The Ultimate In Computing!

I took a flight VERY late in my shift yesterday, the last day of six days in a row. (Murphy's law prevails... GOD has a very strange sense of humor!) I had earlier traded our fleet's number two aircraft for our number four aircraft and there were discrepancies in the aircraft total time that needed to be worked out. The late flight precluded me from correcting the log. So late last night, exhausted upon my return and badly needing to get home to rest, I dumped the whole problem in the oncoming pilot's lap and walked out the door.

This morning I wanted to call my lead pilot to see if there was anything I needed to do to help tie up loose ends. His cell number is one of those I call regularly so it's stored on my cell, but my cell phone was downstairs and I'm upstairs, too lazy to fetch it. I picked up the bedroom cordless phone and started to dial his number from memory, but then stalled...
Is his prefix 524, 534 or 539? I couldn't remember.
So I put the phone down, picked up the laptop, and started reading my email. In the middle of reading a note from GH in Hawaii the correct prefix sprang to mind like someone held up a placard in front of me... 534!
I think this happens to all of us to one degree or another, but I'm still amazed by it. I seemingly quit worrying about remembering the number, but while I was reading my email another part of my brain was still searching through old files somewhere and found the information.
The human brain...
Still the ultimate computer!

Thoughts On Sonia-

We want "Supreme" choices for our Supreme Court, right?
When our Federal Government is stealing our property, we want straight-thinking folks to point out our Constitution forbids that sort of behavior.
Is this the woman for that job? There are figures being published showing her judgments have been overturned 60% of the time on appeal.
Pretty shaky judging, I'd say.
There'll be no "adult supervision" to overturn her if she's a Supreme Court Justice... her opinion will be "Supreme".
I think I'd like someone with a better batting average in that position.

I'm Confused. (So what's new?)

I'm not sure I've got the scenario straight, so correct me where I'm wrong please-

President(?) Obama has changed the law, and contracts as they are written about bankruptcy mean nothing anymore. Private property of preferred stock and bondholders of Chrysler and GM is being stolen with his approval. That property is being given to those that supported his election, primarily the U.A.W..

But here's where I'm really confused...
Past dealings between the U.A.W. and the management of both Chrysler and G.M. have resulted in health care and retirement costs burgeoning to the point where those companies can no longer be competitive with foreign automakers.
The U.A.W. will have to deal with the new owners/managers of those companies to bring those costs down dramatically. So now the U.A.W. will have to negotiate with the U.A.W. to cut costs to the bone?
If Bozama gets his way, this unfolding tragedy will certainly be interesting to watch!

in-TOXIC-ation

Words and their construction...
It took me a while to figure out why the word "toxic" is in the middle of the word "intoxication". The fact that alcohol is toxic hit me square between the eyes one Sunday morning in Dallas, Texas.

It was during the time I was in Primary Flight School at Ft. Wolters, TX.
I thought we had a date, but when I showed up at her apartment she informed me she was goin' out with another guy and she'd be home late.
I was angry with her, because I thought she was playing games with me. I was angry because I was facing a Saturday night alone, in an unfamiliar town.
I was just plain angry.

Sometimes twenty-one year old brains make really stupid decisions in spite of having a higher-than-average intelligence quotient...
Down the street, within walking distance, was a liquor store. Facing an evening alone with the TV I decided I'd experiment...
Could I drink an entire fifth of spirits in one night? And if so, how would I behave? Would I remember anything I watched on TV? Would I even remain conscious?

What would be the vehicle for this experiment? In the store I studied the possiblities-
Gin? Bitter and not my favorite.
Vodka? I liked screwdrivers but didn't want to drink that much orange juice.
Bourbon? Jim Beam was a close friend, but wait...
Here's Mr. Bacardi, and he's sporting a number I have never seen...
"151 proof", and he's on sale!
Well after all, this IS an experiment, right?! I walked back to the apartment with a twelve-pack of Coca-Cola and Mr. Bacardi in a brown paper bag.

After forcing down two strong ones, the later cocktails could have been sulphuric acid and I would not have known the difference. I started taking pulls directly from the bottle.
The TV wasn't cutting it so, at probably 11 P.M., bottle in hand, I decided to go for a stroll around the parking lot. I had heard a jingle for "Clearasil" acne treatment on the radio on the drive to Dallas and couldn't get it out of my head, so I sang while stumbling around:
"Nobody loves a spotted-faced kid!"
Describing it now brings images of stereotypical drunks portrayed in movies. If a patrol car had passed through the complex at that time I'd surely have been arrested for public drunkenness and any chance of making it through ARMY flight school would have ended right there.

