Today IS the day

It looks like our constant finger crossing is finally paying off. Wife and I leave today to head back to northern Utah to close on the sale of our house and the way the markets are going right now I’d say we’re pretty damn lucky that it’s happening.

I’ve been a little nervous about the whole thing because of all the financial upheveal and wondering how we’d be able to buy a new home if our sold. In all actuality I’m thinking of this as a step that has it’s up sides and one down side. The up sides are that we’re out from under it and no longer have to worry about how we’re going to pay the mortgage tomorrow. There’s no more utilities, insurance, or upkeep and all that extra cash is going to pay off some major debt now. I’m that much closer to answering to no man… However the one downside is that we no longer have that huge investment. The one thing that always seems to stay strong, “real” property. No matter, it’s sold, we’re closing and moving and getting on with life. So in a few months when the markets stabilize and we’re out of debt we’ll be able to secure that much nicer of a home because we won’t be strapped for cash every month. Freedom, sweet sweet freedom.

On another note you’ve probably noticed a few major changes to the site in the past 24 hours. Well, with the thought of no longer being tied down I’ve been able to focus a little more on the site and getting it to where I’d like it to be. I think I’ve just about pushed this version as far as I can and will now need to look at a complete overhaul. This isn’t going to be an overnight process, noooooo way. I’m talking about a fully designed and functioning site based off of my own templates. So until that happens enjoy the new additions and I’m sure I’ll figure out ways to tweak version 1.3874-5b (current format for those of you not in the know) and will continually push it for better flow, ascetic’s, function etc. So stay tuned and in the mean time why not subscribe to the new rss feed? You know you want to. Some of the other changes are the addition of a page that shows what’s currently on my iPod or iPhone. I’ve also added some feeds to what I’m reading on a daily basis and a few other little tweaks. Hop you like it.

RSS Feeds to the rescue

So I’ve recently begun to delve into the whole RSS feed. I’ll admit that I’m a total RSS Virgin and haven’t a clue how to really work, manipulate or use them.  But the time will come when I do. As it is, the site is now up and running with the super new RSS feed and is ready for someone to subscribe. I’ve even added the counter in the side bar below…I even colored it to keep it in theme with the site. Special I know….

Now subscribe or else! Do it! Do it now!

This is The End

It’s time for all the spam to take a bow and stop wasting my time. So by the time it came for me to pull the plug we easily topped the 8,000 mark, 8,156 to be exact, not the estimated 8,273 but a good start and not a bad number for 30 days. So say good night Cleavland, it’s time to go.

But before we call it a complete loss lets take a look at what came in between yesterdays number and todays.
“lvbz”, wins the award for last minute length: “s tuesday||usb speakers no sound card||bracelet including||pokemon ruby get jirochi||double diamond||silver wolf||ruby daphane huff||single stone silver rings||birthday card invitation sample||card ge master platinum select||diamond peak ski||silver halid” I’m totally excited about the Pokemon ruby, aren’t you?

“jntzfe”, wins the agriculture award with: “buy bred cows ” Because I’ve always wanted a bred cow.
“jmaoul”, has it for the most obscure location: “cheap car rental in wareham“Because I’ve always wanted to see Wareham…beautiful churches…travel channel.

“dtkc”, how could I pass you by when you’ve got this going for you: “napoleon dynamite valentines cards” After all who could say no to a Napoleon Dynamite valentine card? I would have gotten so much action this last Valentines day if I had only had one. Thank you for pointing me in the right direction.
And finally we have “idal” with my absolute favorite: “buy mystical dragon webkins” Because no one is complete without a mystical dragon webkin…how have I lasted this long without one. I swear my plus 3 mage just couldn’t do without one any longer. Thank You “idal”

So if you couldn’t tell by now I seem to have fallen prey to some pretty boring spamojaculators that think I need to be advertising and redirecting my readers. Thanks but no thanks guys. And yes there are more to what I’ve posted but I’m exorcizing e karma and not posting the myriad of fake email addresses, websites or ip addresses of these ass hats, I know you wanted to see it all but too bad.

