Pine Needle Patrol

Ah yes, time to clean up from Christmas just past, time to put the tree out to the road so that it can be used in some coastal eroision project meant to save our wetlands or basically our ass from future K-type Storms.

It is that time of year so aptly described by Miss Cindy as "I love Christmas, but, I love it when it's over."

So pack up the ornaments and accoutrements; pack them away in the attic and await the New Year. What better way to do that than rolling out the Rigid 5.0 hp Wet/Dry Vacuum pictured above. Next to it is the fairly useless Hoover Fusion. The Fusion can't handle sucking up pine needles, it basically clogs. Now on the other hand the Rigid sucks up everything in sight. The Rigid is the Sheriff of the Pine Needle Patrol!

As Cindy maneuvered the Rigid for the first time I believe I heard an almost inaudible "oh". She likes the Rigid. In fact, the Fusion pretty much shut down and possible repairs are in that wuss's future. Proving once again that short and stubby beats long and thin.

Happiest of New Year to all
Viva Rigid.
Peace upon You.

Technology is good!

Deep in the WWII Bunker located at 623, I am diligently working to make the world a better place for you and me. Here are some insights I would like to share with you tonight:

Key Points to remember:

Technology is Good! Use it or lose it!

Lots of stuff, some of it useful, some not.

Disclaimer: No Harm was done to any technology during the production of this Video.

Not Shown: PDA and LapTop, both at work.

Viva Steve Jobs and the other guy.

Peace upon you.

Deck the Halls, Broussard!!

So, our local "Mr. Perfect Lawn Man" previously chronicled on this blog, has taken on a seasonal personna to match his normal everyday OCD personna. Combined together what do you get? None other than Mike Broussard trying to do his best Matthew Broderick imitation from the film "Deck the Halls". He decked his Villere Street home in lights and decorations. Why? Because around here "Mr. Broussard is the Christmas Guy"

My shoddy cameramanship does not do this man's house lights and decorations justice.

However, Mr. Broussard chided me for being Grinchlike and I have risen to the challenge and have fought back. Granted, that my "fighting back" lacks the fervor, money, engineering, and talent of Danny DeVito like in the movie. But, as always one to assess the situation (ad nauseum, shut up Rick) and often procrastinate......actually I was going to procrastinate but I never got around to it. I finally made a step in the right direction and here are my decorations:

Hey, Broussard, you want lights, I'll give you lights.........eh.......Santa.

As that great American Neil Armstrong said "one small decoration for Charlie, one giant leap for Charlie". Just want to keep this all in perspective. Maybe next year I will double or triple my decorations, stay tuned.

Viva the Reason for the Season!

Peace Upon You.

Merry Christmas to One and All!

Wow, the lighting effect on my glasses is different......might give rise to some interesting vblogs.

Stay Tuned for more shenanigans!!

Special shout out to Cindy (my love), PlaceMatt, El Mol, and my original partner The Professor.

Also, Aside#1 a special Anonymous type......Shout Out to MOLjr.

Merry Christmas!

Peace Upon You.

New Christmas Tradition?

What had previously been a get together with friends (a.k.a. The Peeps) to celebrate the Year and some Christmas Joy has been stepped up to a higher level or plane, I should say.

Combining the usual celebratory "meal"/"get together" with a visit to St. Louis Cathedral for Mass on the Sunday before Christmas, well sir that was sheer brillance in my mind (kudos to Francois' and Sandy for the venue).

Sure, we enjoyed the usual libations, usual wonderful food, and usual excellent time together. But, let's face it we would be able to do that anytime and anywhere. And have!

But, some how the simple act of attending church in this holy of holy places with the Archbishop doing the mass, well, bottom line, that took it all to a very "spiritual" level. During our post church activities there seemed to be an even more "closeness" to our group. And a geniuneness about that! There was time for reflection on things that we were "thankful" for, including our friendship and many other things. And while I have always found a general sense of wholesome friendship for all the members of our group for me there seemed to be an even greater sense of "family". A Bond on a Bond?

In a pause to reflect my life, I am thankful for my wonderful wife, my daughter, my family, Cindy's family, and "The Peeps".

Random Restaurant Ramblings

In no particular order:

Cafe Lynn -
Two recent visits resulted in two "Freaking Excellent" dinners.........Paneed Pork (Done with Panko Bread Crumbs) with an Artichoke Cream Sauce, yummy.....follow that up with Cindy's first visit.....Pan Seared Trout with a Blancboise or is it Boiseblanc (?) sauce......mashed potatoes and green beans were the accoutrements to both dishes (very good!)

LaBoca -
Steakhouse in the Warehouse District. Empanadas, Proveleta, and Fries were excellent. Steak was good, just not as good as I hoped. Both Couples had the 20 inch bone-in Ribeye.

And he wouldn’t trade a day for all those Friday nights

The memories fade, but, the feeling deep inside never goes away. It gets richer with age.
You appreciate it more now, about what you did then, then when you did it.

It was magical, it was spiritual, and it was fun.
It was hard fucking work, it was mental, it was physical.
It was just doing it, doing the best job we could.
It was dysfunction.
It was family.
It was a common bond.