I finished the bottle.
Suddenly sleepy, I went to bed. I was not conscious when Mr. Bacardi decided to depart my body, but I'm glad he did. Though I woke with the most powerful headache known to man, the fact that I WOKE UP is the important thing here...
After all, toxic means poison. Poison can be bad.
So was the mess she left for me to clean up, headache and all.

Melts In Your Mouth

Okay, we're off into new territory for "Pitchpull"...
cooking!

We invited old friends to visit in Destin. One couple came to spend the week, while another couple spent time with us on two different evenings. The first of those nights we went down the street to our favorite haunt... "Kenny D's". Kenny's is a wonderful little cajun bar, and we absolutely love Ms. Gracie's New Orleans style cookin' there. But we wanted the chance to sit and talk without the pressure to vacate the premises on the second night, so we decided to cook/eat in. It was Sara Jean's idea to make Italian Beef sandwiches.
Other than knowing that fat content is what makes for tender meat, I know almost nothing about selecting a cut of beef. We asked the butcher for advice and he guided us to a chuck roast, finely marbled with fat. Into the cart it went.

I've read Jinks comments about the benefits of slow cookin', so the night before our guests were to arrive we pulled out the crock pot and started heating that chunk o' meat. We cooked it ten hours, then paused to shred the meat and add the pepperoncinis. It then went back into the pot another two hours before we spread it on hoagy buns and served the sandwiches. They were tasty, tender, and excellent overall, but still not as good as some commercially bought sandwiches we've eaten.

So here's the 64-cent question-
I'm now turned on by the idea of using the crock pot to deliver the tender and tasty. Do you have any ideas on how we could have improved the sandwiches? And if not, do you have a favorite "fail-safe" crock pot recipe you'd like to share?
I'm all ears/mouth!

UPDATE, 0748 HOURS:
I just checked my links and wandered around Kenny D's site a little.
Found this page and thought it might amuse you.

Streaming Radio

You know I love talk-radio.
My only problem with it is sometimes I'm away from my favorite AM stations and cannot receive a desired signal. My computer has now mostly resolved that problem and I want to share with you.

I found a site called Radio Time, where I can listen to most of my favorite talking-heads during most hours of the day, either live or on tape. Check there and you can see that most of us can find something to satisfy...
Conservative, technology, religious, sports, business, entertainment...
Everything but "Liberal"! (Sorry lefties, you'll have to be satisfied with "progressive".)
As I type this post I'm listening to one of my favorites... Dennis Miller.

Got a high-speed internet connection?
Check it out.

Road Trip! And The Enlarged Prostate

What... the title didn't dissuade you from reading?

We decided to stay another day and get a few extra tasks done. It rained most of the day and there was no temptation to hit the beach, so we got everything we wanted to do done. We're happy with that. But staying an extra day meant pounding the highway so I could be back at work this morning. The way we do it, it's a twelve hour drive home. And by "the way we do it" I mean we stop for any reason whatsoever...
Eat,
Drink,
Refuel,
Potty,
See the world's largest accumulation of ear wax.
But the stops are forced mostly to keep me from wetting my pants.

We start the drive with a cooler full of bottled water in the back seat, a thermos full of black coffee on the right rear floorboard, and a 16 oz. insulated mug of iced tea between my legs. Yesterday we also stopped at a "Krystal" store to buy 20 of my favorite hamburgers, and we bought a large diet Coke to accompany them. At the end of the drive the diet Coke had been shared, my iced tea was history, and the quart thermos of coffee had found its way through my kidneys and bladder. There was a time long ago when I could make note of the pressure beginning to build against my bladder and continue to drive for half an hour or so before having to stop...
No longer. My slightly enlarged prostate serves notice that when I begin to be uncomfortable I had better make plans for a stop pretty quickly, and I don't mean "We'll wait for the next rest area".
I've got about ten minutes, then things can get embarrassing.

Yeah, I know...
"Doctor it hurts when I do this."
"Don't do that!"
Obviously, one thing I could do is lay off the fluids. But old habits are hard to break. And the coffee is an absolute necessity during the last few hours of the drive. For a guy it's not so bad...
We simply pull off the road and discretely take care of business. There are plenty of places to do that on this drive.

If we start taking more trips across the desert where there is less cover I'll have to reconsider the fluid intake or carry a "Porta- John"...
Or buy a box of Depends.

