Okay, I'm Leaving Blogger

I've made up my mind. It has been so simple getting my stuff moved over and set up on Wordpress. This is my last post here. If you have this page bookmarked please change the bookmark to Myron's Random Thoughts.

Houston Chronicle Has a Bit of Fun With Local TV News

The Chronicle today pokes a bit of fun at the over-the-top coverage of the "Great Ice Storm of 2007" provided by our local channels. And I gotta say, they really missed the forecast on this one. There were predictions that it would be below freezing for 24+ hours one day. According to my little do-dad, it never froze in my yard. And I live about as far northeast as you can go and still be in Houston

From the Houston Chronicle 1/17/07

Channel 11's Lee McGuire talked with truckers fleeing Dallas.KAREN WARREN: Chronicle

Jan. 17, 2007, 12:39AM
THIS JUST IN...
H-town freezes over!
It's almost like they were hoping for the worst as local news stations once again went over the top in their coverage of the 'arctic blast'

By JEANNIE KEVER
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

The suspense ended Tuesday, not with the roar of a sheet of ice taking out the city's power lines but with a gigantic sigh of relief.

Or was that a sigh of embarrassment from the city's weather forecasters?

Nah, TV meteorologists don't get embarrassed. They just start thinking about the next impending disaster. We're happy the Arctic Blast — make that Ice Storm Alert or Ice Alert — wasn't as bad as it could have been, but our nerves are frayed from hours of watching the news since the weekend.

The article goes on to describe some of the silliness ranging from one reporter standing outside a Burlington Coat Factory store talking to folks about their last minute heavy coat purchases to another going to a town 70 miles north of Houston and standing for hours in a service station waiting for ice to form in the water bucket used to wash windshields. That has to be my favorite.

Update: Channel 2 had 2 weather dudes on the morning news. Talking about the ice in the windshield washer bucket. Actually as it turns out, the "black ice" claimed a few victims this morning. There was a 25 car pile up on the north bound Gulf Freeway just before downtown. But it still wasn't worth all "ice alert" all the time. Really pissed Mrs Myron yesterday when they kept interrupting her soaps with "Severe Weather Alerts".

Trying Out Wordpress

I’m getting pretty tired of the hissy fits Blogger keeps throwing. So, I imported this blog into Wordpress and will try it for a while. There are a couple of things I don’t like but will get used to them I’m sure. One thing I do like is the ease with which you can change themes. And changes you make are instantaneous with no need to republish. And it's real easy to post a few lines of a long post on the main page with a link to the rest. Categories are a snap also. You have to pay for the upgrade if you want to dabble in CSS and really change the appearance. Think I’ll let that go for now. I'm pretty happy with the way I'm headed.

I’ll probably post on both for a few days to see how it goes. Go over there and check it out. Leave me a comment over there and let me know what you think.

A New Favorite Movie

You've probably seen The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. At least if you're more of a movie watcher than I am. But then Mrs Myron and I do wait for them to come to HBO, Showtime, et al before we see them so we only saw it this week. If you've seen it then you already know Tommy Lee Jones directed and starred in it. And I have to say, this is one of his best performances. Ranch hand Pete Perkins is a man of few words. But you better listen to what he says. And Barry Pepper is pretty good as the flawed Migra, Mike Norton. And another of my favorites, Det. Sgt Kay Howard of Homicide, Life on the Street otherwise known as Melissa Leo does another super job as the waitress Rachel who is married to the diner cook Bob and boinking Sheriff Belmont played by Dwight Yoakum (in a wig) and Pete Perkins. But not at the same time. Damn. And January Jones played Lou Ann Norton, the wife of Mike Norton. And one of the outstanding characters is known simply as Old Man With Radio. He is played by Levon Helm. And Melquiades Estrada is portrayed by Julio Cedillo.

The story takes place in the Big Bend country of West Texas. And since ol' Tommy Lee was born in San Saba, Texas he didn't struggle at all with sounding like a West Texas cowboy. In fact, that's what he sounds like in all of his movies. In spite of his Shakespearian training. Anyway, Tommy Lee's character, Pete, had made a promise to his good friend and fellow cowboy Melquiades Estrada that if anything ever happened to him that Pete would see him buried in his hometown of Jiminez in Mexico. Needless to say, something happened and the movie tells the tale of what happened and Pete's struggles to see justice served. At least his version of justice which included keeping his promise.

