It finally came: the day I couldn't eat another cookie

It happened. I never thought it would happen. But it did. I Finally ate enough cookies, that I can’t even think about eating a cookie right now. Too much buttery, sugary goodness.

I had pigged out two nights ago after finishing up a movie or something. Can’t quite remember, the only thing I can seem to focus on is feeling kind of icky for the next handful of hours before I went to bed. I just… just too many. Too much. Even just thinking “cookie” makes me want to gag.

Geez I feel old now. Next thing you know, I’ll be saying things like “this cake has too much icing,” or “I need to water down this soda it’s too sweet,” or “oh no thanks, I’ll have to skip the threesome tonight dear(s).”

Our interest in Graywater is piqued

It’s something that’s sort of piqued our interest of late. When we moved up here, the goal was to be as self-sustaining as possible, while still having access to niceties only found in the wasteful side of society (i.e. Computers, flat-screen TV, sex toys, etc…). We’ve taken to pretty much an all-organic diet, and we consider the impact of the things we do. I think we’re off to a good start. Hell, our monthly utility bill is around $30 during non-Winter months, which is pretty good.

We recently had a drain failure that really got us thinking about water, though. Our washing machine dumps into a wash sink in our utility room, and that had backed up. In trying to fix it (plunge!), we actually made it a bit worse: the length of pipe that connects to the main busted through. After we got that fixed, we realized that that wasn’t all that had busted; the main had actually developed a nice leak at the joint as well. This is not an easy fix, and with 4 dogs – two of which we’re definitely not supposed to have – we were in no hurry to call the Landlord out to inspect.

So we started doing laundry less. After all, we’re shopping for a house, shouldn’t be long, right? Yeah, right. But still, we needed to do laundry, and what we came up with was to stop up the wash sink, and bucket the stuff away. First idea was to bucket it to the tub, bypass the leak and get the water out. This worked, but we were amazed – AMAZED, I tell you – at the actual amount of water that we bucketed out when we did this. We’re talking 6-8 trips with a 5-gallon bucket, per load. Ouch.

So we considered what we were doing. We use all-natural laundry soap, so we figured, it’s not going to hurt the lawn any. Why not bucket it out to the lawn? Saves the drain in the bathroom at least. So we started doing that. And now we don’t hesitate to do laundry. And in fact, we’re happy to bucket the water out, because our lawn is doing fabulous with all the water it has access to. Seeing how wasteful it was, really gives us an idea. What’s wrong with that “greywater?” If it’s not chemical-infused, why can’t we reuse it? It makes sense.

Anyway, that’s what we’re doing now. What we’re planning on doing when we get our house (finally), is to implement something almost house-wide. We don’t use chemical detergents or additives anywhere, so all the drains are a go, save for the toilet. I think it’s a good idea, one that probably everyone should incorporate if able. According to some research I’ve come across, a family of 4 would save 38,000 gallons of water a year doing this.

Wow. Think of that. 38,000 gallons. We should all stop being so wasteful.

Back from meeting with our realtor

Not much to say, really. I’m starting to think that maybe our realtor isn’t really motivated to help out where he can. I think maybe we hurt his feelings a bit, too.

I sort of understand. When dealing in real estate matters, I guess/know you’re not really supposed to usurp your agent and go straight to the other agent, but dammit he was not in town last week and the “deadline” we were told we would have our answer by came and went. Called the listing agent, and after explaining the situation and being politely reminded that this is not standard protocol, she relented and called the bank that is holding the loan and reviewing the case. Apparently the case officer is blind and his dad was mad at him, and walked all over his case files with golf cleats.

That bastard.

Anyway, she called us back and let us have it: no news. Well that’s not true. We had been informed that they had received the latest BPO – another appraisal – earlier in the month and were reviewing that. Turns out (according to whom she spoke with on this particular day), that the BPO wasn’t even scheduled to be ready until the 24th of April; last Friday. So with that information in hand, we took to the streets and beat a path to our realtor’s door. Who, it just so happens, works next door to our house.

Asked if he could call and see what’s up? Told us no, he can’t speed it up. All we can do is wait. Grrrrr.

Waiting. We’ve done that. Hell, we submitted our damned offer on the 18th of January. It’s now well passed 90 days since. I think I’m about done waiting. F*ck me this is getting old now suddenly.