Strange Addictions

You'd laugh if you saw me now, trying to satisfy my internet addiction...
I'm sitting in front of a beachfront condo owned by an acquaintance. I'm here for a couple odd reasons...
The neighbor that used to have wifi has moved, so I can no longer mooch his signal.
Another neighbor that still has wifi is five condos away and I cannot receive his signal from our unit. He doesn't mind me using his system, and in fact provided the "WEP code" to use it, but his wife resents others using their signal so he's asked me to use it surreptitiously. So here I am, in front of another friends condo two doors away from the wifi transmitter, sneaking, trying to avoid his wife seeing me on the computer. What fun!

We're having a great time. We've had a little rain, but most days have been sunny at least half the day. Sara Jean has been on the beach every day and is brown as a dark caramel. I spent 90 minutes with her three days ago and did such a lousy job applying my sunscreen that I got sunburned in interesting patterns on interesting parts of my body. It's not enough to be miserable, just enough to remind me to be more careful next time.

We've eaten too much. And as always, adult beverages disappear more quickly here than elsewhere... (I still think elves are involved in that somehow).

Mom spent four days with us and enjoyed her "pelician observation post". I took her home Wednesday and then since I had not been there in 30 years, stopped by NAS Pensacola to visit the Naval Aviation Museum. A friend and I joined a tour guided by a retired Naval Aviator, and in a little over two hours we saw maybe a tenth of the museum. Fascinating. I now realize the next time I come South I'll need to devote one FULL day to touring the Museum. If you like flying things, make the Naval Aviation Museum at NAS Pensacola a "MUST SEE".

I have to be at work Monday morning at O-Dark-Thirty, so we've decided to leave tomorrow in order to have Sunday to get home "honey-do's" under control. I imagine my grass will be knee high, so I'll get that under control while Sara Jean unpacks and gets the indoor chaos under control. Sitting here listening to the surf roar against the beach, it's a little sad to think about returning home and resuming the normal chores.

But the reason for coming was to recharge. The word "recreation" is an odd one that I've studied from time to time. When your schedule is so full that life ceases being fun, you finally realize that your body does in fact "recreate" something at your core when you relax and enjoy yourself as we have these days overlooking the Emerald water and sugar-white sand. I'm ready to go back to work.

Retirement used to seem like a dream...
Now it's a comforting "within reach" reality.
To all who have commented... THANK YOU!

Nine Days In Paradise

I'm past ready. We've not been to Destin since October, and I started working 56 hours a week mid-November. My head feels like a jumble of electrical wiring that needs untangling. I intend to go slow and enjoy the untangling process, and I can think of no better place than Destin for that process.

We'll first head to Pensacola and pick up my Mom, who'll be up beyond her bedtime waiting for our arrival. Destin is another 90 or so minutes East. It's gonna be a long day in the car, but OH, is it worth it!

Sugar-white sand, sea air, pelicans, gulls, cormorants, and (due to our proximity to Eglin Air Force Base), a near-continuous military airshow. And of course, we can't forget the frozen Margaritas for Sara Jean and the icy cold beer for yours truly.

If you're in the neighborhood stop by. We promise to help untangle your wiring too!

Toast

President Nixon learned-
It's not the act, it's the cover-up.
Madame Speaker is about to learn, if you tell lies, and those lies indict the CIA, you'll get badly burned.
Now the Bozama administration has started its own cover-up... refusing to release ALL the documents Cheney has requested that would expose more lies, and our free press has finally realized they have a duty other than lead cheers.
(By the way press folks, where's that birth certificate?)

Pop the popcorn...
The show has just begun.
Bwahahahaha!

Take A Stand

Are you sick to death of corrupt, lying politicians taking away your rights?
So what are you doing about it?
Here's your chance to take a little step and express your dissatisfaction with politicians and their inexorable move to Socialism...

Jinks brought my attention to a new promotion being offered by the National Rifle Association. The NRA is now offering a free one-year trial membership.
I've been a life member for over 30 years. I joined because the NRA is one of the strongest voices in Washington, D.C., protecting the rights of all citizens. If you've ever thought about joining the NRA, here's your chance to do it and add your voice to those shouting "I'm mad as Hell, and I'm not gonna take it anymore!"

Click the link and sign up. And remember...
Our founding fathers intended our government to be mindful of the citizenry.
Do you own a gun?