Every character in this movie is flawed, to some extent. Some are likable even with their flaws. Some not so much. And some change during the movie. Still flawed, but changed.

As I said, it's a new favorite movie and I'm going to try to break the law by transferring it from my Dish DVR to a DVD. I'll let you know how that turns out.

Update: I broke the law. My DVD writer thingy recorded it.

Some quotes from the movie for your titillation:

[Pete sets a date with two girls and introduces them to Melquiades]
Melquiades Estrada: That's the one from the cafe, right?
Pete Perkins: Yes, genius.
Melquiades Estrada: But she's married!
Pete Perkins: So's the other one.
Melquiades Estrada: Oh, shit.

Belmont: There's a thousand ways he can go to Mexico, and that sonofabitch is so fuckin' nuts he might be headin' north to Canada.

Rachel: Viagra works for Bob.
Belmont: I'll turn truck-stop queer and blowjob-giver before I use that shit.

Pete Perkins: Thank you!
Old Man with Radio: I need to ask you a favor.
Pete Perkins: Anything you want.
Old Man with Radio: I need you to go ahead and shoot me. My son, he ain't coming back.
Pete Perkins: Oh, he'll come back.
Old Man with Radio: He said he had cancer. Told me to go into town with him. But I don't want to go. I've lived here all my life. I don't want to offend God by shooting myself. It's a problem, you see.
Pete Perkins: We don't want to offend God neither.
[Pete and Mike start to leave]
Old Man with Radio: You're good people. You need to go ahead and shoot me.

And the images were borrowed stolen from IMDB.COM.

Big Bend Country of West Texas

Pete Perkins

Rachel

Mike and Lou Ann Norton

Belmont

Old Man With Radio

That is Some Good Soup, I'm Tellin' Ya

Remember the baked potato soup recipe I linked to below? Well, I do believe it may, just may, be an aphrodisiac. If you don't believe me, check out this lady's reaction. Boy, is bothenook a proud cat now.

Felix and Ginger In Fine Form

Well, probably not as fine as my operatic friend phlegmfatale but pretty good, any way. This is a video clip I made with my new little Fujifilm FinePix F20 this morning. Just playin'.

My New Toy

My MP3 player came a couple of days ago. It's a San Disk Sansa E140 1 gig. Supposed to hold up to 16 hours of MP3s, depending on file size. I got it loaded up yesterday with some Diana Krall, Eric Clapton, Dave Brubeck, Joe Sample, Stan Getz, Santana and Tangerine Dream. I finished just in time to take it for my doctor's appointment. Sure made waiting a bit easier. Even if some of the young nurses were lookin' at this old codger and kinda pointin' and gigglin'. And no, it wasn't because my fly was open and my willie was hangin' out. I know 'cause I had to drop trou for the doc to look at the abscess in my groin. Don't you wish you hadn't made so much fun of me I felt I had to explain?

Edna The Church Organist

One afternoon the pastor came to call on her and she showed him into her quaint sitting room. She invited him to have a seat while she prepared tea.

As he sat facing her old Hammond organ, the young minister noticed a cut-glass bowl sitting on top of it. The bowl was filled with water, and in the water floated, of all things, a condom!

When she returned with tea and scones, they began to chat.

The pastor tried to stifle his curiosity about the bowl of water and its strange floater, but soon it got the better of him and he could no longer resist. "Edna", he said, "I wonder if you would tell me about this?" pointing to the bowl.

"Oh, yes," she replied, "Isn't it wonderful? I was walking through the Park a few months ago and I found this little package on the ground. The directions said to place it on the organ, keep it wet and that it would prevent the spread of disease. Do you know I haven't had the flu all winter."

Got it from Bill Whalen over on Rontini's Submarine BBS

Just Fred

A cop stops a car for traveling faster than the posted speed limit. So he asks the man his name.

"Fred," he replies.

"Fred what?" the officer asks.

"Just Fred," the man responds.

The officer is in a good mood and thinks he might just give the fellow a break and write him out a warning instead of a ticket.

The officer then presses him for the last name. The man tells him that he used to have a last name but lost it. The officer thinks that he has a nut case on his hands but plays along with it.

"Tell me, Fred, how did you lose your last name?"

The man replies, "It's a long story, so stay with me."

