It's A Black & White World...

Outside our back door this afternoon:

 

That's a color shot, by the way...

 

 

And for the folks who missed the reference in the title...

 



Life At Our House

That is all.

Happy Thanksgiving... And Some Old Time Music...

I'm going to be hellaciously busy tomorrow, so I'm going to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy, safe, and healthy Thanksgiving.

For the folks who are working tomorrow -- the cops, firefighters, EMS personnel, toll collectors, cab drivers, radio announcers, c-store crews, Wal Mart folks, tech support staff -- well...

THANK YOU!

And if any of my readers are Red Cross volunteers and you get called out tomorrow to help some family whose Thanksgiving was suddenly destroyed by a house fire or flood or something, a very special thank you, and a "stay safe."

See you all on Friday.

Good Morning, Minnesota!

 

I've been getting a fair number of visits from the communities of Owatonna and West Concord, MN. I use the free version of Site Meter, so I don't know if these are repeat or unique visitors, but it doesn't really matter.

Hi, folks, thank you for stopping by. Feel free to poke around and see what's here: everything from fire history to music to politics and pets. Comments are always welcome*.

From reading so many John Sandford books, sounds like I'm missing out by not visiting out there... seems like it's every bit as nice as Maine (albeit with a different regional accent).

Oh, and feel free to tell your friends!


* Unless they're spam comments about vacations in Uruguay or body-part enlargement, of course.

Some Changes at 618Rants

I have spent virtually my entire working life trying to help people, to make them safe, to make sure they go home to their loved ones at night. All too often, though, I put the needs of the many ahead of the needs of the few, or of the one, as Mr. Spock might say. My career in law enforcement and private-sector security cost me two marriages, a couple of intervening relationships, and almost cost me my life. It left me an alcoholic, vicious, mean, bigoted bastard; it took me almost twenty years to recover from that (I haven't done any drinking since 1989, and had it not been for the lovely yet talented Mrs618, I might never have recovered).

More recently, I've been engaged in firefighting and yet another round in EMS (my third). Because these are paid-on-call jobs, they weren't as time-consuming as police work, but I still tried my very best.

No more.

A couple of things happened yesterday, including hearing my alcoholic, psychologically-abusive father tell my drunk junkie brother that HE was the reliable one... after the lovely yet talented Mrs618 and I left a pair of $50,000-a-year jobs and moved to Maine to take care of my parents. After I've been fixing their house -- at MY expense -- for six years. After putting myself in the hospital a bunch of times with exhaustion, chest pains, bad knees, pneumonias, and a few things that looked like strokes or heart attacks.

Plus, I've been getting some really snotty emails from the local logistics person at the Red Cross, who seems to feel it is MY job to verify all the logistical issues for a class (if that is the case, why do we pay a full-time logistics person? And what does she do to earn her keep?).

I lay awake all night, thinking about things. About 4:00 AM, I felt a door close, then I got really cold, then everything just kind of mellowed out.

I had made my decisions:

• No more caring about anybody other than the lovely yet talented Mrs618, Emily (the Lab), Joey (the cat), and my son.
• I will continue to do the best job I can with the FD and EMS, but that's all it is now, a job. If you live, fine. If you don't, well, sucks to be you.
• Someone else can do the 14 or 15 different functions I'd been filling at the Red Cross for the last six years, including getting up in the middle of the night to go to house fires (I'll still go for the FD, cause they pay me).
• No feelings, no emotion, no empathy, no sympathy. Talk to the hand, dude.
• Ditto with their cultural norms, belief systems, languages, religions or other ethnic crap. You live in the United States, you adjust to OUR way of life. You don't like it? Go back to Trashcanistan.
• I'm not going to worry about watching my tongue anymore. Fat-Ass Paul LePage is a fat-assed teabagging douchbag. So is his fat-assed daughter. So is Rafael Eduardo Hijo de Puta Cruz, Canadian-born anchor baby spawn of cigar-sucking Cuban émigré, Castro supporter and Desi Arnaz wannabe Rafael Bienvenido Chinga tu Madre Cruz. So is Bible Spice and her oxygen-thief brood. And all the other cretinous yahoos who need to chlorinate their little corners of the gene pool, like the various Kardashians: Kleenex, Klepto, Klamato, and Klimax. Half of those fucks oughta be shot. Hell, most of 'em oughta be shot.

I don't know if this blog is going to continue. I may post again, I may not. I don't know.