Note: Short Sales? They’re LONG. Don’t be fooled. And also: don’t do business with your next door neighbors. That way, when the time comes that you need to move on to a different realtor, you don’t have to fake the polite wave and smile. Because I think that might be where we’re headed, here.

I Just took a Papa Roach (Sh*t)

I can’t put my finger on it. I’m not a music junkie. But it’s there, or maybe it’s missing. It’s something.

Recently the local radio station had been playing this song that I decided I really liked and had to have. You know how the radio stations love to play songs and then not tell you who the hell they are? This proves to be especially true when it’s a song you like. Thank dog for the internet, huh?

I searched for and found the song & artist: it’s 1901 by Phoenix, a french band that just got my 99¢ business (thanks, iTunes!). Anyway, I liked the beat a lot but hell if I could actually make out their damn french accents and understand what the hell they were saying. Thank dog for the internet, huh? Not a few seconds later and I found the lyrics on some random site that’s like 12-million others that serve the same function.

Side note: why don’t the song files from shops like iTunes and Amazon just include the damn lyrics?

So anyway, back to Papa Roach. When I got home from work last night, the lyrics page was still up. There was an advertisement for new Papa Roach album, and I decided to click on it. Their old stuff was fabulous, especially the tracks that didn’t get airtime on the radio, and when I’m in a “Heavy Alternative” mood, their songs get some playtime every time.

So it was sad when I actually landed on the page and got a sneak preview. Really sad. Like, not just :-( but :’( and also maybe a little :-D because it was so awful. They sold out. They freaking sold the f*ck out, hardcore. Gone was the old, good Papa Roach, and here to stay was some Emo’d-out, fake-as-f*ck whine-fest. It was so bad that it sounded like it could have been Country “music.” It was Chevy commercial. It was… now see this is where I have the problem describing it. I know it when I hear it, and I can’t put my finger on it. I’m not a music junkie. But it’s there, or maybe it’s missing. It’s something.

I don’t like to use the term “Sell-out” often, because it’s overused. Sometimes “true fans” like to use that term because suddenly their band gets discovered and thusly popular. It always seemed quite dishonest to say you’re a true fan of a band, and then when they finally find what they got into the game for (fame & fortune & a large following), they’re shunned by their fans? Huh? Like now they’re mad that they have to share, and that the band “made it.” Shouldn’t they be happy? Eh.


OK so popularity isn’t a requisite for “selling out.” And so I hesitate to use that term. Here though, it’s accurate – nay – necessary. When you’ve gone and changed your visual style, when you no longer sound like you… when your music is so over-produced that it sounds indistinguishable from some shlop on some fake-high-school-drama-show, or IS the shlop on some fake-high-school-drama-show, then you’re a sell out.

Thanks, Papa Roach. Now I have to go take a bath. I’ll probably have to burn my old CD of yours, too. I don’t want flashbacks, thankyouverymuch.

Go ahead. If you’re normally an Alternative music fan, I dare you to listen. Dare you.

Shrek the "Bad things come in threes" edition

You know they say that sequels always suck. That’s what they say. How true it is, I don’t know, but I’d say it’s not a 100% sure-thing. Indiana Jones, anybody? Those were all winners. OK I know what you’re thinking, didn’t they just do a new sequel to that with ‘tard of an actor, Sh!t le-barf? Yeah OK you got me there, but I am going to conveniently ignore that such a film exists (also ignoring in the same vein: Star Wars Prequels).

Anyway, the build-up:

We’ve been home shopping since about early December. Wrote our first offer in the middle of that month, then another and another again, the latest in February. One that we wrote an offer on in January – our best candidate still – is a short sale which we’re still waiting on final approval from the seller’s bank, though hopefully we find out soon. Maybe today even. Still though, we’re looking around. We figured, why wait? What if this were to fall through and we ended up passing up some great homes in the meantime.

Recently a new property came up in town that was in our price range and looked like it might be a bargain. It was on a decent-sized lot, and was a nicely-sized house itself, so we called our realtor and had him set us up a showing. And as it turned, out the house was much better from afar. Good from far, far from good, as the playas say these days. Well, that I hear that the playas are saying these days, in ‘da hood.’ But the visit wasn’t a total waste. We found a movie!

The first room I walked into was a front bedroom with a closet. I opened the closet doors to get a peek and noticed that the door felt like it was being impeded. I peeked betwen the two doors, and sure enough, sandwiched in there was a DVD case. A copy of Shrek the Third.