"I was born Fred Dingaling. I know -- a funny last name. The kids used to tease me all the time. So I stayed to myself, studied hard, and got good grades. When I got older I realized that I wanted to be a doctor. I went through college, medical school, Internship residency, and finally got my degree, so I was Fred Dingaling, MD."

"After a while I got bored being a doctor, so I decided to go back to school. Dentistry was my dream! Got all the way through school, got my degree, so then I was Fred Dingaling, MD, DDS."

"Got bored doing dentistry, so I started fooling around with my assistant and she gave me VD. So now I was Fred Dingaling, MD, DDS, with VD. Well, the ADA found out about the VD, so they took away my DDS. Then I was Fred Dingaling, MD with VD. Then the AMA found out about the ADA taking away my DDS because of the VD, so they took away my MD leaving me as Fred Dingaling with VD. Then the VD took away my Dingaling, so now I am Just Fred."

Got this from JohnBay on Rontini's BBS.

Frank the Saint

Did you ever know a perfect man? Meet Frank Feldman.

A man walks into the street and manages to get a taxi just going by.

He gets into the taxi, and the cabbie says, "Perfect timing. You're just like Frank."

Passenger: "Who?"

Cabbie: "Frank Feldman. He's a guy who did everything right - all the time! Like my coming along when you needed a cab, things happened like that to Frank - every single time."

Passenger: "There are always a few clouds over everybody."

Cabbie: "Not Frank. He was a terrific athlete. He could have won the Grand-Slam at tennis. He could golf with the pros. He sang like an opera baritone and danced like a Broadway star and you should have heard him play the piano."

Passenger: "Sounds like he was something really special."

Cabbie: "There's more"......." He had a memory like a computer. Could remember everybody's birthday. He knew all about wine, which foods to order and which fork to eat them with. He could fix anything. Not like me. I change a fuse, and the whole street blacks out."

Passenger. "Wow, some bloke then."

Cabbie: "He always knew the quickest way to go in traffic and avoid traffic jams, not like me, I always seem to get stuck in them."

Passenger. "Mmm, there's not many like him around."

Cabbie: "And he knew how to treat a woman and make her feel good and never answer her back even if she was in the wrong; and his clothing was always immaculate, shoes highly polished too - the perfect man!"

Passenger: "An amazing fellow. How did you meet him?"

Cabbie: "Well, I never actually met Frank."

Passenger: "Then how do you know so much about him?"

Cabbie: "I married his f***ing widow."

Got it from Don Asmund on Rontini's BBS.

Euros Never Cease to Amaze Me

Don't bother me, mate. I'm on me lunch break. While this incident may not be a full on indictment of Euros in general, they are the ones that came up with the dumb-ass rules. And I guess ol' Ken "Red Ken" Livingstone fully supports them. I mean come on. A fellow has to have his lunch break don't you know. Can't put in a full 32 hour work week if you miss a meal, now can you?

From the Sun Online:

999 team lunch as man dies

By EMMA MORTON
January 06, 2007

A MAN died after two ambulance crews could not be sent to his aid — because they were on EU-enforced lunch breaks.

The victim collapsed in a betting shop, five minutes from his local ambulance station.

But under the barmy European Working Time Directive, exposed by The Sun last month, crews couldn’t be disturbed.

But apparently, not all of England follows these idiotic rules:

The EU rules — which have angered staff — mean crews in the capital can be called out only in the last ten minutes of their 30-minute breaks.

Otherwise, they are banned from helping, even if there is a road crash outside their building.

Other UK ambulance services have chosen to opt out of the rules.

And see, the rules angered staff. The rules were imposed on them and have prevented them from saving at least one life. But what's one life to our socialist friend The Right Honourable Lord Mayor of London when he is taking care of the masses by making sure they get their bloody lunch.

Found on Texas Rainmaker

Don't You Love It...

when every day folks become heroes? I mean real heroes that save lives. Like the fellow in New York that jumped on top of a kid between the subway tracks to save the boy? Doesn't that do your heart good to hear about acts such as that? It sure does mine. And now we have an every day person turned heroine in Houston.

Ann Lewis was driving a bus full of girls from the Madison High School basketball teams when a man pulled a gun on her at a stoplight and she flung her radio microphone at him.