For those who have stopped by and commented in the past -- the folks like BadTux, Jurassic Pork, The Dark Wraith*, skippy the bush kangaroo, the gone-but-not-forgotten Firestarter5 -- thank you. You gave me the encouragement to continue, and you let me think that maybe I had something worthwhile to offer. For the newer folks, the medical and fire service folks like Michael Morse, Justin Schorr, and Curt Varone, we may not agree on everything, but we tried. By God, we tried. To the folks on the old Yahoo wildlife groups, DLP in particular, thank you for the encouragement (and the occasional ball-busting).

BTW, I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Jurassic Pork and his missus are in pretty tough financial straits; if you can toss a few coins his way, please do. They really do deserve to have a roof over their heads.

* The Dark Wraith has been missing in action for a couple of years now, and Google is now showing his old site (and the companion site BigBrassBlog) as possibly infected with malware, so no links. DW, if you should happen to see this, you are missed. Same for Firestarter5.

_

Leave of Absence

Posting will be lighter than usual -- bordering on non-existent -- for the week. My aunt died and my mother is taking it very hard.

Th' Blizzahd of Ought-Thirteen... Yessir!

Well, here I am, sitting in the living room as "The Great Blizzahd of Ought-Thirteen" rages outside. It's been snowing since morning, even though the main part of the real storm is just starting to affect us. We already have about 8 inches of snow in the yard, and we're expecting somewhere between 24 and 30 inches by the time we're done.

Some interesting cancellations crawling across the bottom of the TV machine: "Some Town Snowmobile Club Outing Postponed to Sunday" and "Some Other Town Snowshoe Hike Postponed to Sunday." Plus, the main attraction up here this time of year -- the National Toboggan escapades at the Snow Bowl in Camden had to cancel their Saturday toboggan runs because of snow. Plus at least one ski area is closed due to excessive snow.

Maine... Life in the Slow Lane.

A 19-car pile-up on Interstate 295 down in Cumberland screwed up the morning commute for folks trying to get into Portland this morning (it even made NBC Nightly News). Evening rush hour didn't happen, as most everybody got out of Dodge by about 2:00 PM.


Oh, yeah, almost forgot... some hacker got into gee-dumbya's email thingie, and posted some pix of dim son's self-portraits... including one in the tub. Not shown: how he was playing 'submarine' with a coupla turds. With presidential seals on 'em. For more on this breaking story, see this piece by the lovely yet talented Jurassic Pork (who is also even more flat broke than I am, so if you could spare a few sheckels his way, I'm sure he'd appreciate it).

Hmm, Two Milestones (at least for me, they are...)

According to the new-and-allegedly-improved Blogger dashboard:

The previous post was number 500 (yes, the Great Orange Satan does 500 posts a day, but, there's only one of me); and

32,000 page views (yes, TGOS gets that many in 3.8 seconds, but I provide quality instead of quantity)

Yeah, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

(Wonder if I could make a song outa that and make a few bucks...)

Actually, Like, You Know, Whatever...

Just saw this on Yapfui...

"You know," "whatever" is a really annoying term -- "like" "you know." We're "just sayin'."

When it comes to the most annoying words or phrases used in conversation, those four top the list in 2012, according to the annual Marist Poll.

But, actually, you know, like, they actually missed like the most annoying word yet...

Today's society seems to use "actually" the way kids use "like," which is starting to make me cranky.

I had to call the auto insurance folks the other day. The agent said "I'm actually looking at your account now." "Wow, you're ACTUALLY LOOKING AT IT?!? Wow, how cool is that?!?"

Where I used to work, I had to sit through a PowerPoint on a new software application... "Here, you can see I'm actually signed in..." No, you're NOT actually signed in, it's actually a screen capture of when you were actually signed in. I actually wanted to actually puke all over the presenter.

Or, to put it another way:

Although actually means “in an actual manner,” “really,” or “truly,” it has come to mean “in point of fact,” as well. I don't see this one abused too much in the written word, but some people (is it only MBAs, or does it just seem that way?) preface nearly every sentence with the word, and toss a few more into the middle of the occasional sentence, just in case we think they might be talking about something fictitious. Like hopefully and basically, actually is just an (unsuccessful) distraction from what the rest of the sentence says.

And, no, it's not only MBAs.

Just sayin'.

NO Blogging Till Sandy Passes

Between the town and county Emergency Management Agencies, the Red Cross and other emergency commitments, there won't be anything till after Sandy passes.

Stay safe.

4.5 Earthquake, Southern Maine

The U.S. Geological Survey is reporting a 4.5 magnitude earthquake struck southern Maine about 7:12 this evening. According to the local NBC affiliate, people called reporting the quake from as far away as New York City.