Yeah I know, that was a long way to go to get to anything having to do with a sequel. Sorry.

Did I ever tell you about my love of Shrek? It was earned, let me tell you. I originally had no intention of ever watching the movie. It was an animated kids’ flick it seemed at the time, and I had no desire to see anything that even reminded me of a Disney adventure. I hate cute sh!t. If I saw a mouse with big ears wearing red shorts, I’d kill the little bastard. ESPECIALLY if it was annoying as hell and named Mickey. So yeah, Shrek seemed too kiddish & cute to like. But The Girl insisted – this was before she had anything to do with me and was just a friend of the family – and since I was home and had nothing better to do but eat dinner and suffer through a maddeningly-stupid-yet-annoyingly-cute movie, I let it happen.

Glad I did, too. It’s still one of my favorite movies. It’s just got that something.

Number 2, however, did not. I suffered through it at the theatre, and then I had to convince just about everyone that saw it that it did indeed suck. A second viewing was usually all it took. I find that once you’ve seen it, even if you say you loved it the first time, you just get worn out of the same worn-out jokes by about the 40-minute mark.

But, you say, what about the Third?

Well, I think that perhaps we should just continue bashing the second one. It’s more fair. The third installment sucked so bad, I refuse to accept in my mind that it was anything but a “straight to DVD” release. See above, commence ignoring, you could say. I mean, the jokes weren’t just bad, they were bad AND recycled from the first one, AND telegraphed like a... telegraph message?

The second installment sucked of its own merit; the third was just a quick money-grab by the producers. Luckily I stumbled upon it for free. It would seem to me that a better alternative to paying them to make you see it, would be to just have paid them to let you NOT have to see it.

Don’t. If you haven’t already, just… Don’t.

A tale of eventuality: Miles is getting old

It’s one of those things I knew would happen. It’s just that even though you know, you secretly hope that it does not come to fruition. Such is the case with Miles the super-dog. It’s apparent now that he’s reached old age, there’s really not much – if any – question about it. The shocking thing about it is the swiftness with which it arrived. It really seems that it’s like one day he was peeing in fish buckets, and the next he’s gimp and deaf.

And it was almost like that. Except, you know, that it was a process spread out over six months or so, maybe a little longer. When we got the puppies, he was whooping them around. He was playful with them, would beat them into the water and through it as well, and couldn’t wait to hump the sh!t out of them. Yeah. He had done that al lot. He’s 12-½ right now, he’s been fixed for the last 12 years, yet for whatever reason, he’s the humping-est dog I’ve ever met. Our puppies are not fixed. They hump less than Miles. COMBINED.

Part of me wonders, because of the timing: were the arrival of the puppies the beginning of his downfall? Or was it just coincidental timing? I knew he couldn’t go on forever like a dog out of hell, but I wanted him to nonetheless.

Just this week, we got home from a short trip to the beach with the dogs (which we detoured to the Toyo Dealership) and he was acting a little hurt. Well heck, if Miles is acting hurt, it hurts. Miles is a trooper so I know he was in pain. Not sure what it was. He carried his head low as though he was ashamed of himself like Britney Spears should be on a daily basis, and if you touched his left side he winced. Two days of that, and there’s nothing really I could do except look on and pout about my ol’ buddy getting old.

He seems to be over it now – whatever “it” was – but still, he’s not as young as he used to be. Of course not literally, but also not figuratively either, the poor guy. I wonder if he’s going to be a porch dog inside of a year, it seems like that’s what we’re headed for.

Hey, if I’m finally laid up on the porch when I’m 91? I’d say I was doing pretty good. We all should hope to do as well as good ol’ Miles has been doing. It’s just that I wanted to keep pretending that he was magic or something.

Poo.

The Tacoma Lift is a GO

Yes it’s official, we have the OK to get the Tacoma lifted.

Yesterday was a little cold & blustery – we’re having a nice few days of a cold, northern front blowing over us – so we didn’t bother to make a day of doggies, especially since The Girl could not manage to get her shift for the night covered and had to get ready for work late afternoon. We did take the puppies out, but it was a short trip, and right afterwards we took a small detour to the dealership.

I wanted to talk some truck with the service manager, the guy who would be the first to review any warranty claims. The question before us, of course, was: how radical can we go and still be warrantable? I’m reasonable I think. I don’t expect Toyota to cover the cost of any damage that were in curred if, say, I bought some aftermarket wheels and they failed causing the truck to fall and damage itself. BUT on the other hand, if I lift it 3” (or 6”) (or whatever) and my motor blows a seal, I don’t want to be told “oh sorry, can’ cover it because you lifted the vehicle and it caused the damage.” That would be a little ridiculous.

