Guitar Madness
My friend the Guitar Nazi and I went over to the Eastern Shore of Mryland yesterday to join in the "Experience PRS" fest at the Paul Reed Smith factory. We arrived too late to sign on for any of the factory tours but we got a sweet swag bag (high quality cotton tee and a hat) and heard some kick-ass music from Johnny Hiland, Gary Grainger, Dave Grissom and Mark Tremonti. Great artists who couldn't have been nicer to the fans.
And I managed to get a laugh out of the crowd at one of Paul Reed Smith's (often shortened to PRSH for "Paul Reed Smith Himself") talks. He was telling jokes toward the end of speaking and asked "Why do drummers leave their sticks on their dashboards? ... So they can park in handicapped spot." I said, "I resent that!" PRSH Said, "Are you a drummer?" And I said, "No, I'm handicapped!" There was much laughter.
And, quite frankly, I don't get the drummer joke to begin with.

Dateline: Cripple Creek, CO
Headline: Portly burros put on diet
Subhed: Veterinarian cracks down on Gold Rush icons
Nut graf: "In an ironic twist of fate, this city's historic herd of wild burros, the only live reminders of the Gold Rush that swept the Rocky Mountains a century and a half ago, have been rounded up and quarantined because of the onset of ... obesity."

Feel free to read the whole story, though I don't know how long the link will last. Why is this post-worthy? Because of exercise. As we all know, exercise is good for the overweight. So, given all the facts above, this is the one instance when you can turn to a teamster and say, "Move your fat ass!" And it's just good advice.

Since I'm Running Dry
I have nothing of interest to post. So I will resort to linkage. Go see Dark Roasted Blend. Lotsa, lotsa links to viddys, pics and all kinds of cool stuff. Go see the Icelandic Northern Lights photos. Oooooh! Ahhhhh!
I may have to add DRB to the blogroll.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!
Yesterday afternoon I was cleaning my kitchen, which has a view of my li'l townhouse driveway. I had neglected to go out and get the noisepaper which was lying in its orange baggie down at the end of said driveway. That being as it was, I look out to see the school children walking up the road from the bus stop down the way. And one of the girls stops, looks at my newspaper, picks it up, dumps it out of the bag, leaves the bag and starts to walk away with it. Excuse me? You're stealing my newspaper. So I open the window and say "Please don't steal my newspaper. I paid for it. Just leave it." And she drops it in situ.
But holy hell. Bloody little thief. I'll know better from now on.

I Don't Usually Do Gibsons
I leave that to Billy Beck. And, in point of fact, the link I'm putting up to this 2007 Firebird V is stolen (unnnhhhh borrowed I mean) directly from him. I'm not a particular fan of the Firebird series as it tends to lack style. Not this one though. Real beauty - flame maple wings on a mahogany body. So far, reasonably priced as well. It's no PRS, but you could do worse with a 'lectrified git-box than this one.

Recent Netflixing
I rented "Black Snake Moan" the other day. I can't say that anyone should waste money on this poor movie. It does feature the surprisingly luscious Christina Ricci and her amazing boobs. If they were more prominently featured it might actually be worth renting. But ... no. Actually, it's not bad per se, just not actively good. The same guy who wrote "Hustle & Flow" (which I haven't seen and won't be seeing - ever) wrote this one and it just drips with pretension. I will say one other thing for the movie though. Skinny whigger Justin Timberlake is a decent actor. I could buy him in the role he was playing. Which surprised me. I'm going to have to accept the fact that he'll keep getting acting work because of his musical "career" and he'll end being a good actor. He should be thinking God every day for the on-the-job training that Hollywood gives almost no one.

I Don't Dream Much
However, last night I had horrible nightmares. Nothing resolved, of course, but in my capsule hell of an overnight, Islamofascists detonated nukes in most of the West's major cities - Washington, London, Madrid, Paris, Buenos Aries (How did I know that? It was part of a news report.), Tokyo, Singapore, Los Angeles, Chicago and one in the Panama Canal for good measure. In my dream, the nuke destined for Jerusalem was found by the Mossad and delivered to Damascus in time for its detonation. It was the only success of defenders of civilization in the whole damned thing.
I'm willing to give up pleasant dreams if I don't have to live through the kind I had last night.

I Have The Book Title
Now, I just have to write a book about computer humor. It will be called "Quotations from Chairman LMAO."

LOLbugs #2
Not the best caption. You make one. In comments plz!

LOLbugs #1

Alternate captions: "Mr. Miyagi, I'm ready for my closeup."
"My name might by Kwai Chang Caine but do NOT call me 'grasshopper!'"
Please feel free to add more in comments.