Now, we're hearing that the quake went from 4.5 to 4.6 (and remember, each full digit is an increase of 10 times the previous digit; i.e., a 5.0 is ten times as powerful as a 4.0) and is now at 4.0.

Either way, I didn't feel it. Guess this means I gotta lose some weight.

Oh, and there are no reports of injuries, fortunately.

Long Time, No See

...Although perhaps not long enough for some people...

I haven't been blogging for a number of reasons:

• Lack of time (still only working two days a week, but the fire department, rescue squad, and some other commitments are keeping me busy)
• So thoroughly disgusted at the political system (local and national) that I want to spit
• Not a whole lot to say that hasn't already been said by others (f'rinstance, BadTux)

I spent three weeks in Joplin, MO, with the Red Cross, doing medical outreach in the impacted areas of the city.  Quite a learning experience.  I've been through my share of hairy, nasty situations, but never have I seen such complete devastation as I did in that poor city.  On the other hand, the spirit of the folks in Joplin isn't defeatist.  Hell, it's just barely bruised.  Those folks are some tough old Midwesterners, I'll tell you that.

The job situation sucks, as does the economy.  Screw you very much, Mr Preznit Shrub with all your tax cuts for the wealthy, to "create jobs." Create jobs, my fat ass.  The only jobs created have been for defense lawyers, Mergers and Acquisitions types, and pool boys.  Oh, and the resorts where the banks invest their TARP funds.

It's hard to be creative or even coherent -- never mind amusing -- when you're wondering if you're going to be able to pay the car insurance.  And before the Tea Baggers start hootin' 'bout "iffin y'all caint afferd it, y'all shouldn't be drivin," a vehicle is an absolute necessity in Maine.  There is no public transportation ouytside of the three largest cities.  Even our frickin' state capitol doesn't have bus service.

We're surrounded by the brain-dead morans of the Tea Bagger movement here, along with their hangers-on, the birthers, creationists, and all the rest of the scum.  We even have the John Birch Society making a come-back (buncha racist motherfuggers that they are).

Only passably-good news is that the pets are doing okay (remember the mandatory pet-blogging?  Yeah, what we haven't done in like three years).  Emily the Labrador and Joey the cat adjusted well to the new 618Rants World HQ in Maine.  We even adopted a certified pre-owned cat for the Crazy Cat Lady In Training... err, the lovely yet talented Mrs618.

Some of my favorite bloggers have retired, most without notice. Just stop by their blog one day and realize it hasn't been updated in 2 years (which makes me feel a little better).

Politics doesn't change, it still attracts the slimy, the scuzzy, the corrupt.  Law enforcement still attracts the power-hungry, the "big-gun-making-up-for-the-small-dick" crowd, business still attracts the "screw you, I got mine" crowd. Rethuglicans are still lying, cheating, whoremongers, and the Biblt-thumpin', hooker-humpin', sister-marryin', rifle-rack-in-the-pickmup neocon wingnut idjit crowd are still mouth-breathing in-bred "Deliverance" NASCAR gun nut fruitloops.

I can't wait to wake up and find the whole last 11 years has been a horrible nightmare.

I feel kinda like Bob Newhart, in the "Newhart" 20th anniversary show: "I dreamt I ran a Vermont inn..." before Larry, Darryl, and Darryl step out of the elevator.

Coupla Updates...

First, to the post entitled "Republican Family Values: The Gift That Keeps on Giving." This post, written last October, discussed some of the "Family Values®" displayed by the rethugs.

• Ted Alvin Klaudt, in a transparent attempt to keep himself out of the news (after being sentenced to 44 years for raping two of his foster daughters and 10 years for witness tampering) has claimed a "common-law copyright" on his name. Good try, but no. Ted Alvin Klaudt is still a pedophile rapist.
• Mark Sanford, whose hike on the Appalachian Trail turned out to be galavanting with his mistress in Argentina, celebrated being cleared of civil and criminal charges in connection with his adultery by partying in Florida... with his Argentinian squeeze.
• Vito Fossella, caught driving drunk while en route to his mistress' house, finished out his term and did not run for re-election. His Wikipedia article has lots of interesting info on "Ol' Family Values® Hisself."

Second, I have taken the opportunity to remove some dead links from the blogroll. 42, Welcome to the Revolution, and Mike's Column are going to be missed. All three were very good. A couple of others -- Dear Leader's Daily Thought and Cut to the Chase -- were deleted in that they haven't been updated in over two years, but both were good.