Sunday, October 26, 2008

It's that time...

It seems early for this but ...



You're seeing it right - it was 58 degrees in my house a bit before noon today. That's par for the course for us during the mid-to-late fall ... it can be a pretty, sunny somewhat cool day outside, but you freeze your butt off in the house. The temp can be - and often is - actually lower in the house than it is outside.

So...


Lows are going to be in the 30s - with a couple of nights in the 20s - for the next 10 days. Looks like the fire will be going from now 'till May, as usual...

In other news, I work 5p-3a in the ER today.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Be still my beating heart...

The mighty HODAR bought me a couple of books for my birthday: "When All Hell Breaks Loose" by Cody Lundin and the one I've started reading, "America Alone" by Mark Steyn.

I'm not even through the prologue, and already Steyn has me hooked:

... The state has gradually annexed all the responsibilities of adulthood - health care, child care, care of the elderly - to the point where it's effectively severed its citizens from humanity's primal instincts, not least the survival instinct. In the American context, the federal "deficit" isn't the problem; it's the government programs that cause the deficit. These programs would be wrong even if Bill Gates wrote a check to cover them each month. They corrode the citizen's sense of self-reliance to a potentially fatal degree. Big government is a national security threat: it increases your vulnerability to threats like Islamism, and makes it less likely you'll be able to summon the will to rebuff it. We should have learned that lesson on September 11, 2001, when big government flopped big-time and the only good news of the day came from the ad hoc citizen militia of Flight 93."


It's all I can do to not run in the bedroom, wake my wife, and read aloud.

Through the speakers tonight: "Trust" by Megadeth.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

15

As of today, I've been a cancer survivor for 15 years.

My 34th birthday is tomorrow, so naturally I'm in for a beating. I have a nursing staff meeting this morning at work (but they feed us, so it's not all bad,) then I've got to come home and study. I work ER tonight from 5pm 'till 3am, I have class and an exam tomorrow, then I work tomorrow night 11pm to 7am.

Someday I'm going to learn to schedule time off from work for my birthday.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

F-bomb

I try to keep my language in check on this blog, despite the fact that I don't think my Mom knows anything about it, and even if she did, she'd think it was juvenile and wouldn't read it.

That said, I wish I could blog like this.

Rant on, brother...

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Good times...

My brother came up for a few days while I was on Fall Break, so there was no class Thursday and no clinical Saturday. I also took time off work. We had a great time. The Autumn colors are starting to come out and the weather was really nice (though I'd have preferred it to have been cooler...) We cut some firewood, went running, mountain biked, flew a kite...



... and picked & grinned.



Good times.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Insight

I read Xavier's blog for many reasons. His comments on some of the gun boards I used to frequent were always will thought out. He's a nurse. He carries a gun. He bikes to work. He loves animals. What's not to like?

He really hit the ball out of the park with this one.


For a long time I've come to think of hippies as people who have too much heart and not enough head. Xavier's post is a painful example of that. His overall conclusion pegs it:

It was not the lack of a weapon that doomed Kristen Brydum. It was the lack of appreciation of the hazards that she repeatedly injected her life into. She lived on the edge, and she paid for it with her life. She espoused "anarchist economics," the sharing of wealth in a "gift market." The true sociopathic anarchists of New Orleans discovered her, disregarded her pleas for mercy, and killed her for her bicycle and her wallet. An innocent, easily preventable death occurred not because the world is a bad, mean and unforgiving place, but because the victim ignored the fact that some human predators are.

Well said, Xavier. Well said.

Debate

I watched most of tonight's Presidential debate. That's two hours of my life I'll never get back.

I spent most of the time yelling my answers to the questions at the TV. Actually, I spent most of my time complaining about the senselessness of the questions...

I looked up the questions on C-SPAN.

What would you do in your first two years on environmental issues?

You're in college, aren't you? My country is at war on two fronts. I don't have time for "environmental issues" right now, hippie. My "environmental" habits are mostly driven by economics. Gas is getting expensive, so I drive a smaller car. See? Environmentally friendly, market-driven. You'll understand that more when you get a real job and have a mortgage.

How will the economy affect U.S. ability to achieve peace in the world?

Huh? Our economy is about making money. Not peace. Step away from the bong. Somebody ask me a question that makes sense.

Would you use forces for humanitarian reasons when U.S. security is not at stake?

Why? So hippies can accuse my administration of imperialism? "Humanitarian reasons" are a waste of time and resources. Look at Africa. Or New Orleans. Next question.

Should the U.S. pursue Al Qaeda inside Pakistan?

Depends. Do you really want to get Bin Laden, or are you just going to accuse my administration of unilateral imperialsm if we do? I resent these kinds of disingenuous questions. Next.

How would you change strategy in Afghanistan?

Why? Are you suggesting our strategy in Afghanistan isn't working? Based on what criteria, exactly? If we pull out, you'll turn around and accuse my administration of abandoning the country. If we stay or increase our forces, you'll accuse my administration of imperialism or of causing too many civilian casualties. No strategy will satisfy you and you know it. If you're serious about the question (and I doubt you are,) go study some history of U.S. casualties in wartime and read some Kipling for good measure and come back with more realistic expectations and a sensible question. Next.


If Iran attacked Israel, would you send troops in response?



No, I'd send nukes in response, because that's what Iran will attack Israel with. Not to suggest Israel can't fend for itself, mind you, I'd just like a justifiable reason to turn Iran into a glowing, radioactive hole in the earth.


What don't you know and how will you learn it?


You probably laughed at Rumsfeld when he said this, didn't you, hypocrite?


As we know,
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don't know
We don't know.

—Feb. 12, 2002, Department of Defense news briefing

No more questions from the audience from now on, please.