By the way, if you pictured an engine block orally gratifying a large blubbery animal when I mentioned “blows a seal?” You’re just plain wrong in the head. Please join my club, we have a secret handshake and we meet every 3rd Sunday of the month. The yearly dues are reasonable.

So, as I was saying: the lift. He told me that he sees some 6” lifted trucks come in and they’ve torn up this & that and he just can’t cover it. And I understand that. Added ground clearance is nice, but I don’t expect that we can go 6” up and still be warrantied. Reason being, the 6” lift kits pretty much replace all of the stock front suspension components. Not only that, but they now bolt onto the supplied crossmember. What about the factory crossmember, you ask? They cut it off. Completely the f*ck off. So. Yeah. I don’t think we could do that and reasonably expect toyota to honor about anything except maybe cupholder failures. I think that once you cut a large portion of the frame RIGHT OFF OF THE TRUCK, you can rightly expect your warranty to be essentially voided AND, quite possibly, nulled.

But the 3” kits don’t do all of that. Most of the stock components are retained save for the springs & shocks (and if you do it right, the upper control arm). And he said that he himself has a lifted Tacoma & Tundra, so he knows what’s up. And they’ll take care of me, as long as I maintain some common sense & reasonability.

I can do that.

And now it’s time to comparison shop. I want to learn more about the different options at that height. I’m not ready to buy just quite yet – still have a house finalize purchase on – but when everything else before it in line is settled, I want to be prepared & ready & confident to pull the trigger. And then rock it up again.

Max Payne: So many corny ways to say it, but – it sucked

I saw the reviews. They sucked. I heard through the grapevine, that it sucked. But still I didn’t want to believe it at first. I had to see it with my own eyes to make sure. Only then did I feel that I could truly say whether or not it was “suck” or not.

And it was.

Nothing gelled. There was this false sense of urgency for no real reason. Characters said that this person or that person was this or that way, but it didn’t gel with what you were seeing on screen. The pacing was too fast in some places, not fast enough in others. It was half video-game-shootout, half -sloppy-crime-drama. And not the best of either half, either.

It was: A big-budget, low-grade B-rate movie. Hell, with a mere 18% on the tomatometer, maybe I should have known. I mean, my taste sways a bit and sometimes I like what isn’t top-rated, but I can’t think of any other film that’s been below 20% and gotten the nod from me. Might have to change the rules a bit: only believe your own eyes, unless the reviews score below 25% or something.

It’s corny, but hey: Max Payne is Max Pain. Ouch.

OK I was wrong; time to get a new DSLR

I thought that ditching the DSLR was in my best interests. At the time, it seemed a legit concept: I wasn’t shooting as many pictures because I was unwilling to actually whip it out to take the shot.

Yes, again, I whip it. I whip it good.

Anyway, it came upon me about a month ago, the nagging feeling that the P&S camera thingy wasn’t working out so well for me. It was when we had gone on the Lady Bird Johnson Trail, shortly after we had gotten down the mountain after finishing the trail. We sidelined ourselves along the river to eat and let the puppies play, and wouldn’t you know it, a couple of Bald Eagles had made home in a dead tree up the river and were flying about. Try as I might, the best I could do was a lump in the distant background of trees, and it honestly looks more like digital camera noise than a Bald Eagle :-(

The feeling was back a couple of days ago, when was out with my new boy-friend hiking the newly-established Dolason Trail (which is actually just up the hill from Lady Bird Johnson to begin with). I didn’t take much in the way of pictures to begin with, but the ones I took all mostly sucked. The panoramas were not in focus anywhere in particular, the colors were off (and since it’s jpeg you can’t get them back with white-balance adjustments), and when I tried to get in close to some deer in the distance, there was just no way I could get them in my sights. Fully zoomed-in, the best I could muster was about exactly what I could see to begin with. And manual magnification only resulted in blurry, purply-blue blobs.

And have I mentioned my recent spat of P&S camera issues?

So it would appear that what I’m going to most likely be doing is: getting a low-grade DSLR – I’m not a professional anyway – and probably doing a video camera along the lines of the Flip Mino HD. This way, I will have the BETTER of both worlds.