A Leaf In The Wind

I seldom hope the telephone rings, but today is an exception. Yesterday I completed working 14 of 15 days at my EMS job. Today I have two students scheduled for flight instruction. The forecast is for wind to gust from 15 to 25 with peak gusts of 35 knots in rain and thundershowers. My drive to the airport takes almost two hours, so I wouldn't be crushed if my students both call and ask, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

So I know I'm not mentally at 100%, but who is these days?
And there's more to consider here-
Both these students are rated helicopter pilots building time for their commercial rating. They're less likely to try to kill me while I teach them. Demonstrating how to fly in less-than-normal conditions will be good training for both.
The little guy on one of my shoulders is saying, "Call them and cancel. You've got lots to do here at home!" (We leave for 9 days vacation in Destin on Friday.)
On the other shoulder the little guy calmly says, "There's time to do everything you need to do. These guys will benefit from this training. And they've already been waiting more than two weeks to fly with you."

It's rained a lot here, so my lawn is out of control. Knowing the rain was coming today I mowed in the dark for an hour last night. I've still got to mow the back forty or we'll have lions and tigers and bears lurking there when we get home from vacation.

But I suspect the phone won't ring and I'll drive the two hour drive, then be subjected to being battered around in a tiny helicopter by strong, gusty winds. And my students will learn they too can handle such conditions if they know which situations to avoid.
Truth is, it's the first step that's the hardest. Once I'm on my way my head clears, I relax, and everything seems to make more sense. And I know my students need to know how to deal with difficult weather conditions, and when to put their foot down and say "Nope... not gonna do it."

It looks to be the kind of day we'll make those decisions.

Gen. McKiernan, You're Fired!

In Afghanistan, General David McKiernan is out...
LTG Stanley McChrystal is in. I've written before how the chain of command in the military is similar to most any large corporation-
If you're not good at politics, you'll not rise above a certain level.
So my first thought here was, "How did General McKiernan step on his poncho?" All sorts of things could be happening here.

Then this morning I read this post over at QandO and felt better about the change. General McChrystal is a Special Ops guy and that, in my opinion, is exactly where our focus in Afghanistan needs to be...
Special Operations.
Knowing General Petraeus is a McChrystal supporter was icing on the cake.

We gotta give credit where credit is due-
There is much about President(?) Obama that I don't like. But his almost instant change of mind about the war in Iraq infuriates the appeasers who elected him. Ya gotta delight in that. Now this change of command in Afghanistan surprises me by showing he may be listening more closely to his military advisors than I imagined he would.
Granted he's still destroying the country economically, but I have to ask...
Regarding our actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, do you think McCain would be doing any better?
I'm not so sure.

A Quick Note To Republican Leaders

Big Lose-
Bush (twice), McCain, Specter.

Big Win-
Reagan, Gingrich

Do your homework folks.
2010 is just around the corner.

Nellie

Who influenced you most?
I have no trouble answering that question at all.
It was Nellie. Nellie Mae, as a matter of fact.

Of course my Dad was also an influence. But my Dad was absent during much of my formative years. His influence on me was mostly by example...
He and Mom had difficulties, yet they handled them together.
He worked hard, both at home and away, and our family was never hungry or cold.
He was never physically abusive. Inclinations toward mental abuse were so trivial as to be unworthy of examination.
He didn't find another woman and leave my Mom to raise Sis and me.
So through his example I learned much about how to be a man.

But my Mom taught me how to be a human-
She taught me about honor.
She taught me about honesty.
She taught me to treat others as I wanted to be treated.
She taught me that reading was not only important, it could be fun.
She taught me to be curious.
And she taught me the importance of doing a job well.

I am Harlie and Nellie's son, but mostly I am a product of Nellie's gentle coaxing.
She raised two kids who have turned out to be productive, caring citizens, and she did it mostly by herself.

Happy Mother's Day Mom...
I'm proud to point you out and say "That's my Mother".

Life Ain't Fair

"Your patient is a 44 year old woman who fell from the standing position. She has fractures to both Tib/Fibs and to her left forearm."

What?
Fractures like this from a fall from the standing position?
How ? !

As usual, we arrive and my crew departs while I complete my shutdown procedure. Then on many occasions I actually get a better picture of what has happened to our patient when I walk in and chit-chat with family members or police outside the trauma room who were actually on scene with our patient.
But not this time...
There's no one outside her room.

When my crew wheels her out she's talking a mile-a-minute...
"I've NEVER ridden in a helicopter before!"
It's obvious she's trying to be brave but is scared to death.
"I've ridden in an airplane but never a helicopter!"
And she continues to talk about whatever comes to mind while we load her.

