legislative leaders and our RINO governor have reached a deal to solve the state's budget crisis.

In a nut shell the deal boils down to bend over grab your knees and kiss your butt goodbye. They are going to fix our budget crisis by taxing the hell out of every honest working citizen in the state.

The deal includes:

$15.8 billion in spending cuts,
$14.3 billion in taxes and
$10.9 billion in borrowing

Of the 15.8 Billion in spending cuts, 8.6 Billion of that would be to cut funding in K-14 education. Yeah, thats what the state needs right now - more uneducated people running around.

But the taxes are going to hurt:

- 1% sales tax increase
- 77% vehicle license fee increase (does anyone remember old what's his name who got recalled for dramatically raising vehicle license fees?
- state's dependent credit would be cut in half - effectively raising taxes on parents.
- 12-cent per gallon tax hike on gasoline
- an Income Tax Increase
- and the best one yet a 5% tax surcharge on your taxes. That right they are going to start taxing your taxes.

Does anyone want to bet there will be absolutely no reduction in the amount of money we will spend to provide welfare, education and health benefits to the approximately 3 million plus illegals in the state?

Do you think there will be any reduction in all the money this state is spending on whacko green programs to prevent non existent global warming?

So get ready folks. Our national economy is going to get bad and California is going to lead the charge in making things as bad as they can for all everyone.

I would like to go off on a rant about our idiot legislature and our even worse governor. But I'm afraid that it would just be useless ranting and raving. So I'll just leave this at we are a state being run by idiots and morons.

Catching Up?

Wow it has been almost two weeks since I last wrote something. At least since I wrote something here. I have been busy. The club volleyball season is in full swing and trying to be a good coach for one team and a good director for two others is keeping me very busy. This last weekend I had to substitute coach for the 16s team on Saturday and then coach my team on Sunday. It was fun spending time some of the players on the 16s team who played for me last year. I miss those girls. On Sunday my team played in qualifier no. 3. We didn't have the best of days but still managed to finish 2-1 for a second place finish.

There has been so much going on the country that I want to write about but my feelings on the economy, politics and stuff swings wildly from irate rage to stunned dispair. One minute I am feeling so angry at what is happening in our country that I can barely think, yet alone try to put those thoughts into a coherently written blog posting. Then the next minute I am depressed, sad and disillusioned. there is a big difference between thinking that our new President and our idiotic Congress is going to destroy the American I grew up in. But it is a lot different watching it happen before my very eyes and being powerless to do anything about it.

I used to write here to try and organize my thoughts and to deal with things that were irritating me. But I just don't seem to be able to do that these days. I can't type fast enough to get the thoughts out of my head and onto the page. When I try to slow down and rationalize things I end up ranting and raving. So instead I have been avoiding thinking about it. I watch TV, I read, I go the range and shoot, I listen to podcasts, and I muddle through the day at work. Mostly I concentrate all my efforts on my volleyball club. I do anything I can to not think about what is happening in the world. Unfortunately not thinking about things also means that I haven't been writing about them.

So I think I'm going to try and not write about politics here for a while. I'm going to try and write more here, but it might be kind of boring. Because right now my life is my boring job, my family and my volleyball team.

You've been warned.

Challenger - 23 years later

At 8:39 PST on January 28, 1986 the Challenger Space Shuttle Exploded 73 seconds into its flight. Killing all seven astronauts.

I had been working as a young engineer here in Ridgecrest for only about 2 months when this happened. Several of us wanted to watch the launch, so we were gathered around a small TV in the projection room of one of the conference rooms in Mich Lab. The projection room was so small that we had to stand in the hallway and look in through the door in order for more than just 3 or 4 people to see what was going on. When the shuttle exploded we were stunned. Quickly the crowd around the TV grew so that most folks could no longer see the set, and they had a hard time hearing also because of all the sniffling and crying going on. The crowd quickly filled the hallway. We had been standing there for several minutes when suddenly an angry voice demanded "What the hell is going on here. You people need to get to work."

Simultaneously about half the crowd snapped back "Shut up!"

Fortunately one of the people in the back of the crowd quickly explained to our now very irate department head what had happened. So he didn't take being told to shut up by a cocky bunch of young engineers too personally.

Potpourri

Mostly Cajun had this up, and I'm looking for an excuse to put off working on my volleyball club website. Which I need to do, but am just having a hard time getting started.