That is, if I don’t change my mind. Which I have a habit of doing. Because honestly, that’s still some serious coinage, and I wonder if I wouldn’t rather have this or that instead, and I don’t really take that many photos to begin with any longer. It’s just that I’m a perfectionist. Can I justify the extra cash just to satiate my lust for “a little bit more”?

Sort of, dammit. That’s why it’s all on my wish list. Because I want I want I want. And maybe someday I’ll have.

Dolason Prairie Trail: A Craigslist Moment

Yesterday I had a man-date with a guy I met online. It’s not what it sounds like, I promise. No, in reality, I posted an ad on craigslist about wanting to get together with another man.

No, It’s not what it sounds like, I swear!

Strictly platonic. What I was looking for was some active friends to hang out with. I mentioned it before, that I’ve had trouble making friends up here with my funky schedule and desire to avoid scum & drudge. Basically the ad said that I’m this & that, these are the things I do, and I’d like to meet up with some like-minded individuals. And I even got hits!

Yes; some of them were what it sounded like.

But others weren’t. I got a handful of emails from guys who understand the situation and would also like to find some more people to hang out with outdoors & such. I haven’t met up with most of them yet (I do have an odd schedule), but I did take the time yesterday to meet up with one in particular and go on a nice long hike.

We went out to a spot just shy of an hour’s drive north of home. It started at the top of a mountain range and cascades down the hills – through prairies & redwood forests – to the river below, which we didn’t quite make it to. And then you turn around and go back up (the “hard part”). It was amazingly beautiful. Words almost can’t describe. The nature was amazing. Everything I moved up here for, really.

The dogs had fun. He told me it’s about 1-½ hours up and 3 hours back, so I didn’t want to take everyone, just the two young ones. And they thoroughly enjoyed it, running around the hills & prairies, through the forest, and sniffing trails of what was probably a mountain lion. Yeah, really. I noticed them taking deep interest in the scent of something on the gorund, and they acted really strange when I reached down to touch them: they recoiled from the touch, as though maybe they were in trouble or something. I couldn’t understand it, then I thought maybe it’s a predator and they’re being cautious. Sure enough, a few turns later and we came upon a motion-sensing automatic camera marked as “mountain lion survey equipment – please do not disturb.”

The guy that showed me the trail? He’s an older gent. I’m climbing up on 30 years old (!!!) myself, he’s about 22 years my senior. He’s been doing this stuff a long time though and seems to generally be a low-level adventurer. Nice guy, though a bit quirky. Which isn’t a knock at all, it’s refreshing to meet people who aren’t tied up in the made-up drama of our current era, what with who’s doing what on The Hills & omg did you see what Miley Cirrus was wearing to the CMAs or whatever. He’s more old-world, and I like that about him quite a bit. Plus, hey, yesterday was the first day we ever even met. And honestly, I shudder to think what other’s initial impressions of me are. *shudders*

Plus he’s an outdoorsman. I like that a lot. He’ll be good for me in that regard.

I unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, depending on your feelings on the matter) didn’t snap much in the way of photos on the journey. Most of the downhill trip was spent at a jog or better, and most of the uphill trek was spent huffing and puffing, as well as cramping & wincing, so no gallery for this journey.

The trip probably wasn’t meant to happen at all yesterday. I had been ill last week and started to feel better over the weekend, only to start feeling ill again Tuesday night. I pressed on, but when I called to confirm on Wednesday morning, he informed me that we would have to push it back a few hours because he had chipped a tooth and had to go in to the dentist around the time we were supposed to meet up. And those cramps? They were mine. As was the wincing. I’m pretty sure a sick man shouldn’t be out running up and down mountains, but I didn’t want to miss this opportunity either. And the virus-weariness showed, too. On the way back, my legs just didn’t have enough juice. I packed a good amount of water but I think I just started from too depleted a state, and I ran out of water and was still quite crampy, which slowed me down – lots of pausing to rest.

Still made good time though. And I’m glad I went – did I mention how beautiful it was? Beautiful. I hope to be back there again soon. More pictures next time though. And maybe a whole day devoted, instead of just the last half of it.

Canon SD1000: Crap & Crappier

Typically my work has the scheduling into the future posted at least three weeks out, sometimes a full month. What I’ve done for about the past year, is to whip out my camera and take a picture of each new week as it’s posted.

Yes, I whip it. I… whip it good.