So I say ciao to these guys, hopefully our paths won’t cross again.

The Man in Black, 1959

Here’s a very cool video of Johnny Cash from 1959. That man was a GOD!

Beaker, YOU ROCK!

Beaker buddy, if I wasn’t a guy I’d totally be all over you. We’d have fuzzy little muppet babies…Ok that’s a little too creepy, scratch that last part. But you still rock it old school!

Go Forth and Spam No More

As some of you may remember I had turned my comments section off due to the amount of spam sneaking through the system. I then turned them back on when I starting using the Akismet spam filter (find it here) last month. It’s a great tool, but not the best. All it really did was presort all the spam and allow me to mass delete it at my whim or it would do it for me after 2 weeks. It’s not a bad plugin and I highly recommend it for EVERYONE using WordPress as the base for their blog. For someone who has just started blogging or has not had a tough time with spam it would work great. It just didn’t cut it with me (probably because of the mass quantities of inuendo on the site, boobies, cock) for some reason…weird.

Anyway I just couldn’t get over the fact that I was still seeing all this spam coming through my system and not really do anything about it. So today I did some searching and found a simple little WordPress plugin that acts as the word verifier that many other sites use but is much cooler and a little educational. The plugin I’m talking about is called the “Challenge” (find it here) and requires that anyone posting a comment now must complete a simple math problem. True, it is a little vindictive to those of you that like me were a little less enthusiastic about math, but hey, life’s a bitch and I think the irony is kinda fun.

But I have since decided to hold off the start of this new phase of the site until tomorrow. Why would I do this? Simple…One month ago today, exactly today, I installed the akismet plugin and in that timing I have currently, at this very moment filtered 7, 963 no wait, 7,964 comments concerning how to enlarge my penis, buy viagra without a perscription and see hot asian teen whores exchanging various body fluids with a dwarf. How could I not let this continue for at least the remaining few hours of the day just to see where a full 30 days would get me? I’m pushing for at least 8, 273 comments by the time I put a stop to it tomorrow…how sweet will that be? As a little treat I’m going to post up a few of the better offers tomorrow. I can’t wait!

Another favorite from the old days

Many of you may remember this one from nearly a year ago…it still makes me scratch my head

Feeling a little nastalgic today

Thought I would post a little pick me up. This is from the “New” Muppet show…when did this come about and why wasn’t I notified?

Cha Cha Cha Chaaanges

Fall is coming on strong in a number of areas around the country and even here in the fiery pits of the countries furnace things are starting to cool a bit. The nights are no longer a blazing mess of heat and are turning cool. The mornings are beginning to linger rather than burning off as soon as the sun crests above the desert horizon and we’re actually seeing something the rest of the world calls rain…

Along with this change has come a new addition to the blog. I’ve finally gotten around to producing the long missing email links across the site for those that so desire to send me their random thoughts, rants and praise…

We’ve also finally found a buyer for the house and not a moment too soon. It seems that we have burned through what savings we did have, maxed the credit cards and drained the slight retirement we managed to begin to scrape together in an effort to remain a family and push forward with this move. Without a buyer in October I don’t have a clue where we’d come up with the money to pay all of the bills coming across our plate. Thank God the timing has worked in our favor. I’m attempting to remain positive about the entire transaction but it’s tough as we grow near to the final back out deadline for the buyers. We’ve been through this twice before and lost both of those sales failed due to bad market conditions and a bad economy. So you see where I’m coming from, hoping and praying like crazy that this one stays strong and completes the deal, but it’s tough. Everytime I pick up the paper, turn on the computer or the television I’m bombarded with huge financial firms closing their doors and telling the little guys too bad about all that money you had invested, we appreciated it when buying our million dollar mansion and beach houses but we just couldn’t do without it so you’ll just have to survive because we had to spend spend spend. Thanks for all the money you dumped into the firm, oh, by the way could you bend over one more time so we can ream you one last time for old times sake too.