1. What time did you get up this morning? 5:30 AM
2. Diamonds or pearls? Other than my wedding ring I don't wear jewelry. But my dear wife is partial to diamonds.
3. Last movie you saw? Soldier of Fortune with Clark Gable and Susan Hayward is on right now.
4. What is your favorite T.V. show? Firefly. Favorite that is still on the air? - Mythbusters
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? A bowl of cereal.
6. What is your middle name? I haven't been in enough trouble lately for anyone to use it.
7. What food do you hate? Hate? None, but I'm not too fond of Macaroni and Cheese and I don't care much for brussel sprouts.
8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Boston's first album.
9. What kind of car do you drive? Dodge Magnum stationwagon (I didn't get the hemi engine - too expensive)
10. Favorite sandwich? Pastrami with brown mustard and onions.
11. What characteristics do you despise? Loud, pushy, arrogant.
12. Favorite item of clothing? sweatshirts
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation? Norway, Egypt or Israel, but I certainly wouldn't go to the last two these days.
14. Favorite brand of clothing? Whatever fits good and is comfortable when I am forced to shop for clothes. I don't look at brands.
15. Where would you retire to? I would love to retire to the mountains anywhere outside of California. Preferably the Black Hills, Wyoming or West Virginia. But I'm not ready to leave my volleyball team yet so that will all have to wait.
16. Favorite birthday? The next one.
17. Favorite sport to watch? 1) Women's court volleyball. 2) The Tour de France 3) NFL
18. Furthest place you are sending this? My hosting service is in Utah. So I'm sending it there. After that I'm not sure where it will be viewed from.
19. Person you expect to send it back first? No one.
20. Are you a morning or night person? Night
21. What is your shoe size? 12
22. Pets? Absolutely not. I don't like house pets. I like dogs as long as they are not in my house or yard and they belong to someone else.
23. What did you want to be when you were little? older
24. How are you today? older
25. What is your favorite candy? I have a horrible sweet tooth so just about any candy will do. Favorites are Reese's Peanut Butter cups, Almond M&Ms, Chocolate Covered Cherries.
26. What is your favorite flower? Anything that will bloom in this desert we live in.
27. What are you looking forward to? Time to keep up with all the hobbies I keep starting.
28. What are you listening to right now? Were you not paying attention to No. 3.
29. What was the last thing you ate? Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies (my stash from last year is almost empty)
30. Do you wish on stars? No
31. If you were a crayon what color would you be? ???
32. How is the weather right now? Cold, windy. Well at least cold for the desert.
33. Last person you spoke to on the phone? The father of one of my volleyball players.
34. Favorite soft drink? Grape Soda, sometimes root beer.
35. Favorite restaurant? Mama Maria's but it has been closed for years. Right now it would be In-n-Out. I would eat at Prejeans in Lafayette LA or the Parson's Table in Jonesborough TN any day.
36. Color of hair? Clear
37. What was your favorite toy as a child? Books
38. Summer or winter? Never liked winter, but summers here are just way to hot to like. I'll take what passes for spring and fall around here.
39. Hugs or kisses? Kind of partial to both.
40. Chocolate or vanilla? Milk Chocolate
41. Coffee or tea? Coffee
42. Do you want your friends to email you back? No, just leave a comment.
43. What is under your bed? Shoes, extra leaves for the dinning room table, my dear wife's wedding dress (archived in a sealed box), dust godzillas and some sort of monster that nibbles on toes that hang off the edge of the bed at night.
44. What did you do last night? School Advisory Council meeting, helped out at a volleyball practice, updated the club's website while watching a little TV.
45. What are you afraid of? What kind of nation are we leaving for my kids? Am I being a good Dad? Am I being a good husband? Am I being a good coach?
46. Salty or sweet? Some of each, but usually not together.
47. How many keys on your key ring? 8
48. How many years at your current job? Less than a year. I've been working at the same place for over 23 years and haven't had any single job last more than 5 years.
49. How many towns have you lived in? Madison, Rapid City, Hot Springs, Cheyenne, Laramie, Casper, Brookings, Amarillo, Ridgecrest.
50. Favourite seafood? Crawfish ettoufee. But since Louisiana is so far away I'll settle for shrimp, crab or scallops.
51. Do you make friends easily? I make acquaintances easily, friends take a lot of time and effort that shouldn't be rushed or wasted.
52. How many friends will you send this to? I'm not sending it to anyone.
53. How many will respond? Check the comments to see for yourself.

Happy Birthday JMB

John Moses Browning was born January 23, 1855 in Ogden, Utah. He was a remarkably prolific weapons designer. From his first rifle, a single-shot falling-block design through his last, the Fabrique Nationale GP35 which is more popularly known as the Browning Hi-Power. JMB was awarded 128 patents in his career. He also developed at seven different cartridges for use in his weapons. JMB passed away on November 26, 1926 while working on his final design the fabrique Nationale G35.

Both of my favorite weapons to shoot, rifle and pistol, are John Browning designs. More importantly, while they are not old weapons, they are essentially unchanged in design since the day Browning created them. My Winchester 94 30-30 is only 34 years old but it is exactly the same weapon that Browning invented in 1894. It is also the longest run production rifle and has sold over 7.5 million copies. It is the first hunting rifle chambered for the first smokeless powder cartridges.

My favorite pistol is a 1911A1 45ACP. I only just got mine last year. But I used to love shooting my Dad's 'colt'. That is what he called it - 'the colt'. I never had to ask I always knew exactly which weapon he was talking about, even though he owned four other colt pistols. His 1911 was the only one he ever named. I haven't named mine - I probably won't either. I don't usually assign names to inanimate objects. Besides mines not a colt its a Rock Island Armory. No, I'm not going to call it Rocky.

Thank you John Moses Browning your designs gave my Grandfather, my Dad, myself, and now my children hours of enjoyment. Food for our table and the ability to defend ourselves.

Thank you.