Anyway. People would always question this, saying it was overkill, why not just write down my schedule. You know, with pen & paper or such. But it always made a lot of sense to me, especially when other people would constantly have to call and verify what time they’re supposed to be in tomorrow, or if they’re in at all, or hey, who are they working with, et cetera. Me, I have photographic record of this. If I think I copied it to my calendar wrong, I just ‘look’ at the schedule. And I always have easy access to everyone else’s as well, so I know who I am and am not working with.

Well, up until about a month ago anyway. Because – you’ll never guess – one of our Canon SD1000’s died. I know, a real shocker now isn’t it.

It wasn’t mine that gave up the ghost again, actually. This time it was The Girl’s again. But since she takes more pictures than I do (gotta have those myspace mug shots of everyone, yo), she’s sort of taken over camera duties and has thusly taken away mine, that-barely-works-so-who-cares-not-me-that’s-who.

Except of course that now I have to write down my schedule all the time. And sometimes call in and verify when I’m suppose to come in, and hey, who am I working with, anyway?

Gets old. MAN! I cannot stress this enough: Avoid Canon’s lower-end ELPH cameras. They’re magnificently unreliable. A year now, and we’ve had 4 major technical malfunctions that required send-in, and 6 if you count total incidents. And it’s not as though we’re using them as lightsabers or something; we pouch them about in padded – um, pouches – and take them out to snap pictures. That’s what they’re made for, right?

F*ck, maybe they are lightsabers, and we’ve been doing it wrong all this time. That would almost make sense at this point.

Apple's Font Palette: A burden not a boon

To be perfectly honest, there are things I prefer about how Windows operates. It’s few & far between mind you, but they do exist. For instance, Apple’s Font Palette. It sucks.

I understand their concept – unified, system-wide toolset available to any program – but it has its shortcomings. In Windows, it’s typically handled on a per-program basis, and these programs typically have instituted the BIU (Bold, Italic, Underline) Button concept. It’s a concept that I think is well-implemented as a whole.

Why? Because no matter where you move the window, the BIU buttons are always right there, relative the same spot of the window. Yes there’s the downside that if you’re working with multiple windows the screen space required to display these elements will be repeated on each instance of the window. BUT, the Apple solution isn’t really much better: You have a floating palette that’s in the way of seeing other stuff anyhow. And if you’re working with multiple windows, now you have to move the thing around constantly to keep it out of the way of your work.

It’s especially frustrating with things like iChat. There’s absolutely no font controls on the iChat window, so if you want to manipulate the fonts you’re sending across the interwebs, you have to pull out the font palette (Command+T) and then fiddle with that. Which isn’t much a burden, until you move your iChat window around somewhere else on the screen. Then suddenly, the font controls are awkwardly distant from the fonts you’re trying to highlight & manipulate, so you have to move the font palette, which means each window move requires moving two windows. Senseless.

And what if you have two iChat windows going? Then the controls are probably in a decent spot for one, but inconvenient for the other.

I wish Apple would make this more user-friendly. In Pages, they have instituted BIU controls at the top, which is a step in the right direction. They also have a “drawer” of font controls, which I think is really a good compromise: They can keep the system-wide font palette, but instead of a floating monstrosity that is inconvenient to everything, they should make it “dockable” to windows, like a drawer.

I haven’t quite conceptually finished what I’m thinking of, but I think it’s getting close. Still though, even my half-baked concept would probably be better than their “palette” implementation.

Republicans spit in the face of the Average American

This is why I vote Democrat. The Republicans want to cut taxes permanently, but it’s only the taxes on… large organizations & the wealthiest 5% of the population. See? See where this is wrong? We’re supposed to be a nation of equals, yet the republicans keep taking the “equal” from the middle and lower classes, and reapportioning it to the richest.

Those that need it the least.

I just don’t get how anyone that’s NOT in that top 5% wealth bracket can actually suffer through the republicans’ horrendous financial agenda. Look you dweebs, if you want to restart the economy, you have to put the most money in the most peoples’ hands. Enriching the already-wealthy at the expense of the perennially-unwealthy only further serves to widen the rich-poor divide in this country. We’re constantly rewarding the people at the top of the money chain, and usually those people are there because they fleeced everyone below them. I mean, GM’s former CEO walks with a $20-mil pension, after he took his company from the largest, most profitable auto manufacturer in the world, and led it into bankruptcy? HE deserves a tax break?

If you make less than $250K a year and you vote republican, you’re officially a dumbass. There, I said it.