I start the engines and we get underway to the Trauma Center. Only then, over the intercom, do I get more of the story...
She's mentally disabled and fell at a facility that provides work for her and others like her. She is able to live alone with the money she makes at work and the funds provided by SSI. Her parents are elderly and poor and they have no car, so they cannot make the trip to meet her where we are taking her.
She'll be with strangers for quite a while when we drop her off.

Later, my crew finished with the transfer, the news gets worse...
She has bone cancer, which is the reason her bones broke. She's going to lose her left arm because it is shattered and won't heal. It's possible the same will be true of the injuries to her legs.
Damn.

I feel sorry for myself sometimes.
Today I'm ashamed of myself for forgetting how blessed I am.

Denial?

I'll never forget it... the first time I saw a photo of Farrah Fawcett.

I was knocked out.

I think the pic was in "Soldier's" magazine, which had a "cheesecake" photo just inside the last page of every issue. (Wonder if that's still the case?)

She's a week younger than me, and now she's apparently at death's door due to rectal cancer.

How sad.

Too often these days we hear of someone discovering a problem and then waiting to see how it progresses before seeing a Doctor... waiting, while time is of the essence.

Too often the problem is something virulent that might have been fixed had the victim seen a Doctor immediately. Our family lost a 44 year old friend three years ago because she waited until her nipple inverted and began to release a discharge before consulting a physician. Right now we are watching a 40-ish family member fight stage four cancer with a problem she ignored too long... now she's hoping experimental drugs that have been used on very few humans will be her salvation.

I rant a lot on this blog, and I don't think ranting is much fun.

But if I touch just one of you and motivate you to do what you oughta be doin' anyway, then my ranting is worthwhile...

Don't wait.

Find something "odd about your bod" that spooks you a little?

What's it gonna hurt to have an expert check it out?

And now I'll heed my own admonishments...

Sara Jean has never had a colonoscopy. I haven't had one in ten years.

I'm scheduling them today. If you're over 50, why not do the same?

Don't wait 'til it's too late.

Let's live and laugh and blog for years to come!

Help A Confused Old Aviator-

What's FAIR about "The Fairness Doctrine"?
What's FREE about "The Employee Free Choice Act"?

Is this change I can believe in?

Obama's Misery, May 2009 Update-

How fortuitous!
The new unemployment figures of 8.9% came out after this month's misery index was posted.
So Bozama dodges a bullet this month...
Last month's index- 8.34 %.
This month's (misleading) index- 8.12%.

I'm on the edge of my seat waiting on figures post-Chrysler and GM layoffs in June.

Cabela's- Now It's A Comedy

Via email this A.M.-

Cabela's Inc.
World's Foremost Outfitter
One Cabela Drive, Sidney, NE 69160
Dear Customer,
Unfortunately, your backordered merchandise listed below has yet to arrive from our supplier. 21-6948 REMINGTON 30 CARBINE 110GR MC AMMO W/DRY BOX 30CARB 110GR MC1000BBackorder-Tentative arrival to Cabelas 05/10/09 If you wish to keep the item(s) on backorder or if you want to cancel or change the item(s), please call our toll-free order desk at 1-800-237-4444.

If a reply is not received within 10 days, the order will be automatically cancelled. Please note that backorders are processed immediately upon receipt of stock from our suppliers and therefore it is possible that the item(s) in question may ship prior to receiving your reply.
If your original order was paid for with a credit card, no charges will be made for the cancelled item(s). If your order was paid for with a check or money order, a refund check will be issued. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
Cabela's Inc. - Customer Relations

So now the goods they promised me two months ago will not be forthcoming unless I tell them once again I REALLY REALLY want to receive what I ordered?
I'm certainly glad they "sincerely apologized". An insincere apology would have been intolerable at this point!

UPDATE, 1335 hours-
I just got off the phone with Cabela's. Had a very nice conversation with Michael there. He told me ammunition sales jumped through the roof starting about September of '08. (Lemme think- What was on the horizon at that time?)
He also said representatives from Remington and Winchester have told him if they QUIT taking orders for ammunition at this time, their factories would still work 24/7 until late in 2011 just to fill orders on books now.
That explains a lot.

AN AFTERTHOUGHT,
(And note to Cabela's and other retail folks)-
1. I realize you are between a rock and a hard place here.
But indicating to me that you think you'll have my ammunition in hand on a date certain automatically elicits a "Let's see... if they get it on Tuesday, maybe I'll have it on Saturday?" response from me.
I think it would be better for you to intermittently update me with something like "We haven't forgotten you. We'll send it soon as we get it."