Bugger!
The Collingwood Magpies dropped the preliminary final match to the Geelong Cats 87 (13.9) to 92 (13.14). That scores refer to goals (six points) and "behinds" (one point). It was, on the whole an up year for the Pies though. Finishing in a tie for fifth place in the regualr season with 52 points (although nominally behind Hawthorn), Collingwood put together a rousing post season to come within five points of regular season champion Geelong which finished well clear of the pack with 72 points.
And the detested Brisbane Lions finished in 10th place, out of the post-season play. Tahellwidcha!

PoW PSA: Help Homeless Animals

The Animal Rescue League of NH is holding their 4th Annual PetStep fundraising walk on September 22nd. The League is a no-kill shelter that is dedicated to saving the lives of pets and improving the lives of people. In addition to rescuing and re-homing 1,600 animals a year, the League intervenes in cases of animal cruelty and neglect, actively promotes spay/neuter, and provides free Humane Eduction to over 6,000 children a year.

One of the most recent cases handled by the League is Moxie. When Moxie got pregnant, her owner dumped her in a culvert where she was later found - starving - trying to protect her nine brand new puppies. These perfectly healthy and beautiful pups were taken to a shelter in their native Mississippi where they likely would have been euthanized due to overcrowding. The League's transport effort arranged for Moxie and the puppies to travel to New Hampshire, which has a low dog population. In NH they were all vaccinated, spayed, and neutered, one little pup with a bad knee got orthopedic treatment, and they will now all go to loving homes and have very happy endings.

To help save Moxie and hundreds of animals like her, please consider making a donation to the League's PetStep through their website at www.rescueleague.org. Please designate your donation as "PetStep - Moxie."
(Editor's note: This post will be bumped to the top of the page until Sept. 22.)

What I Made Today
A Maple-Pecan Upside Down Cake which recipe I got from Relish magazine. Or "magazine." It's one of those weekly newsprint insert thingies that comes with my noisepaper. I would provide a link to the instructions but it seems the site has hidden it by now. God thing I printed it out while it was "fresh." And how was it you ask? Well, it could have been better. I find that I use flour so infrequently that what I had in the pantry has lost its freshness. So now I have to dump the old stuff, buy new and try it again. And I used pecan halves. They are a bit unwieldy. I'd use no more than nut quarters in the future.
When I make it right, I'll post the recipe. If anyone wants it.

LOLcats Doesn't Always Get It Right
I saw the picture to the right posted with the caption I put a line through. My caption is better. More topical. Brilliant!

Why Support Animal Rescue?
Billy Beck points to the story of Roger van Bakel whose application for adoption of Baxter, a Saint Bernard, was turned down. RTWT but the nub of the gist is that despite a history of dog rescue care, van Bakel's family was not allowed to care for Baxter because there were children under the age of 12 in the household. And they couldn't guarantee the background of the dog. So Baxter was euthanized. I'm going to guess that liability concerns were the driving factor in this. This makes me very sad.
Please note that the Animal Rescue League of New Hampshire (below) is a no-kill shelter. That is the kind of animal rescue I do support.

Songs Of PRaiSe
Here's a Brazilian rosewood-necked 513 on eBay. The BIN price is basically the retail price of one when the Brazzy was the only model offered. Actually, with the artist pack upgrades, the price is even better. This beauty is in Mateo Blue which would make it, essentially the twin of mine. If you want a really, I mean really sweet guitar, here it is. Oh, and if you watched "American Idol," you saw this same guitar being played by the band's lead guitarist.

Maple Bacon Morning Coffee
In a word: Meh. In many more words: There is definitely a flavor of maple but it is subtle. I really get no bacon out of it at all, which is not necessarily a bad thing. It's OK but not any more than that. The blueberry was vastly better. Clear evidence that Boca Java doesn't hit every one out of the park. Than again, El Rushbo says the Maple Bacon Morning is his favorite so kissed the cow, YMMV, non disputandum, etc. etc.

Whadda Ya Think?
Tomorrow brings another trip to Costco and I do believe I'm going to bring home a watermelon for another sorbet experiment. I'm thinking green apple vodka in a watermelon base with just a hint of balsamic vinegar for spice. Any one care to argue me out of it? Or suggest another direction for the 'bet?

Todaze Photoshop Phun
According to the article "The Hillarycare Mythology" at the lefty waste of paper "The American Prospect" (no links because they are not going to get anything from me but derision), It was Billy, not Hilly who was behind the attempted socialization of of American medicine back in the 80s. I should say attempted National Socialization of American medicine just to get the true flavor of Hillary's Nazi inclinations but I'm just waaayyy too subtle to do that!
Instead, I take the OJ book and make a few modifications. As always, click image for a larger version:

Enjoyable Reading
I've been spending some time with The Angry Pharmacist lately. Angry? Yes. Amusing? Definitely. He makes me think this is how my friend the Enigmatic Misanthrope would be had he a PharmD and a blog. Higher praise I can not bestow.