It was the kids, it was the kids, did I mention it was the kids.
Hell yeah, It was the KIDS.
It was Talking the Talk and then Walking the Walk.
It was touching the Black Hat.
It was coming out of the Tunnel.
It was the Smoke.
It was the Music. It was "Highway to Danger Zone"
It was Black I and Ace.
It was Crash, Black, and Man Free.
It was the Death Row, Batman, Robin, Thunder, Lightening, Seminole, Louie, and Reggie.

It was the BOARD.
It was the WAR ROOM.
It was the Comedy Club.
It was "I got one word for you" = "Fuck You".
It was "this is a shot night".
It was "the later you stay, the less you pay".
It was "DiNardo", cheerleader and beer leader.
It was "Tunnel Flies".

It was gone before it could truly be appreciated.

Unfortunately, success changed everything.
Some people have aspirations: Some are met, Some are not.

Success changes things. Sometimes for the good, sometimes not.
Viva the Spartans.

To Tell the TRUTH!

and nothing but the Truth. (added under literary license)

Alright, my title refers specifically to the 50's game show. I was a very, very young lad and the game show ran on TV for twenty-five straight years (lots of syndication monies for the panelists).

Where am I headed with this? The game consisted of three people identifying themselves as having an unusual job, hobby, etc. Only one of them actually had the job or hobby. It was up to the panelists to ask questions and decide which one person was it that actually did the job or had the hobby. Panelists would vote and the host would say...........................................................would the real (job or hobby name) Please Stand Up!

Now, events surrounding the past 9 days for me have left me feeling very eery, it seems that the last 9 days have been almost surreal like to me.........bringing me to this question....Would the Real Jason Mitchell Please Stand Up?

November 27, 2007
My first meeting with PlaceMatt and El Mol...................................is also known as Jason Mitchell.

November 27, 2007
Sean Taylor Murdered..................................4th man arrested in murder is named Jason Mitchell.

December 5, 2007
Received email from N.O. Saints College Scouting Coordinator........whose name is Jason Mitchell.

This begs some questions:
Why do things happen in threes?
Why am I throwing salt over my left shoulder?
Did anyone see a black cat run in front of my car?
Coincidence or not?
Where is Stephen King when you need him?

I'm OK, I'm OK.
Peace upon you.

Ryan's Laws

1. The relationship between an object's mass m, its acceleration a, and the applied force F is F = ma. (i.e. - Any and all leaves in the neighborhood when dead, fallen to the ground, and have been acted upon by an outside force will end up in my POOL).

2. Any and all leaves in the neighborhood in universal motion will stay in universal motion until they end up in my POOL.

3. For every leaf in the POOL, there is an equal and opposite reaction of me being PISSED OFF.

Anyone get the pun?

Peace upon you.

Tier One

What happens during the second half of the school year to school administrators after they have had a weary and worrisome day? They go out on the edge........maybe it was just out on the edge of the www (world wide web) in search of some fun and relaxation.


So, in the early part of this calendar year I signed in to Delt In-Circle to update my personal information. During my time on-line at In-Circle I was drawn to a section listing those Delts that had blogs. Blogs? Blogging? Heard a lot about it, thought I'd check it out.

Clicked on a blog with the "cutesy" title PlaceMatt. Eyes wide open moment. Here was someone, out there in the world (actually Dallas, Texas) basically "journaling" about life, his life and thoughts. Couple that, with a twist on regular blogging.......the video blog......aka vblog. My interest was piqued, to a high degree! More importantly to me, I was getting to know this guy through his thoughts and words.

I studied a bunch of his previous posts and got the gist on this 30 something guy. I even ventured over to the blogs of a couple of his friends. That got me thinking.......(I know, insert joke here).

So, I use what someone referred to recently as "counter-intelligence" moves to basically play up to these guys as if I were one of their buddies. They fall for it, many great verbal debates ensue and unbeknowst to me they begin to investigate who this person named "anonymous" (the name I used when commenting on their blog) to find out just which buddy of theirs I was?

There was a lot of intelligence/counter-intelligence moves put on by both sides. But, what started out as mere fun out on the vast world wide web (where some claim that there is a real disconnect between human beings) ended as a friendship and mutual admiration society.

This past Tuesday Cindy and I traveled to New Orleans to meet the two "main" men in our new Dallas Connection. Having blogged with these guys for over 10 months my suspicions were correct: They are both men of character (or can be characters), they have a love of life and of their families, and they know how to have a good time. Qualities most of you know I value in a true friend.

The irony I felt after our time together, was that on Tuesday night, I met two new friends, but, yet it felt as if we had known each other for a good portion of our lives. As an aside to our meeting was the strange occurrence......they brought along two of their co-workers (newly hired) for the ride and witnessing the mayhem. God knows what went through their minds?

Like Cindy said about these guys, Matt aka PlaceMatt and Jason Mitchell aka El Mol are a kick to hang around with! We hope to meet up with our friends again in the future and maybe even expand our Dallas Connection. Could a meet and greet with MOL Junior be in the offing?

You just never know what is going to happen out there among them English, do you?

Query on Tier One? A reference PlaceMatt and El Mol made in one of their vblogs referring to how close "Anonymous" was in their circle of friends.

Peace upon you.