This time is different, it’s going to reach the deadline on the 26th and close on the 2nd like planned and everything is going to work out…

Road Trip Extravaganza

What a weekend…

Here I thought I had married into a stressful crazy family, I have a feeling that my brother has me beat. The weekend, a little strange at times was none the less pretty sweet. Wife and I have a number of pictures that I’m sure we’ll post eventually…lots of white people that can’t dance…and a few that can.

It was nice to be able to travel through some country that Wife has never been through before and see some new and interesting places. The first of which was Navajo bridge South of Lee’s ferry and pretty much the starting point of the Grand Canyon. Coming across the valley from the West gives a pretty interesting effect of these large dark ridges that appear to be rising in the desert when in actuality they’re falling to the bottom of the canyon. What’s funny is that the first picture I took of the area wasn’t of the beauty around us, no that would be what a non crazy person would do. I instead took a picture of the men’s room…that’s right…the men’s room at the little rest area just before you cross the bridge. Wait wait, I’m not a total perv…I was the only one in there and I’m not in the picture so chill. The reason I took the picture is that when in a facility such as this I prefer a little privacy…However I don’t think those that built it felt the same.

Um yeah….

Count the tiles on the wall my friends, because those are 6 inch tiles which puts these stall dividers at just shy of 4 feet tall. I don’t know about you but at 6′2″ I have a problem with walking in to a men’s room and seeing anyone coping a squat…just not my cup of tea. Thankfully it was deserted and I was able to pee in peace without anyone eyeballing me from the next stall.
The area wasn’t without it’s upside however…

The views were pretty amazing….

I hope you like that picture because it’s about the only one I actually took of the area. Ok, it’s not about the only one I took, it is the only one I took. Yeah I know I suck but Wife should make up for it with the pictures she took.

As I mentioned the weekend was pretty good. Our hotel sucked and had oooozed Bates Motel from every orifice it could. I don’t think I got more than 20-30 minutes of sleep at one time due to the jet engine they had installed in the wall and called an air conditioner. IT SUCKED! and that’s the only way to put it. Every other room in the area had nice quiet units that whispered cool air into the rooms like a baby’s sigh, but ours was like world war 3 had erupted every 30 minutes. It would explode into life like an atom bomb going off, whine like a jet engine for the next 10-15 minutes and then turn itself off with another gigantic explosion. IT SUCKED! did I already mention that…well I just want you to get the gravity of the situation. The only thing that kept me from going insane in the middle of the night and not murdering Wife in her sleep was the impromptu mini bar we constructed.

 Oh Kahlua…how many marriages have you saved? Between you and waffles the world is a better place.

Soft

with the looming trip to the deserts of Arizona I got thinking about a picture that I was going to post a while back and never did. It’s of a strange little cactus on one of the trails near my work. I have never come across anything like this.

If you ask me it’s far to friendly looking for it’s own good!

2nd time’s a charm

Wife and I are leaving tomorrow morning to head to my brothers wedding in Sedona AZ. For those of you out there that have never been to this area of the country really should take the time to go and see it. It’s pretty amazing…

First you have the South rim of the Grand Canyon in all of its desert glory. A few miles further to the South you begin to enter another world as the highest point in Arizona thrusts itself out of the desert floor around Flagstaff.  Futher South still you begin to decend back into the lowland deserts but not before passing through some miraculous red rock country with huge sandstone spires and peaks. It’s very much like St. George and Southern Utah…just not quite as big but still worth seeing simply because of the sheer change in scenery in such a short distance.

As I mentioned my brother is getting married for the second go around. His future wife is great and they really seem to compliment each other. I have a feeling that the 2nd time around is going to be the one. So dear brother…here’s to you…

AAAAAAMaaaaaaaazing

Absolutely amazing…

That is the only way to put it. This guy is absolutely amazing to issue a challenge to drive a car around a timed track and to actually pull it off…