2. Threatening me with an order cancellation if I don't respond to you does not give me warm and fuzzies about Cabela's. I'm sure you'd like me to order from you in the future, right?
It's not good form. Don't do that.

"The Bob"

" All dog stories, though, have one thing in common.
From Where The Red Fern Grows to Ole Yeller to Marley And Me to Rescuing Sprite, in the end, all dog stories are sad.

This is a dog story."

Hat tip-Vodkapunit.

(Get your tissues Mom.)

Jon Stewart Is Ignorant... Or Why This Nation May Cease To Exist.

Ronald Reagan said it, and more and more I'm seeing how true it is...
"It isn't that liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so much that isn't true."

There's another statement we'll all agree is true, attributed in various forms to several authors...
"Those that don't know history are doomed to repeat it."

Our problem today is, most under 30 years of age don't know history. One intelligent commenter here informed me some time back that Jimmy Carter established the Federal Reserve Bank, for God's sake! It's important for those of us that actually do know a little history to remember that these kids, (and I mean no disrespect calling them kids because I'm certainly NOT a kid!), weren't born until 1979, so the only Presidents they truly have any memory of are Clinton and Bush.
The other difficulty is, they get most of their news from boneheads like Jon Stewart and Keith Olbermann.

In a recent interview on his show, Jon Stewart referred to Harry Truman as a war criminal. His reasoning? Because dropping the bomb on the Japanese was unnecessary.
(Like today's bonehead Liberals, he doesn't know the face of true evil. He thinks all Truman had to do was reason with the poor Japanese, and all those lives would have been spared.)
Stewart has since apologized and recanted his statement. I guess even today's pseudo-intelligentsia are subject to public outcry.

There's another statement we ignore at our peril...
History belongs to those writing the history books. Given the time and the right circumstances, history books would show that Hillary truly did land at Kosovo under enemy fire, and that FDR did in fact give his fireside chats over national TV!
This B.S. has gotta stop. And the only way it will stop is for those of us who know history to reveal how stupid Stewart and Olbermann really are.

I need about fifteen minutes of your life.
After these fifteen minutes you'll know why those of us that had WWII Veterans sitting across from us at the dinner table have an advantage over today's 30-somethings. These fifteen minutes will make you at once proud, and will set off the alarm in the back of your head as to how much trouble this nation truly faces. Go here and watch Bill Whittle EVISCERATE Jon Stewart, then send a link to the video to all those you love. Send it to anyone you think still has reasoning power.
Send it to those that voted for Bozama but are now having second thoughts. And if you are moved by the video, consider scrolling down to the "New Members" tab at the bottom of the page and registering...
It's free, and increasing registered members will empower those making such videos to do more.

I'm hopeful it's not too late to turn our troubled country around.
God be with us.

Mystery Man

"...The man is a mystery. Nobody can make public his actual birth certificate, or even the particular hospital he was born in, or his college grades, or how he got into Harvard, or how he made editor of the Harvard Law Review and never wrote a single article for it. It goes on and on. He really is a Zero. I think all of you guys should find all of this out and make it known."

(How's it feel, being made fool of by "Cheese-eating surrender monkeys"? )
How far do we have to fall before we splat?

Interesting stuff.
And Andrea brings you more truth, (can you handle the truth?), via Dr. Jack Wheeler over at The Radio Patriot, complete with enlightening linkiness.

Cabela's Update, 1 May

Still waiting.

Up to this point I've been aware of Cabela's problems and as I have shared with you here, they've been excellent about keeping me notified of progress toward getting me my ammunition.
A review:
I ordered 1,000 cartridges of .30 Caliber carbine ammo on 9 March. The first notice that delivery would be delayed came via email about 3 weeks later. The second email "delay" notice I got from them indicated they expected the hardware in their doors on 24 April.
So now a week later my ears are perked, expecting to hear the approach of the brown truck...
Nuttin'.

This afternoon I called their customer service 800 number and chatted with Lori, who answered the phone personally after one ring. You can write the rest of this yourself... "still delayed, expecting delivery now by mid-month. Would I like to cancel the order?"
And start this process all over? Ha!
I'll keep you posted.

A Puzzle-

Referring to Joe Biden on his show today , Dennis Miller is asking:
"Can you tear someone, who is one, a new one?"

I think you can, but why waste your time?
Gotta love Dennis.