When a gun-toting man accosted an HISD bus, the driver's instincts to keep students safe shifted into gear
She was driven to protect them

By CYNTHIA LEONOR GARZA
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

The banging on the school bus service door as it idled at a stoplight Wednesday evening startled driver Ann Lewis. It was dark, and she couldn't make out much through the glass windows but could hear a man yelling, trying to get into the bus carrying the Madison High School girls' basketball teams.

When the light changed, Lewis sped ahead and radioed into the school district's transportation facility for help. But the man followed closely behind in a car.

She was still talking on the receiver when the bus came upon another stoplight, and the sound of metal hitting on glass was now at her window. It was the same man.

"When I opened it, (the man) pushed a gun into the window," said Lewis, who has driven a school bus for the Houston Independent School District for the past 14 months. Alarmed, she flung her radio microphone at the gunman and drove the bus to the school.

What the article doesn't tell us is the microphone bounced off the dude back into her hands so she threw it at him again. And the idiot followed the bus to the school parking lot.

HISD police arrived minutes later and arrested Robert Perry Sharpe, 40, who they say had a loaded gun, pornography and condoms in his car. Sharpe — who, according to Harris County courthouse records was arrested in July on misdemeanor charges of indecent exposure and unlawfully carrying a weapon — was dressed in slacks, a button-up shirt and a tie.

"We had a man with a gun, pornography and condoms. That doesn't sound like a good mix," said district spokesman Terry Abbott. "Had he gotten on the bus with that gun, there's no telling what would have happened."

HISD is Houston Independent School District. And yeah, they have their own police force. As do most school districts today. Isn't that sad?

And on the TV news the lady said something like "we didn't know what he was up to at first. But when they found the condoms and porn, we kinda had a clue".

Lewis, a mother of four, said her instinct to protect the children guided her through the confusion. Her father and sister were longtime bus drivers for HISD.

"I was just trying to keep the kids safe," Lewis said. "I have kids at home, and I would hope others would do the same for mine."

So do I Ann Lewis, so do I. Click here for the full article.

Like Soup? Like Baked Potatoes? Like Bacon? Like Garlic and Onions?

You're gonna love this soup bothenook came up with. And best of all, it looks like job security for your cardiologist. Click the pic to go get it.

Telemarketers - Don't You Just Love 'Em?

I just read a cute post over a phlegmy's Fatale Abstraction about an idiot telemarketer and it brought this memory to the top.

Many, many years ago in our first little home I worked rotating shift. The phone could definetly ruin a sound sleep when you were working graveyards and doing the best you could to get some sound sleep with 4 boys being 4 boys. So, we got an unlisted number. Ahhh, peace at last. Nobody but friends and relatives calling. Until one afternoon I was sitting there reading the paper and the phone rang. It was a telemarketer for the Houston Chronicle. I politely told him we were subscribers thank you very much and by the way how did you get this number? He said "it's right here in the book, Howard on whatever the street was." Same sir name, different street. Damn phone company. I told Mrs. Myron about it and we guessed if it happened too often we would get the number changed again.

A few weeks later I walked in about 11 pm, coming off the 3 X 11 shift, and she was grinning like a Cheshire cat. "Guess what I did?" she asked. I have no idea, tell me quick before you bust with glee. "A guy called tonight selling aluminum siding. I listened to his pitch and said that sounded good. He wanted to make an appointment so we set a time and date. He asked 'what's the address?' and I told him it was there in the book." She had set an aluminuim siding salesman up for a sales appointment with some unsuspecting citizens. Who lived in a brick house. Damn, she made me proud that night.

Actually, I hope there's a special circle in hell for telemarketers.

View From A Window

From the header of a blog entitled from the frames. Click the text below to go there.

PEOPLE SPEND HOURS STARING OUT THEIR WINDOWS - DRINKING COFFEE, TALKING ON THE PHONE, THINKING ALL SORTS OF IDEAS. HERE YOU CAN FIND WHAT PEOPLE ALL OVER LOOK OUT AND SEE WHEN THEY STAND IN THE SAME SITUATION YOU DO EACH DAY.

Saw the link on Garfield Ridge.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all from Kingwood, Texas, America. In the coming year may you get all that you want and want all that you get.

Anybody Else Remember These?