Meanwhile, the Democrats are pushing to curb the pay of the CEOs who f*cked up the whole damned economy. That makes sense to me. If you needed a handout because you’re an idiot and can’t run a company, you shouldn’t be getting paid out the wazoo, right? Right.

So: if you’re making less than $250K a year and you vote republican, you’re a dumbass. There, I said it again.

Side Story to Yesterday's Outing: Getting peed on

It might have been retaliation. I mentioned it yesterday, but in case you didn’t read it, we took the dogs out to play, and then loaded them up in the back and went off-roading for awhile.

What I didn’t mention was that “awhile” was actually more like an hour & a half. Yeah. So while we were having fun traversing the rock path, they were stuck bouncing around in the back. And once we’d done that – a couple of times – we then took to the dunes & the beach. Up, down, sideways, through little mud bogs… you name it, we probably did it.

Well for this adventuring, and to make sure we had the proper grip for the rocks and enough float for the sand, I made sure to air the tires the funk down, while they were playing. Well in order to make sure we had proper air pressures for the road on the way back, we navigated back bay-side along the peninsula, and let the dogs out again to play around some more whilst I aired the tires back up (this takes about 5 minutes per tire).

After I let them out and was standing there admiring the beautiful weather, I noticed suddenly that my leg was getting really really warm on the back side. As if the sun was just beating down on it. But it was strange because it was only along my calf.

If I hadn’t titled this entry, this would be the part where I stealthily attack you with the surprise punch line. But as it stands, I just get to tell you what you already gathered: The dog peed on me.

I mean seriously – WTF, dog. It wasn’t that bad a ride. No one fell out and no one had any scrapes or bruises to speak of. Keep it in your pants. If there’s ever a next time I swear to you, fellow reader(s), that I will whip it out and piss right back, all over the little sh!t.

It was Hunter, by the way. Of course. He’s just vindictive enough to pull it off. Little bastard.

Yesterday: off-roading & puppy toting

Today we took the puppies out to the bay and let them frolic in the water. But today was only partially about them. A lot of it was about me (and the Mighty Tacoma).

Out by the bay where we sometimes take the dogs to play is an OHV park (Off-Highway Vehicles). I’ve been doing some thinking about what the Tacoma is currently capable of in stock trim (with better tires) and what it is I want it to be capable of. The rub is, I’m not sure of either at this point. I have a vague idea of what I want it to be able to do (EVERYTHING), but I’m not sure what all it’s lacking as of now. Besides ground clearance, that is.

So after the dogs had some time to play, we loaded them up and went ‘adventuring.’ It wasn’t too much of an outlandish adventure really. It’s a park, there’s a lot of easy trails and a spot with some obstacles to practice on, and one in particular I really wanted to play with: The rock pit.

It’s rated as “Moderate” difficulty. From afar it looks simple enough: A stretch of rocks that make up a path. Simple, right? As you get closer though, you notice that this rocky outcropping is full of large pointy boulders that reach pretty high, and shallow patches that conversely stand pretty low, and you start to wonder (silently, to yourself); can I actually navigate this? I had attempted it a few days prior when I was there alone with the dogs, and decided after clearing my first boulder & having my mudflap make some hideous noises that it wasn’t wise to do this without my navigator present (The Girl), and backed up out of the obstacle. Unfortunately my tire pinned the mudflap against the rock behind it and subsequently ripped it off. So yeah, this pit means business (and my mudflaps are WAAAAAYYY too low).

So today I took the rest of the mudflaps off, loaded the navigator, and we tried to tackle the obstacle. Twice. Because I wanted to make sure that we could get through something like this somewhere else, if we ever came across it. Which is good to know.

So how do these boulders stack up? Take a look at the video on my videos page. It’s a little long, I wanted to get a few different angles and such. Tough it out, take a look and see.

With a few extra inches in suspension and another inch or so due to bigger tires, I think that the Tacoma could go just about anywhere, any time. And I plan to do this. Not real soon mind you, but eventually. I definitely want to add the inches, but I still have 2-½ years under warranty, which I want to take part in.

But it will come. I started a photo gallery for the Mighty Tacoma, I figure it can be a visual timeline for the truck, both in what we do to it and with it over time.

Don’t tell The Girl this, though. She won’t take to lightly to the idea of me wanting to put some $$ into the truck to have some fun with it. Shhh. We’ll break it to her later.