I remember sticking my foot in one of these in a Buster Brown Shoe Store in Dallas in the late forties. I don't remember getting a certificate, though. Click here for more information on the Shoe-Fitting Fluoroscope. If you want to. If you don't, that's OK too.

What I Want to Know Is

how the hell did she get 'em on?


Jeans Removal 101 - video powered by Metacafe

Another One My Sick, Twisted Old Mind Thinks is Funny

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Neat Wallpaper, Huh?

Click it to get it. You're welcome.

Edna and her Radio

Another email from Baby Sis:

Just when you have lost faith in human kindness, someone who teaches at a middle school in Safety Harbor, Florida, forwarded the following letter. The letter was sent to the principals office after the school had sponsored a luncheon for the elderly. An old lady received a new radio at the lunch as a door prize and was writing to say thank you. This story is a credit to all humankind.

Dear Safety Harbor Middle School:

God bless you for the beautiful radio I won at your recent senior Citizens luncheon. I am 84 years old and live at the Safety Harbor Assisted Home for the Aged. All of my family has passed away. I am all alone now and it's nice to know that someone is thinking of me.

God bless you for your kindness to an old forgotten lady. My roommate is 95 and has always had her own radio, but before I received one, she would never let me listen to hers, even when she was napping. The other day her radio fell off the night stand and broke into a lot of pieces. It was awful and she was in tears. She asked if she could listen to mine, and I told her to kiss my ass. Thank you for that opportunity.

Sincerely, Edna

This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm

Tuesday Morning Day After Christmas Cat Blogging

Don't you hate it when people think their cats are so damn cute the whole world needs to see them? Well, hate away. I'm posting her anyway. The first pic is about a minute after I gave her the cyproheptadine. It's the stuff that makes her eat. As you can see, she's a pretty small cat and she can't stand to miss too many calories. The little red gizzy is the 1 ml syringe I use. If I can get it far enough back in her throat, the slobbers aren't so bad. This morning they lasted about 2 minutes. I sit there and keep her chin wiped off. Except for the photo. Oh, and the cup? Above the dolphins (US Submarine Service qualification pin) it says THE SILENT SERVICE and below that PRIDE RUNS DEEP and below the dolphins is the important part - "All gave Some...Some gave All"



And this is about 15 or 20 minutes after the meds. She's ready to step in and do her part again. She likes to help me surf the innertubes.

Tagged With a Christmas MeMe

Hammer tagged me with this one.

Three things I want for Christmas:

1) A cure for my wife's Parkinson's. I know, I know. But it's what I want.
2) A new laptop. Oh, yeah.
3) Some Diana Krall and/or Nora Jones CDs.

Three things I don't want:

1) Heartburn from eating too much.
2) Clothes, of any kind. I'm like a kid in this. I want toys, dammit.
3) Tools. I don't want stuff you work with. I want stuff you play with.

I'm tagging Meg, phlegm fatale and bothenook.

A Seasonal Cartoon

Remember the post-Dow Corning photo of Courtney that phlegmmy posted? Well here's a good one in that vein. Click on it to see a pretty good collection old bubblehead donmac put together.

It's Not My Fault I'm Fat. I've Got The Wrong Gut Bugs!

Overweight? Blame the bacteria in your gut

'Microbial component' may contribute to obesity, research indicates

WASHINGTON - The size of your gut may be partly shaped by which microbes call it home, according to new research linking obesity to types of digestive bacteria.

Both obese mice — and people — had more of one type of bacteria and less of another kind, according to two studies published Thursday in the journal Nature.

Read the rest of it here.

I Ain't Sure Even a Mother Could Love These Faces

I am truly a pet lover. If you've read my profile or followed this little blog for a while you know that. But damn. This is Miss Ellie, a contestant in The World's Ugliest Dog Contest at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, California. And she wasn't the winner. If you can stand it, click here for a slide show of more of these darling creatures.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

I can't help myself. Here's Diana Krall again.

Here's Another Songbird I Enjoy Listening To

Norah Jones sings Don't Know Why - Live in New Orleans 11/11/02

A Christmas Carol For You

I'm dreaming of white Eggs And Grits,
Just like the ones we used to know.

White Christmas
from the Christmas Song Generator.

Get your own song :

Is There No Limit to Stupidity?

Hey, phlemmy. This is what happens when water and electricity are joined. Through an idiot's body. He challenged a bug zapper. And the zapper won..